Emptiness, Selflessness, and Transcendence: William James's Reading of Chinese Buddhism

Abstract

This article investigates William James's reading of the concepts of selflessness and transcendence in relation to the Chan and Pure Land schools of Chinese Buddhism. The divide between Chan and Pure Land Buddhism may be mediated if we attend to aspects of the two traditions that James found particularly meaningful. James is drawn to selflessness as presented in the concept of emptiness in the Chan understanding of meditative experience. He is equally interested in Buddhist devotional practices of Pure Land that claim to open individuals and their communities to the divine. James saw these two aspects as deeply compatible.