Buddhist Hermeneutics Research Articles

Genres of Buddhist Commentarial Literature in Medieval China

In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there were many types of Buddhist scripture-interpretation literature, including xuanyi 玄義, xuanlun 玄論, yishu 義疏, yizhang 義章, etc. These exegetical forms are related to Chinese traditional literary style, but mainly inherit the tradition of Indian Buddhist hermeneutics. In this paper, all such types would be summarized as yi (義, exegesis), lun (論, treatise) and shu (疏, commentaries), which are described as follows.BR The style of yi is related to the interpretation tradition of the Confucian classic Spring and Autumn Annals, which finds two variants in the interpretation of Buddhist scriptures. The first is yizhang as the general interpretation of Buddhist ideas, such as Dasheng yizhang by Jingying Huiyuan, and the second is xuanyi as the general exegesis of a Buddhist scripture, such as Fahua xuanyi by Zhiyi.BR Lun for Buddhist treatises is the same term used for Chinese traditional treatise lun, but its connotation mainly derives from Indian Buddhist hermeneutics. There are two variants of this style, one is a general interpretation, such as the Dasheng xuanlun by Jizang, and the other is general exegesis, such as Fahua xuanlun by Jizang. Sometimes, this style is also titled with yizhang and xuanyi.BR Shu as a genre of literature, which is related to Chinese tradition of classical annotation, usually means record, classification, and interpretation of various commentaries. When interpreting Buddhist scriptures, this genre explains Buddhist scriptures from the perspective of yi and is later called yishu, such as in Qixin lun yishu by the author Jingying Huiyuan. It is often also referred to as yiji 義記, jijie 集解 or wenju 文句.BR Yi and lun are actually the same style or genre, typically having a small number of volumes (juan 卷, rolls or scrolls) and focusing on a few profound meanings. There are many examples of yishu that had such a wide influence that the term changed to become zhangshu 章疏—together with yizhang—since the Tang dynasty. In the history of Chinese Buddhism, yi and lun gradually faded out while zhangshu continued to be produced. This change is an indication that the focus of Chinese Buddhism shifted from Indian Buddhist scriptures to Chinese patriarchal works deriving from Buddhist schools, such as Tiantai, Huayan, Chan, and Pure Land Buddhism.

Logic, Scripture, and Hermeneutics in Zhencheng’s Critique of the Thesis of No-motion

This paper examines the philosophical debate on Seng Zhao (僧肇 384–414)’s Thesis on No-Motion of Things (Wu buqian lun 物不遷論, hereafter WBQL), a debate which took place approximately at the turn of the late sixteenth and the early seventeenth centuries. Without doubt the Zhao Treatise (Zhao lun 肇論) is the most precious gem in the early Chinese Madhyamaka legacy. The sterling reputation of this seminal treatise had never been challenged until Zhencheng (鎮澄 1546–1617) published the Logical Investigation of the Thesis of No-Motion of Things (Wu buqian zhengliang lun 物不遷正量論, hereafter WBQZLL) during 1588–1589. The following focuses on Zhencheng’s WBQZLL to see how he applied hetu-vidyā in his hermeneutical project. How did Zhencheng employ the syllogism in his critique of the Zhao Treatise? Is his critique justifiable? How is the role of syllogism employed as a hermeneutic tool to understand classical Buddhist texts? In highlighting the innovative features in the application of hetu-vidyā in the late Ming Chinese Buddhist scholasticism as showcased in Zhencheng’s WBQZLL, The controversies swirling around Zhencheng’s challenge to traditional doctrinal authority reveal the distinctive contrast between two forms of Buddhist hermeneutics in the late Ming Buddhist scholasticism: experiential hermeneutics and analytical hermeneutics. While the former has long been practiced in the mainstream of Chinese Buddhism (especially Chan), the latter has received little attention.

The Hermeneutics of Chan Buddhism: Reading Koans from The Blue Cliff Record

Despite the fact that Chan, especially koan Chan is highly unconventional and perplexing, there are still some principles with which to interpret and appreciate the practice. Each of the five houses or lineages of Chan has its idiosyncratic hermeneutic rules. The Linji House has Linji si liao jian, si bin zhu and si zhao yong among others while the Yunmen House follows Yumen san ju as one of its house rules. Moreover, there is a general inner logic that seems to apply to understanding Chan encounters across lineages. The opportune moment (Chan Ji) of responding swiftly and skillfully and yet always grounding oneself in the openness and flow of the mind highlights the inner logic of the cognition and behavior of Chan Buddhists. This paper attempts to read koans from The Blue Cliff Record in the light of Chan Buddhist hermeneutics. Some aspects and patterns of Chan encounters may appear as rituals that serve either as a provisional means for common people or as an embodiment of enlightened behaviors. Routinized ritualization of Chan life, however, runs counter to the fundamental spirit of freedom and spontaneity of Chan way of life. Much can and needs to be elucidated about the mystified koan Chan experience before we finally resort to the transpersonal experience of noble silence.

Interpretation as a Spiritual Practice: Buddhism and Cross-Cultural Hermeneutics

The article deals with a problem of relation between textual interpretation and methodology of enlightenment in the Buddhist tradition. According to traditional exegesis, works of Buddhist philosophy are something like a samādhi, a sustained and penetrating contemplation of certain pathways of thought and insight. The author reveals that the Buddhist hermeneutical tradition is a tradition of realization, and devoid of any dichotomy between intellect and experience, the rational and the mystical. A principal role of the tradition is to supply the intertextual context of prejudices that makes the reading and talking possible and the background in which the revelation of meaning and the composition of a meaningful text become possible. Finally, it is pointed out that it is impossible to separate the study of Buddhist hermeneutics from the question of hermeneutics of the modern scholar who having his prejudices and preunderstandings determined by time and culture interpretes traditional Buddhist texts.

Buddhism - Buddhist Monastic Life According to the Texts of the Theravāda Tradition. By Mohan Wijayaratna. Translated by Claude Grangier and Steven Collins. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1990. Pp. xxiv, 190. - Buddhist Hermeneutics. Edited by Donald S. LopezJr. Kuroda Institute, Studies in East Asian Buddhism 6. University of Hawaii Press: Honolulu, 1988. Pp. ix, 298. - Maitreya, the Future

Buddhism - Buddhist Monastic Life According to the Texts of the Theravāda Tradition. By Mohan Wijayaratna. Translated by Claude Grangier and Steven Collins. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1990. Pp. xxiv, 190. - Buddhist Hermeneutics. Edited by Donald S. LopezJr. Kuroda Institute, Studies in East Asian Buddhism 6. University of Hawaii Press: Honolulu, 1988. Pp. ix, 298. - Maitreya, the Future Buddha. Edited by Alan Sponberg and Helen Hardacre. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1988. Pp. xv, 304. - The British Discovery of Buddhism. By Philip C. Almond Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1988. Pp. ix, 186. - Volume 27 Issue 2

The Chinese Madhyamaka practice ofp'an-chiao: the case of Chi-Tsang

Because of the growing interest in Buddhist hermeneutics in recent years, the subject ofp'an-chiao(classification of teachings) has lately attracted increasing attention in the West.P'an-chiaois essentially an attempt to distinguish and to integrate various trends of Buddhist thought, various systems of Buddhist praxis and various kinds of Buddhist texts, with a view to highlighting their individual characteristics and to reconciling their apparent disparities. Different Chinese Buddhist schools, each with its own particular idea of the essence of the Buddha Dharma, naturally consider the significance of the heterogeneous elements of their spiritual heritage differently. Hence, examining and comparing theirp'an-chiaotheories is a convenient and reliable way to assess their doctrinal positions and to determine the respective places of their teachings in the bewildering labyrinth of Buddhist dogmatics. This article is an attempt to bring out the basic orientation and special concerns of Chi-tsang's(549–623) thought as reflected in his opinions about a number of central Buddhist sūtras and their interrelation. Chi-tsang, as is well-known, was the pivotal figure in the revival of Chinese Madhyamaka in the late sixth century, and it was the common consensus that his teaching represented the apex of the development of Madhyamaka thought in China.

Buddhist Hermeneutics

Buddhist Hermeneutics

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Buddhist Hermeneutics: A Conference Report

Buddhist Hermeneutics: A Conference Report

Chinese Buddhist Hermeneutics: The Case of Hua-yen

This paper is conceived, in part, as a response to the article by Robert Thurman, entitled Hermeneutics, that appeared in volume 46 of this journal (1978). It is intended not so much as a criticism of Thurman's groundbreaking contribution to our understanding of this important issue as a qualification of it in light of a reconsideration of the Chinese Buddhist tradition. Thurman's article is particularly useful for two reasons. First, his insightful analysis of the problem in Buddhism elucidates the fundamental Problematik underlying Buddhist hermeneutics, thus laying a solid foundation upon which our discussion of the hermeneutical tradition in Chinese Buddhism can

Buddhist Hermeneutics

“Hermeneutics” as a philosophical discipline of rational interpretation of a traditional canon of Sacred Scriptures authoritative for a religious community has usually been considered peculiar to the West. This notion is anchored only in the misconception that “Eastern” thought is somehow “non-rational,” or “mystical,” hence excused from the burden of reconciling the tensions between some forms of authority and philosophical reason. Buddhism in particular has been misconceived in this way, due to its emphasis on meditational experience and non-dualistic wisdom. These misconceptions are quickly cleared away when we examine the role of authority in Buddhist teaching, appreciating the predominantly pedagogic concerns of Śākyamuni during his long tenure as a teacher who sought to encourage the individual disciple's ability to think for himself; the role of analytic reasoning in Buddhist practice, wherein a practitioner's first task is to sift through the complexities of Doctrine to discover its inner meaning as relevant to his own experience and its systematic transformation; the role of hermeneutical strategies in guiding the practitioner's analytical meditations, wherein the first two stages of wisdom (prajñā) are cultivated through a refined discipline of philosophical criticism of all false views (drsti), such as naive realism, nihilism, etc., as to the nature of ultimate reality and of the self; and finally the role of transcendent experience, wherein the transcendence of verbalization is approached not as a non-rational escape into mysticism, but as an affirmation of empiricism, a rational acknowledgement of the fact that reality, even ordinary reality, is never, in the final analysis, reducible to what we may say about it. These four functions in Buddhism are traditionally expressed in an ancient rule of thumb known as the “Four Reliances”: “Rely on the Teaching, not the Teacher; rely on the meaning, not the letter; rely on the definitive meaning, not the interpretable meaning; rely on wisdom, not on consciousness.” To examine the traditional usage of these Reliances, we must trace the work of the Buddhist hermeneuticians, who, far from maintaining any “golden silence” beyond the silvery speech of philosophers, have kept alive over two and one half millennia an illustrious line known as the “Golden Speech” (Ch. jin ko) tradition, whose members include from among the sage-scholars of India, Tibet, China, and Japan, Śākyamuni himself (himself the first hermeneutician of his own Holy Doctrine!), Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, Asanga, Chih I, Candrakīrti, Fa Tsang, Śāntaraksita, and Tsong Khapa. This latter, working in the 14th and 15th centuries, was one of the greatest scholars of any of the Buddhist cultures, and his masterwork, Essence of the Eloquent, composed in 1407, provides a golden key with which the door to this tradition can be opened.