Omniscience and the Rhetoric of Reason: Santaraksita and Kamalasila on Rationality, Argumentation, and Religious Authority

436 Pages·2010·11.75 MB·English

by  Sara L. McClintock

STUDIES IN I N D I A N AN D TIBETAN BU D DHISM
O
m n i s c i e n c e a n d t h e
R R
h e t o r i c o f e a s o n
Santaraksita and Kamalaslla on Rationality,
Argumentation, & Religious Authority
L.
Sa r a M c C l i n t o c k
Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism
This series was conceived to provide a forum for publishing outstanding
new contributions to scholarship on Indian and Tibetan Buddhism and also to
make accessible seminal research not widely known outside a narrow specialist
audience, including translations of appropriate monographs and collections of
articles from other languages. Ihe series strives to shed light on the Indie Bud­
dhist traditions by exposing them to historical-critical inquiry, illuminating
through contextualization and analysis these traditions unique heritage and
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achievements.
Members of the Editorial Board:
Tom Tillemans (co-chair), University of Lausanne
José Cabezón (co-chair), University of California, Santa Barbara
Georges Dreyfus, Williams College, Massachusetts
Janet Gyatso.Harvard University
Paul Harrison, Stanford University
Toni Huber, Humboldt University, Berlin
Shoryu Katsura, Ryukoku University, Kyoto
Thupten Jinpa Langri, Institute of Tibetan Classics, Montreal
Frank Reynolds, Emeritus, University of Chicago
E. Gene Smith, Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center, New York
Cristina Scherrer-Schaub, University of Lausanne
Ernst Steinkellner, University of Vienna
Leonard van der Kuijp, Harvard University
STUDIES IN INDIAN AND TIBETAN BUDDHISM
O m n isc ie n c e a n d
t h e Rh e t o r ic o f Re a s o n
Santaraksita andKamalasila
on Rationality, Argumentation, and Religious Authority
Sara L. McClintock
l
W isdom Publications • Boston
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McClintock, Sara L.
Omniscience and the rhetoric of reason: Santaraksita and Kamalailla
on Rationality, Argumentation, and Religious Authority / Sara L McClintock.
p. cm. — (Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism)
Includes translations from Sanskrit.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-86171-661-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Santaraksita, 705-761. Tattvasamgraha. 1. Kamalailla, fl. 713-763. Tattvasangra-
hapanjika. 3. Omniscience (Theory of knowledge) 4. Rhetoric—Religious aspects—
Buddhism. 5. Buddhist philosophy. I. Title.
BQ3187.M38 1010
194.3*814—den
1010015719
15 14 13 11 11 10
6 5 4 3 1 1
eBook ISBN 9780861719310
Cover and interior design by Gopa & Tedi, Inc. Cover image of Santaraksita. Tibet;
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for
Winifred May Jolly
and
Alekha Jane Jolly
Publisher’s Acknowledgment
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the help of the Hershey Family
Foundation in sponsoring the publication of this book.
Contents
Preface xiii
i. Introduction i
The Rhetoric of Reason 4
Reason, Rhetoric, and Omniscience 11
Buddhist Philosophia 14
The Contours of Omniscience in India 2.3
Omniscience in the Pali Texts and the Theravada Tradition 18
Mahasamghika and Sarvastivada Perspectives o n Omniscience 32.
Mahayana Developments in Theories of the Buddhas
Omniscience 34
Models of Omniscience in the Tattvasarpgraha
and the Panjika 3 5
Omniscience and Religious Authority 3 8
The Path Ahead 42.
2.. The Rhetorical Complexity of the Texts 47
Audience 49
The Actual Intended Audience 51
The Ideal Audience $ 8
Styles of Reasoning and Argumentation 6 3
Arguments ad personam and Arguments ad hominem 6 3
Nydya Reasoning 67
Pramana'Thtoiy 73
vii
viii OMNISCIENCE AND THE RHETORIC OF REASON
The Sliding Scale of Analysis 8 $
Scholastic Reasoning: Negotiating Tradition
and Innovation 91
Structure of the Tattvasarpgraha and the Panjikd 9 5
Analysis of Dependent Arising 98
Analysis of Religious Authority 1 o 1
Purposes of the Tattvasamgraha and the Panjikd 1 o 5
Kamalasllas Presentation of the Purpose 1 o 5
Kamalasllas Analysis of the Purpose 109
3. Dogmas , Connotations , and Contexts 113
Dogmas of Omniscience and Buddhahood 113
Tlie Requirement of Great Compassion 116
Tie Perfection o f the Aims o f Self and Other 119
Tie Two Obscurations 113
Summary 131
Connotations 13 2.
Assessing Dharmakîrti s Position on Total Omniscience 13 5
The Tattvasamgraha and the Panjikd on Dharmic and
Total Omniscience 13 8
The Shifting Nature of the Objects of Knowledge 141
Rhetorical Contexts 144
A Strictly Rhetorical Context 14 5
Two Rhetorical Contexts with Specific Addressees 147
The Final Chapter of the Tattvasamgraha and the Panjikd 148
Audience and Styles of Reasoning in the Final Chapter 151
Structure of the Final Chapter ( 1 ) : Pürvapaksa 1 51
Structure of the Final Chapter (z): Uttarapaksa 15 6
Details of the Structure of the Uttarapaksa 157
Relations Among the Four Arguments 15 9
Th e “Investigation of External Objects” 16 z
CONTENTS ix
4. Omniscience Is Possible:
The G eneral D em onstration 165
Rebutting Kumarilas Refutation o f Omniscience 16 5
Refuting that Dharma Is Radically Inaccessible 16 6
Refuting that Any Pramdna Can Disprove Omniscience 170
Perception Cannot Ref ute Omniscience 17 3
Inference Cannot Refute Omniscience 179
The Other Pramdnas Cannot Ref ute Omniscience 18 4
The Nonperception of an Omniscient Being
Is Not Certain 185
Conclusion: It Is Best to Let There Be Doubt 18 6
Demonstrating that Omniscience Is Possible 187
Inference of Capacity: Kdrydnumdna and
Sambhavatpramdna 18 8
Ignorance as the Vision o f a Self 191
The Antidote to Ignorance: The Vision of Selflessness 19$
The Vision of Selflessness as Yogic Perception 199
Response to Objections Concerning the Antidote 100
The Perfectibility of the Vision of Selflessness 108
The Nature of the Mind: Luminous and Seeing Reality 111
Conclusion: The Perfection of Wisdom Is Possible 119
Demonstrating Total Omniscience 111
The Logic of Perfectibility 111
Omniscience as Knowing the Selflessness
that Pervades All Things 1 z 3
The Apoha Theory and Yogic Perception 116
An Equivocation in the Term A11 D bar mas? 2.2.9
Conclusion: Omniscience as Reflexive Awareness 13 4
5. Omniscience Is Actual : The Specific Demonstration 137
The Subject o f the Debate: Supersensible Seeing 138
The Buddha as a Knower of the Hidden Capacities
of Mantras 141
X OMNISCIENCE AND THE RHETORIC OF REASON
The Sadhya Is Supersensible Seeing on Mlmamsaka Terms 246
Overview of the Specific Demonstration 246
The Status of Verbal Testimony 253
A Tension in the Specifi c Demonstration 256
Dharmaklrti on Inferring Mental Qualities 258
Santaraksita and Kamalaslla on Inferring Mental Qualities 26 2
The Term Srngagrdhikaya in the Panjikd 264
Acknowledging that the Buddha May Not Have Been First 268
The Specific Demonstration as a Corollary of the General 271
Who Can Infer the Buddhas Omniscience? 27 2
Reconciling the Two Interpretations 276
Supplemental Arguments in the Demonstration 277
The Buddhas Omniscience Is Attested in the Veda 277
The Buddhas Compassion as a Mark of His Superiority 280
6. M otives fo rth e Two D em onstrations 285
Motives for the General Demonstration 286
Trustworthy Awareness as a Justification o f Action 286
Doubt as a Justification for Action 291
Faith and Judicious Persons 299
Summation: Motives for the General Demonstration 303
Motives for the Specific Demonstration 3 03
First Hypothesis: Causing Judicious Persons to Go for Refuge 30$
Second Hypothesis: Grounding Buddhist Scriptures 3 07
The Circular Approach 311
The Linear Approach 314
The Problem with the Linear Approach 315
The Presentation of Scripturally Based Inference 317
The Provisional Nature of Scripturally Based Inference 3 24
Some Explicit Statements on the Motive Behind the Proof 3 2.7
Faith in Radically Inaccessible Entities 332
Scripturally Based Inference as a Rhetorical Tool 337