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Buddhapālita

January 01, 1970

Buddhapālita (Chinese: 佛護; Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས་བསྐྱངས་, Wylie: sangs rgyas bskyangs, fl. 5th-6th centuries CE) was an Indian Mahayana Buddhist commentator on the works of Nagarjuna and Aryadeva.[1][2] His Mūlamadhyamaka-vṛtti is an influential commentary to the Mūlamadhyamakakarikā.[2]

Buddhapālita's commentarial approach works was criticised by his contemporary Bhāviveka, and then defended by the later Candrakīrti (c. 600–650).[3]

Later Tibetan scholasticism (11th century onwards) would characterize the two approaches as the prasaṅgika (Buddhapālita-Candrakīrti) and svatantrika (Bhāviveka's) schools of Madhyamaka philosophy (but these terms do not appear in Indian Sanskrit sources).[1][4]

Overview edit

Little is known about Buddhapālita's life.[2] According to some sources, he is believed to have been born in South India.[1]

Buddhapālita's only work that survives is his Buddhapālita-Mūlamadhyamakavṛtti, a commentary on Nagarjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakarikā (MMK). The commentary survives in Tibetan (not in the original Sanskrit) and contains 27 chapters and divided into ten sections. The Tibetan translation was completed by Jñānagarbha and Klu'i rgyal mtshan in the beginning of the 9th century.[5] According to Taranatha and to the colophon to Buddhapālita's commentary, Buddhapālita composed various other commentaries, but they have not survived.[6]

The Buddhapālita-Mūlamadhyamakavṛtti (Tibetan: dbu ma rtsa ba'i 'grel pa buddhapalita) is closely related to the earlier commentary on Nagarjuna's MMK called the Akutobhayā. Indeed, in various places (particularly the last five chapters), the Tibetan texts are very similar or identical and about a third of Buddhapālita's commentary comes from the Akutobhayā.[7][1] In this text, Buddhapālita also sometimes quotes Aryadeva.[8]

As noted by Jan Westerhoff, Buddhapālita's method exclusively relies on the prasaṅgavākya (reductio ad absurdum, literally "consequentialist") philosophical method. This method relies on drawing out the necessary but undesired consequences of an opponent's thesis without maintaining any counter thesis or proposition to be established in turn.[1]

As David Seyfort Ruegg explains:[9]

Buddhapālita represents a conservative current in Madhyamaka thought that resisted the adoption of the logico-epistemological innovations which were at the time being brought into Mahāyānist philosophy (e. g. by Dignāga, c. 480—540). Thus he did not make use of independent inferences to establish the Madhyamika’s statements; and he employed the well-established prasanga method, which points out the necessary but undesired consequence resulting from a thesis or proposition intended to prove something concerning an entity. From the Mādhyamika’s standpoint this method has the advantage of not committing the critic who uses the prasanga to taking up a counter-position and maintaining the contradictory of what he has denied, which as a Mādhyamika he would consider to be just as faulty as the position he has negating. Buddhapālita’s procedure appears accordingly to be in keeping with Nāgārjuna’s as expressed in the MMK and the Vigrahavyavartani.

Similarly, according to Saito, the "fundamental rule of inference" which Buddhapalita uses in his commentary is the reductio ad absurdum based on Modus tollens.[10]

Buddhapālita's main philosophical methodological approach consisted of his explaining the philosophy of Nāgārjuna by the method of prasaṅgavākya (reductio ad absurdum ). That is, without himself maintaining any thesis or proposition to be established, he tried to point out the necessary but undesired consequences resulting from a non-Madhyamaka opponent's thesis.

Another Madhyamaka thinker, Bhāviveka, criticized Buddhapālita's method of commentary, for not making use of logical autonomous inferences (svatantranumana; Wylie: rang rgyud rjes dpag) in developing Madhyamaka arguments.[6] A later commentator, Candrakīrti (7th century CE), wrote the Clear Words (Prasannapadā) commentary to the MMK based on Buddhapalita's work. Candrakīrti defends Buddhapalita's method and refutes Bhāviveka's assertion of autonomous syllogisms.[11]

Due to this debate, Tibetans name Bhāviveka as the first svatantrika (a modern back-translation from the Tibetan term Ran rgyud pa) distinguishing his Madhyamaka system from prasangika (Tibetan: Thal 'gyur ba), the system of Candrakīrti and Buddhapalita. However, these classifications of Madhyamaka philosophy do not exist in Indian sources and were invented by Tibetan scholars.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e Westerhoff, Jan. The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy. Oxford University Press. p. 122-123. ISBN 978-0198732662.
  2. ^ a b c Ruegg 1981, p. 60.
  3. ^ "Buddhapālita". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  4. ^ a b Ruegg 1981, pp. 58-59.
  5. ^ Saito 1984, p. xi.
  6. ^ a b Saito 1984, p. ix.
  7. ^ Ruegg 1981, p. 61.
  8. ^ Saito 1984, p. xxviii.
  9. ^ Ruegg 1981, p. 60.
  10. ^ Saito 1984, p. xxv.
  11. ^ Saito 1984, p. x.

Sources edit

  • Ruegg, David S. (1981) The Literature of the Madhyamaka School of Philosophy in India. Otto Harrassowitz; Wiesbaden.
  • Saito, A. (1984) A Study of the Buddhapālita-Mūlamadhyamakavṛtti. Ph.D. diss.; Australian National University.
  • Ian James Coghlan (2021) Buddhapalita's Commentary on Nagarjuna's Middle Way: Buddhapalita-Mulamadhyamaka-Vrtti (Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences); Wisdom Publications.

External links edit

  • Mulamadhyamaka-Vrtti-Buddhapalita Translation Project 21 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine

January 01, 1970
buddhapālita, chinese, 佛護, tibetan, སངས, བས, ངས, wylie, sangs, rgyas, bskyangs, centuries, indian, mahayana, buddhist, commentator, works, nagarjuna, aryadeva, mūlamadhyamaka, vṛtti, influential, commentary, mūlamadhyamakakarikā, commentarial, approach, works,. Buddhapalita Chinese 佛護 Tibetan སངས ར ས བས ངས Wylie sangs rgyas bskyangs fl 5th 6th centuries CE was an Indian Mahayana Buddhist commentator on the works of Nagarjuna and Aryadeva 1 2 His Mulamadhyamaka vṛtti is an influential commentary to the Mulamadhyamakakarika 2 Buddhapalita s commentarial approach works was criticised by his contemporary Bhaviveka and then defended by the later Candrakirti c 600 650 3 Later Tibetan scholasticism 11th century onwards would characterize the two approaches as the prasaṅgika Buddhapalita Candrakirti and svatantrika Bhaviveka s schools of Madhyamaka philosophy but these terms do not appear in Indian Sanskrit sources 1 4 Contents 1 Overview 2 References 3 Sources 4 External linksOverview editLittle is known about Buddhapalita s life 2 According to some sources he is believed to have been born in South India 1 Buddhapalita s only work that survives is his Buddhapalita Mulamadhyamakavṛtti a commentary on Nagarjuna s Mulamadhyamakakarika MMK The commentary survives in Tibetan not in the original Sanskrit and contains 27 chapters and divided into ten sections The Tibetan translation was completed by Jnanagarbha and Klu i rgyal mtshan in the beginning of the 9th century 5 According to Taranatha and to the colophon to Buddhapalita s commentary Buddhapalita composed various other commentaries but they have not survived 6 The Buddhapalita Mulamadhyamakavṛtti Tibetan dbu ma rtsa ba i grel pa buddhapalita is closely related to the earlier commentary on Nagarjuna s MMK called the Akutobhaya Indeed in various places particularly the last five chapters the Tibetan texts are very similar or identical and about a third of Buddhapalita s commentary comes from the Akutobhaya 7 1 In this text Buddhapalita also sometimes quotes Aryadeva 8 As noted by Jan Westerhoff Buddhapalita s method exclusively relies on the prasaṅgavakya reductio ad absurdum literally consequentialist philosophical method This method relies on drawing out the necessary but undesired consequences of an opponent s thesis without maintaining any counter thesis or proposition to be established in turn 1 As David Seyfort Ruegg explains 9 Buddhapalita represents a conservative current in Madhyamaka thought that resisted the adoption of the logico epistemological innovations which were at the time being brought into Mahayanist philosophy e g by Dignaga c 480 540 Thus he did not make use of independent inferences to establish the Madhyamika s statements and he employed the well established prasanga method which points out the necessary but undesired consequence resulting from a thesis or proposition intended to prove something concerning an entity From the Madhyamika s standpoint this method has the advantage of not committing the critic who uses the prasanga to taking up a counter position and maintaining the contradictory of what he has denied which as a Madhyamika he would consider to be just as faulty as the position he has negating Buddhapalita s procedure appears accordingly to be in keeping with Nagarjuna s as expressed in the MMK and the Vigrahavyavartani Similarly according to Saito the fundamental rule of inference which Buddhapalita uses in his commentary is the reductio ad absurdum based on Modus tollens 10 Buddhapalita s main philosophical methodological approach consisted of his explaining the philosophy of Nagarjuna by the method of prasaṅgavakya reductio ad absurdum That is without himself maintaining any thesis or proposition to be established he tried to point out the necessary but undesired consequences resulting from a non Madhyamaka opponent s thesis Another Madhyamaka thinker Bhaviveka criticized Buddhapalita s method of commentary for not making use of logical autonomous inferences svatantranumana Wylie rang rgyud rjes dpag in developing Madhyamaka arguments 6 A later commentator Candrakirti 7th century CE wrote the Clear Words Prasannapada commentary to the MMK based on Buddhapalita s work Candrakirti defends Buddhapalita s method and refutes Bhaviveka s assertion of autonomous syllogisms 11 Due to this debate Tibetans name Bhaviveka as the first svatantrika a modern back translation from the Tibetan term Ran rgyud pa distinguishing his Madhyamaka system from prasangika Tibetan Thal gyur ba the system of Candrakirti and Buddhapalita However these classifications of Madhyamaka philosophy do not exist in Indian sources and were invented by Tibetan scholars 4 References edit a b c d e Westerhoff Jan The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy Oxford University Press p 122 123 ISBN 978 0198732662 a b c Ruegg 1981 p 60 Buddhapalita Oxford Reference Retrieved 17 September 2021 a b Ruegg 1981 pp 58 59 Saito 1984 p xi a b Saito 1984 p ix Ruegg 1981 p 61 Saito 1984 p xxviii Ruegg 1981 p 60 Saito 1984 p xxv Saito 1984 p x Sources editRuegg David S 1981 The Literature of the Madhyamaka School of Philosophy in India Otto Harrassowitz Wiesbaden Saito A 1984 A Study of the Buddhapalita Mulamadhyamakavṛtti Ph D diss Australian National University Ian James Coghlan 2021 Buddhapalita s Commentary on Nagarjuna s Middle Way Buddhapalita Mulamadhyamaka Vrtti Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences Wisdom Publications External links editMulamadhyamaka Vrtti Buddhapalita Translation Project Archived 21 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Buddhapalita amp oldid 1145385241, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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