The important Buddhist doctrine of the two truths-conventional truths and ultimate truths-is the subject of this book. It examines how the doctrine evolved within early Buddhism from efforts to make sense of contradictions within the collected sayings of the Buddha. The two truths, however, came to refer not primarily to statements or language, but to the realities to which statements or language referred. As such, the doctrine of the two truths became one through which Buddhist philosophers focused their efforts to elaborate an abhidharma, a "higher teaching," which allowed them to explain how the mind apprehends and misapprehends the world, how it attaches itself to objects that do not exist in and of themselves, thereby creating suffering. In effect, the doctrine then evolved into a distinction between different sorts of objects rather than a distinction between different sorts of statements. The doctrine of the two truths, understood in this way, played a key role in the articulation of the Mahayana by its followers in distinguishing it from what they called the Hinayana, especially in defining the central ideas of selflessness and emptiness. Unlike prior books on this topic, which concentrate on the doctrine within the context of the Mahayana, Buescher's examines it within the context of the Hinayana.
目次
Introduction Ancient Indian Speculation on Language and Reality The Beginnings of Grammar Philosophical and Religious Issues Connected to Grammar Early Buddhist Views on Language, Truth, and Interpretation Denying the Preeminence of Any Particular Language Searching for the Final Doctrine Collecting and Standardizing the Teaching The Growth of the Abhidharma The Buddha's Word The Truth behind the Multitude of Forms The Buddha's Ultimate Word and Ultimate Truth Definitive Sutras and Those Whose Meaning Must Be Drawn Out The Quest for Interpretive Clarity Two Truths Statements or Objects? Existent or Nonexistent? Two Truths and Four Truths The Vaibhasika School and the Two Truths A Gelukpa Presentation of the Two Truths in the "Sravaka" Schools Acknowledgements Abbreviations Bibliography Notes Index
