Invitation to the reader
Okay, there are rather a lot of words here. After all, I am a
philosopher. However, I have found in the end that the best approach
to life is to frequently practice a kind of close sympathetic nonjudgmental
attention to things—a kind of wordless aesthetic
attention to what is that tends to heighten a sense of stillness and
beauty. Then, when it comes to adopting a reasoned philosophy to surround and support this practice, a way of thinking about the nature of life and reality, why not try positing a maximally positive
and beautiful vision—non-dogmatically, of course—until or unless
someone can prove the worse is true? Which they can never do: see
inside for reasons why. This double game of philosophical reasoning and aesthetic contemplation (of reflection and de-reflection) seems to aid toward
the re-enchantment and self-enjoyment of life. Things get less heavy:
one feels lighter. Of course, the game only applies if one is interested
in en-lightening life in some such way. Whether you want to or not is
up to you. Each to his own!
But it’s a trip to consider…
Review on Buddhist Existentialism
By Padmasiri de Silva
Faculty of Historical Studies
& The Centre for Theology and Religious Studies
Monash University, Clayton Campus
Australia
Robert Miller who has over the years taken a great interest in synthesizing eastern and western philosophical thought has presented an interesting and intriguing work on the interface between Buddhism and existentialism. In my own writings, I have made an attempt to locate the existentialist call to awaken people to the human condition within the Buddha’s analysis of suffering and the way out of the human predicament of existential pain and anguish: the quest for meaning, the search for identity, the struggle to be authentic, existential challenges of tragedy, alienation and anxiety, as well as the assertion of human self-awareness and freedom (de Silva, 2007, Explorers of Inner Space: The Buddha, Krishnamurti and Kierkegaard). Against the background of my personal philosophical interest in east-west comparative philosophy, I found Robert Millers study a very rewarding venture from the perspectives of a number of facets of his study of Buddhism and existentialism. My interest has been in the early Buddhist tradition, its scriptures and writings of the British philosopher who became a monk in Sri Lanka, Venerable Nanavira, and whose work on Buddhism, Kierkegaard, Sartre and Heidegger, as well as the complex existentialist profile of this monk, who came to be called the “Legend of Bundala” in Sri Lanka.
The Madhyamika philosophy is a teaching that shows us that our belief systems and the intellectual judgments we make about the nature of self and reality, or about what ultimate reality is, are all impermanent and changeable over time because they are inherently questionable, dubious, non-provable, unfixable, insecure—or in a word: empty (null and void). (Miller, 2008, 3).
Robert Miller locates existentialism within the doctrine of shunyata and the philosophy of Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna is a philosopher who is associated with the use of the ‘dialectical method’. Nagarjuna makes the nature of conflicting theories of reality the focus of his analysis. Nagarjuna analyses each theory and its standpoints and by exhibiting its inner flaw, and he claims to dissolve each theory without any residue. He considers the criticism of such theories as a deliverance from all entanglements and passions. Miller rejects the transcendentalist interpretation of Madhyamika teachings.
In the Suttanipata, the Buddha in a similar way exposes the way how people cling to diverse theories and views and there is a deep and interminable conflict between theories and those who uphold them. Even the dhamma is to be treated as a raft for crossing the river.
The key experience according to the Madhyamika teaching is not something mystical and transcendental. It is more simply the ordinary and everyday conceptualized experience of life, where we now have direct critical insight into the voidable nature of this conceptualized or linguistically interpreted reality, and consequently become emotionally addicted to it…We void it. Nothing clings. There is letting go. (Miller, 2008, 13).
Miller accepts the interpretation of Nagarjuna by Frederick Streng who focuses on the suchness of experience than any transcendental version of emptiness. In discussing the seven central themes of existentialism he refers to the existentialist Sartre’s presentation of nothingness and Heidegger on nothingness. In this manner he sees the existentialist dimension of Nagarjuna’s philosophy.
But he goes beyond seeing parallels between Nagarjuna and the existentialists and develops a philosophy of ‘Buddhist existentialism” through mostly the Zen tradition: The central tenets of Buddhist existentialism are as follows: notion of existence precedes essence has a focus on present experience; rejection of intellectual systems for describing and explaining reality; the experience of nothingness is pivotal to both; the rejection of inauthenticity, the focus on anxiety, and the viewing of nothingness as a positive experience that brings peace and joy. While all these points strike a familiar chord with the existentialist—there is a problem with the last, the peace and joy in a Buddhist experience. A question remains whether Miller has overdone the parallels between existentialism and Buddhism. In an article examining spurious parallels to Buddhism, Edward Conze comments: “In terms of the four Noble Truths, the existentialists have only the first, which teaches that everything is ill. Of the second, which assigns the origins of ill to craving, they have only a very imperfect grasp. As for the third and the fourth, they are quite unheard of” (Conze, 1963, 112). It may be possible to defend Miller’s position by saying that the philosophy of Heidegger, greatly influenced by Zen Buddhism offers an interesting grasp of the second noble truth in his analsis of ‘care’ (sorge) and that Sartre’s distinction between Being-in-itself and Being-for-itself also captures the essence of the Heideggerian care. Miller also says: “ In both Buddhism and existentialism, importance is placed on the idea of properly experiencing and acclimatizing to nothingness, learning how to enjoy life from this standpoint, relying on this creative nothingness that we are. In Zen or Buddhist terms, this is to live in and from an awareness of shunyata” (Miller, 2008, 81). He also backs this perspective by referring to Frederick Streng who says, “The awareness of ‘emptiness’ is not a blank loss of consciousness, an inanimate empty space; rather it is the cognition of daily life without attachment to it” (quoted in, Miller, 2008, 810.
One may also say, that Miller is attempting develop an ideal version of “Buddhist Existentialism” which goes beyond Sartre and Heidegger or that he is attempting to interpret classical existentialism in a fresh and innovative manner. I wish to stimulate the reader’s thinking and reading on these issues instead of imposing my interpretation on the reader.
Concludng Thoughts
I enjoyed reading the book and found it very stimulating, both on existentialism and on Pyrrhonism and therapy, and also the re-enchantment of existentialism; I found that he has a clear understanding of existentialism and the Madhyamika philosophies; I also commend the author for his clarity and intelligibility and recommend the book to potential readers and it is a valuable addition to your library. But in conclusion, I need to say that my understanding of Buddhism is based greatly on the early Buddhist discourses, and from the perspectives of early Buddhism, the classic sermons of the Buddha and the charter for understanding the notion of ‘nothingness’ are the following: “The Shorter Discourse on Voidness” (Culasunnata Sutta) and the The Greater Discourse on Voidness (Mahasunnata Sutta) (121 and 122 suttas of the Middle Length Sayings). A reading and understanding of these sermons is stimulating but it is through contemplative methods, mindfulness practice, self-reflexive understanding, bracketing our conceptual and dialectical skills that one could discern the path to understanding the message in these sermons. Several readings of these two sermons and deep listening to their recitation integrated into a contemplative inquiry may open up vistas leading to joy and peace.
There has been a great deal of interpretation and argument as to what extent Nagarjuna captures the essence of the Buddha’s message regarding the predicament of human suffering? Some commentators say that Nagarjuna has elevated shunyata into another absolute, and that his attachment to the dialectical and conceptual criticism has to be supplemented by an experiential approach but others share most of the points about the Madhyamika presented by Miller.
I have always been interested in the interface between Buddhism and existentialism and this book makes a valuable contribution for integrating an existentialist perspective to Buddhism or a Buddhist perspective to existentialism. In conclusion, I may summarize-- perhaps Miller would agree with me, “that real emptiness is fullness”.
References
Conze, Edward, “Spurious Parallels to Buddhist Philosophy”, Philosophy East & West 1963, p47.
de Silva, Padmasiri, Explorers of Inner Space, The Buddha, Krishnamurti and Kierkegaard, Sarvodaya Vishvalekha Publishers, Ratmalana , 2007
Miller, Robert, Buddhist Existentialism, Shogam Publishers, Carlton North, Victoria, 2008.
The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Translated by Bhikkhu Nanamoli & Bhikkhu Bodhi, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, 1995.
