Three concepts of Buddhist philosophy: «thought», «mind», «consciousness» (the problem of translation)

Summary

The analysis focuses on three key concepts of Buddhist philosophy related to consciousness and emphasizes the importance of translating these terms into Ukrainian while considering their interconnections across different Buddhist traditions. It highlights that translating Buddhist terminology requires a holistic approach rather than isolating individual terms, as shown through an examination of Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa. The author also presents a broader interpretation of 'emptiness' as encompassing the emptiness of things, concepts, and consciousness, each with distinct meanings.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The paper analyses the three main concepts of Buddhist philosophy of consciousness and considers the problem of their translation into Ukrainian. The author shows that it is necessary to compare the terms related to different Buddhist traditions’ (Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese and al.) in order to adequately translate them into modern languages. The analysis of a passage (II.34) from Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa in various translations points out the necessity to translate a whole system of Buddhist terminology, but not the separate terms taken individually, in order to avoid the incompatibility of translated terms with each other. The study uses the author’s original approach to the Buddhist «philosophy of emptiness». The Author interprets it in a wider sense as a union of three constituents: «emptiness of things», «emptiness of concepts» and «emptiness of consciousness». The paper demonstrates that all three terms, in their primary meaning, refer to the «thought-mind-consciousness» as substance, whose ontological substratum is «emptiness»-ākāśa. At the same time every one of these terms has a range of its own meanings and nuances which either do not overlap or even are antonymous by sense.

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