Is the Buddhist Saying "Inexpressible, Inexpressible" Mysticism
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) May 16, 2026 Haiqing Wan
The Buddhist notion of 'inexpressibility' is not irrational mysticism but a sober epistemological judgment: language, as a low-dimensional symbolic system, cannot fully carry high-dimensional life experience and ultimate reality. This paper integrates Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language, anti-linguistic-determinism cognitive science, Yogacara theory, and cognitive neuroscience evidence on the separability of language and thinking to argue for the independent existence of non-linguistic cognition. It reveals a deep cognitive structural dilemma: the linguistic function of the sixth consciousness is inherently attached to the self-grasping cognitive framework of the seventh consciousness, so all linguistic expressions reconstruct dual subject cognition. The paper concludes that 'inexpressibility' reflects self-reflection on epistemological boundaries and affirms embodied experience's priority, compatible with modern science's rational spirit.