Oxford University Press eBooks
January 4, 2019
Douglas S. Duckworth
16 citations
Tibetan Buddhist thought integrates competing and complementary perspectives on the nature of mind and reality. Drawing on a contrast between phenomenology and ontology, the book argues that these starting points share a common ground and are inseparable. It examines central issues such as the nature of mind and the meaning of emptiness across traditions including Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, and tantra, and puts Tibetan philosophy into conversation with Indian, European, and American traditions to exemplify a transformative global philosophical dialogue.
Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy of Mind and Nature
January 4, 2019
Douglas S. Duckworth
2 citations
Tantric contemplative practices in Tibet, particularly the Great Perfection and Mahāmudrā, are deeply informed by the Mind-Only (Yogācāra) and Madhyamaka schools of Buddhist philosophy. These traditions extend Yogācāra's emphasis on contemplative practice and can be seen as iterations of it. They also incorporate the Madhyamaka principle of emptiness, with the "three greats"—Great Madhyamaka, Mahāmudrā, and the Great Perfection—explicitly blending features of both schools. Language plays a creative and liberating role in these tantric traditions.
Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy of Mind and Nature
January 4, 2019
Douglas S. Duckworth
Madhyamaka and Mind-Only schools of Buddhist thought offer different descriptions of reality, one focusing on objects and the other on subjects. Mind-Only emphasizes subjective experience as the basis for understanding the world, while Madhyamaka challenges the idea of a fixed objective world by showing how all conceptual constructions are contingent. These two perspectives are mutually dependent and share a common foundation, revealing a deeper unity between ontology and phenomenology.
Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy of Mind and Nature
January 4, 2019
Douglas S. Duckworth
Emptiness, a central concept in Buddhist Madhyamaka philosophy, is interpreted in two broad ways. The "enframed" interpretation values language and thought as tools for discovering ultimate truth, while the "unenframed" interpretation sees them as obstacles. Both claim to represent the middle way between essentialism and nihilism. The Geluk tradition treats emptiness as an absence of true existence, cultivated through meditation. In contrast, Mind-Only and Yogācāra-influenced traditions like Kagyü and Nyingma emphasize emptiness as an experiential, participatory dimension, not merely an objective property of things.
Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy of Mind and Nature
January 4, 2019
Douglas S. Duckworth
Self-awareness is interpreted in multiple ways within Buddhist philosophy: as the starting point and goal of Mind-Only phenomenological analysis, as an intrinsic property of all awareness, and as a metaphysical claim of objective or absolute idealism. In the Yogācāra tradition of Dignāga and Dharmakīrti, self-awareness functions as a precondition for knowledge. Some Tibetan thinkers, such as Śākya Chokden, affirmed self-awareness as ultimate gnosis and the ultimate source of knowledge, while Tsongkhapa, following Candrakīrti, denied self-awareness and built his system on Madhyamaka's critical ontology rather than epistemology or phenomenology.