Rethinking the Buddha

Early Buddhist Philosophy as Meditative Perception

Eviatar Shulman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

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English

Cambridge University Press
23 February 2017

Philosophy of religion; Buddhist worship, rites & ceremonies; Buddhist life & practice; Buddhist sacred texts; Mind, body, spirit: meditation & visualisation

A cornerstone of Buddhist philosophy, the doctrine of the four noble truths maintains that life is replete with suffering, desire is the cause of suffering, nirvana is the end of suffering, and the way to nirvana is the eightfold noble path. Although the attribution of this seminal doctrine to the historical Buddha is ubiquitous, Rethinking the Buddha demonstrates through a careful examination of early Buddhist texts that he did not envision them in this way. Shulman traces the development of what we now call the four noble truths, which in fact originated as observations to be cultivated during deep meditation. The early texts reveal that other central Buddhist doctrines, such as dependent-origination and selflessness, similarly derived from meditative observations. This book challenges the conventional view that the Buddha's teachings represent universal themes of human existence, allowing for a fresh, compelling explanation of the Buddhist theory of liberation.

By: Eviatar Shulman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 230mm, Width: 154mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 330g
ISBN: 9781107695382
ISBN 10: 1107695384
Pages: 226
Publication Date: 23 February 2017
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface; 1. The structural relation between philosophy and meditation; 2. A philosophy of being human; 3. Mindfulness, or how philosophy becomes perception; 4. The four noble truths as meditative perception; 5. Conclusion.

Eviatar Shulman is a postdoctoral Fellow at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Scholion Center. He has taught at The Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, Ben-Gurion University and Bar-Ilan University. His articles have appeared in History of Religions, the Journal of Indian Philosophy, the Indo-Iranian Journal, and the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. He is the author of two books in translation, The Root Verses of the Middle Way: A Translation of Nāgārjuna's Mūla-Madhyamaka-kārikā (2010) and Ancient Buddhist Poetry (forthcoming).