Buddhist Perspective on Literature. Reflection on How Modern Buddhists Can Understand Western Poetry and Fiction

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Foreword by Lama Ole Nydahl .............................................................................. 9
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 11
Western Literary Th eory and Buddhism .................................................... 11
Introduction to Contemporary Literary Studies ...................................... 13
Introduction to Buddhist Dharma ............................................................... 19
Summary of Chapters ..................................................................................... 26
Acknowledgment ............................................................................................ 30
Chapter 1
A Historical Overview of Buddhism in the Western Narrative .................... 31
1.1. Introduction .............................................................................................. 31
1.2. Ancient Encounters ................................................................................. 31
1.3. Aesop’s Tales of Buddha’s Rebirths ....................................................... 36
1.4. Philosophical Affi nity: Pyrrho and Nāgārjuna ................................... 38
1.5. Paralells and Infl uence on Early Christian Spiritual Literature ...... 40
1.6. Buddhadharma in the Gospels .............................................................. 43
1.7. Christian Missionarries........................................................................... 47
1.8. Buddha as a Christian Saint: the Story of Josaphat and Barlām ..... 49
1.9. First European Buddhists, China Craze and Th eosophy .................. 51
1.10. Immigrant Buddhists ............................................................................ 53
1.11. Approximations: Schopenhauer, Nietsche,
Weber, Fromm, Jung .............................................................................. 55
1.12. American Transcendentalists .............................................................. 59
1.13. Th e First Western Buddhist Poem:
Arnold’s Th e Light of Asia ..................................................................... 60
1.14. Th e First Western Buddhist Inspired Novel: Kipling’s Kim ........... 61
1.15. Hesse’s Siddhartha, Hilton’s Lost Horizon
and Lama Yongden’s Mipham ............................................................ 62
1.16. Beat Generation ..................................................................................... 65
1.17. Towards Modern Buddhist Infl uenced Literature .......................... 69
1.18. Modern Buddhist-Christian Dialogue ............................................... 72
1.19. Buddhism in Contemporary Western Art and Culture ................. 74
1.20. Buddhism and Western Science ......................................................... 75
1.21. Western Buddhism ................................................................................ 76
1.22. Recapitulation ......................................................................................... 78
Chapter 2
Th e Death of the Text ............................................................................................. 79
2.1. Introduction .............................................................................................. 79
2.2. Candrakīrti’s Sevenfold Reasoning on Literature .............................. 80
2.3. Do Literature Studies Exist? ................................................................... 84
2.4. What Is Literature? .................................................................................. 87
2.5. What Is a Literary Work? ....................................................................... 89
2.6. Do Texts Exist? ........................................................................................ 96
2.7. Do Words Exist? .....................................................................................100
2.8. Th e Meaning of the Meaning in the Analytical Philosophy ..........102
2.9. Th e Concepts of Concepts
in Cognitive Psychology and Semantics ............................................106
2.10. Buddhist Th eory of Communication ...............................................109
2.11. Progressive Stages of Understanding Emptiness ..........................111
2.12. Emptiness in Literary Studies ............................................................116
2.13. Literature as a Process .........................................................................118
2.14. Conclusion .............................................................................................122
Chapter 3
Western Buddhist’s Refl ections on Interpretation of Literature .................124
3.1. Introduction ............................................................................................124
3.2. Interpretation: Understanding, Overstanding and Using ..............125
3.3. Literature and Ethics ............................................................................128
3.4. Art versus Philosophy ..........................................................................132
3.5. Literature as Skillful Means ..................................................................136
3.6. Speaking the Unspeakable ....................................................................138
3.7. Is Author Really Dead? Analyzing Buddhist Source Texts ............142
3.8. Preconcived Ideas as Interpretative Bias ...........................................147
3.9. Th e Matter of Taste ................................................................................149
3.10. Relinquishing All Views on Reality ...................................................150
3.11. Existing Buddhist Analyses of Literature ........................................152
3.12. Buddhist, Benefi cial and Samsaric Literature ................................165
3.13. Buddhist Perspective on Literature ..................................................171
3.14. Which Happiness Can Literature Provide? ...................................176
3.15. Escape versus Interpretative Literature ...........................................179
3.16. Author: Doctor or Patient? ................................................................182
3.17. Th erapeutic Value of Writing ............................................................184
3.18. Dubious Quality ...................................................................................187
3.19. Literature Good and Bad... but for Whom? ....................................191
3.20. Mindful Reading ...................................................................................193
3.21. Buddha in a Library .............................................................................195
3.22. Buddhist Reading .................................................................................196
3.23. Should Buddhists Read? .....................................................................201
3.24. Happiness, Suff ering and Kitsch .......................................................202
3.25. Catharsis ................................................................................................205
3.26. Mimesis, Copying, and Suchness ....................................................206
3.27. Artistic Ego Fearing Infl uence ...........................................................209
3.28. Th e World Is a Stage ............................................................................212
3.29. Literature and Science.........................................................................214
3.30. Art for Art’s Sake and the Pure View ...............................................216
3.31. Kinds and Roles of Critical Activity .................................................220
3.32. Th e Four Reliances ...............................................................................222
3.33. On Language of Critical Analysis ....................................................225
3.34. On Methodology of Analysis .............................................................227
3.35. Attitude to the History of Literature and Western Culture .........228
3.36. Recapitulation: Songs of Emptiness ................................................232
Chapter 4
Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment in the Light
of Tibetan Buddhist Understanding of Pride and Karma .....................234
4.1. Introduction ............................................................................................234
4.2. Pride and Crime .....................................................................................235
4.3. Karma and Crime ...................................................................................242
4.4. Recapitulation: Love Is the Answer ....................................................246
Chapter 5
Emptiness, Lightness and Heaviness in Milan Kundera’s
Unbearable Lightness of Being. A Buddhist Perspective ........................248
Works Cited ...........................................................................................................260

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