Table of Contents
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
