Language Conducive to Awakening: Categories of Language Use in East Asia Buddhism

The academic study of religion often assumes the Romantic view that language interferes with the direct experience of reality. In turn this view has been projected onto Buddhism. Within the Buddhist tradition itself, however, a variety of uses of language have been made, many of which demo nstrate a positive view of language as being conducive to awakening. "Language Conducive to Awakening" attempts first to develop a typology of the various ways in which language has been used within the East Asian Buddhist tradition. This typology distinguishes between discursive, cognitive and non- cognitive uses of language. Following this, the theoretical ramifications of these uses of language are explored: the need for a plurality of explanations, the addition of mnemonic and reformative functions to those generally accepted in Western logic, and the foundational differences resulting from Buddhism's being based on the Madhyamaka rejection of metaphysics, rather than on the neo-Platonic dualism which informs both the Western religious tradition and the academic study of religion. In der Reihe "Buddhismus- Studien/Buddhist Studies" erscheinen deutsch- und englischsprachige Monographien, die weithin unbekannte Aspekte des Buddhismus erschließen und zu weitergehenden Untersuchungen stimulieren sollen. Die einzelnen Studien behandeln die unterschiedlichsten Themen, und dies aus der Sicht verschiedener Disziplinen und im Licht verschiedener Hypothesen. Sie sind geeignet, einseitige Vorstellungen über den "Buddhismus" durch ein treffenderes Bild zu ersetzen.