Patterns of Transcendence in the Early Buddhist Tradition: The Place of Wilfred Cantwell Smith in the Western Study of the Buddhist Tradition
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53762/alqamar.06.02.e07Keywords:
Theravada, Dharma, Nirvana, Transcendence, Self, Faith, Symbols, BuddhologyAbstract
Abstract
This paper[i] examines the ideas of Wilfred Cantwell Smith about the early Buddhist tradition, and his place in the Western studies of Buddhism. It is discussed how the initial efforts of Western scholars paved the way for Buddhist studies to become an academic discipline in European universities. Since the study is about the early Buddhism, the Anglo-German school is focused for their contribution to the study of earlier school known as Theravada. The Theravada tradition strictly rejected the notion of God or divine. Therefore, concepts-such as- Self, Nirvana, and Dharma are of utmost importance in Western interpretive study of early Buddhism. The paper discusses the differences among the Western scholars regarding the meaning of these concepts in order to show Wilfred Cantwell Smith’s contributions in this regard. Smith’s emphasis on the faith of a Buddhist is interconnected with his critique of the notion of ‘religion.’ He is of the view that ‘religion’ as a concept has belittled the importance of faith in transcendence under the impact of modern Western secularism. He significantly emphasizes the notion of Dharma to describe faith in the early Buddhism. Smith considers Dharma as the transcendence with which a faithful Buddhist is involved. This, however, does not preclude Nirvana as an ultimate the transcendence. Hence, if Nirvana is conceptually an unapproachable transcendence that is beyond mundane, Dharma is an achievable transcendence in the mundane realm, according to Smith. Dharma as a transcendent moral ideal, thus, becomes the object of faith in the early Buddhist tradition. In this way, Smith, in addition to his unique analysis, agrees with Western Buddhologists who are not willing to deny divine in the Theravada tradition despite the tradition’s unequivocal rejection of such ideas. [i] The paper is partly based on the PhD dissertation entitled ‘The Notion of Transcendence in the Study of Religion: A Comparative Study between Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Ismail Raji al-Faruqi’ written by the first author of this paper.
References
The paper is partly based on the PhD dissertation entitled ‘The Notion of Transcendence in the Study of Religion: A Comparative Study between Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Ismail Raji al-Faruqi’ written by the first author of this paper.
Eva K. Neumaier Dargyay, “Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Buddhism, And The Divine,” Brill, Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 4, no. 1/2 (1992): 72.
Martin Baumann, “Buddhism in Europe: Past, Present, Prospects,” In Westward Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Asia, ed. Charles S. Prebish and Martin Baumann (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 86.
Audrius Beinorius, “Buddhism in the Early European Imagination: A Historical Perspective,” Acta Orientalia Vilnesia 6.2 (2005): 15.
Prebish and Baumann, ed., Westward Dharma, 86.
Peter Harvey, An Introduction To Buddhism: teaching, history, and practice (Cambridge University Press, 1990), 304.
Prebish and Baumann, ed., 87.
Harvey, An Introduction To Buddhism, 303.
Elizabeth J. Harris, Theravada Buddhism and the British Encounter (USA: Routledge, 2006), 127.
Harvey, An Introduction To Buddhism, 301.
Almond, The British Discovery of Buddhism, 95.
Prebish and Baumann, ed., Westward Dharma, 86.
Thomas A. Tweed, The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912 (Indian University Press, 1922), 53.
Prebish and Baumann, ed., Westward Dharma, 91.
Schumann, An Outline of Its Teachings and Schools, 15.
Schumann, 15.
Charles S. Prebish, and Damien Keown. Buddhism: The Ebook. 2nd ed., (Online Edition, 2005), 306.
Charles S. Prebish, and Damien Keown, 302.
Becker, Breaking the Circle, 24.
Becker, 25.
Becker, 25.
Bhikkhu Bodhi. Trans., The Middle Length Discourse of the Budddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya (Boston: Wisdom Publication, 1995), 593.
Becker, Breaking the Circle, 25.
Max Muller, Lectures on Science and Religion: 1872 (Kessinger Publishing, 2003), 166.
Max Muller, Studies in Buddhism (New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1888), 57.
Max Muller, 57.
Becker, Breaking the Circle, 26.
Hermann Oldenberg, Buddha: His Life, His Doctrine, His Order, trans., William Hoey (London: Williams And Norgate, 1882), 273.
Paul Dahlke, Buddhist Essays, trans., Bhikkhu Silacara (London: Macmillan And Co., Limited, 1908), 99.
"Nirvana," in A Dictionary of the Pali Language, ed. Robert Caesar Childers (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co, 1875), 266.
L. De La Vallee Pousssin, The Way to Nirvana (Cambridge University Press, 1917), 116-17.
Walapola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, 2nd ed (New York, Grove Press, 1959), 57.
Becker, Breaking the Circle, 28.
Joaquin Perez-Remon, Self and Non-Self in Early Buddhism (New York: Mouton Publishers, 1980), 153.
Becker, 82.
H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, vol.2 (New York: J. W. Bouton, 1877), 1.
Peter Harvey, The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvana in Early Buddhism (Routledge Curzon, 1995), 19.
I. B. Horner, 31.
Edward Conze, Buddhist Thought in India: Three Phases of Buddhist Philosophy, 2nd ed (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1983), 29.
George Grimm, Doctrine of the Buddha, ed. M. Keller-Grimm and Max Hoppe (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publications, 1958), 6.
Perez-Remon, Self and Non-Self in Early Buddhism, 7.
Perez-Remon, 153.
Becker, Breaking the Circle, 35.
Becker, 36.
H. T. Colebrooke, Miscellaneous Essays (London: WM. H. Allen And Co, 1837), 401.
David Kalupahana, Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism (The University of Press of Hawaii, 1976), 180.
Steven Collins, Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism (Cambridge University Press, 1982,183.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion (New York: New American Liberary, 1964), 173.
Smith, 118.
Smith, 119.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, What Is Scripture? A Comparative Approach (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 225.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Faith and Belief (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1979), 126.
Smith, 144.
Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion, 141.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Islam in Modern History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1957), 8.
Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion, 65.
Smith, 309n17.
Smith, 55.
Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha (USA: Icon Group International, Inc., 2005), 35.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Questions of Religious Truth (New York: Charles Scribner‘s Sons, 1967), 13.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Faith and Belief (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1979), 27.
Smith, 22.
Smith, 23.
Smith, 27.
Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion, 240n20.
Smith, Faith and Belief, 31.
Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion, 310n22.
Smith, Faith and Belief, 27.
Smith, What Is Scripture?, 174.
Smith, Faith and Belief, 31.
Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion, 55.
Smith, Faith and Belief, 52.
Smith, What Is Scripture?, 172.
Smith, 173.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Patterns of Faith around the World (Oxford: Oneworld, 1998), 50.
Smith, 52.
Smith, 59.
Smith, 60.
Smith, Faith and Belief, 32.
Smith, 32.
Smith, 32.
Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion, 280n48.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, “Thoughts on Transcendence,” Zeitschrift Für Religions- Und Geistesgeschichte 42, no. 1 (1990): 46.
Smith, 46.
Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion, 162.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Religious Diversity: Essays, 1st ed, A Harper Forum Book (New York: Harper & Row, 1976).xx.
Ismaʾil R. Al-Faruqi, Al Tawḥīd: Its Implications for Thought and Life, 2nd ed, Issues in Islamic Thought 4 (Herndon, VA: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1992), 39.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2023 Al-Qamar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
