What do you think?
Rate this book
Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies: Buddhist Philosophy from 100 to 350 A.D
excellent reference work. part of series. information on request.
- GenresBuddhismPhilosophy
827 pages, Hardcover
First published April 13, 2011
1 person is currently reading
36 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 2, 2020
The venerable University of Washington emeritus professor Karl H. Potter has directed an international team of scholars which has produced the most extensive survey of the philosophy of India ever accomplished, a Herculean effort of 28 volumes (when complete), taking up about four feet of shelf space. The series attempts to provide a definitive summary of current knowledge about each of the systems of classical Indian philosophy. Each volume consists of an extended analytical essay together with summaries of every extant work of the system, a Bibliography, and a Glossary. Various volumes include treatments of Nyaya-Vaisesika, Samkhya, Yoga, Purvamimamsa, various Vedanta systems and certain philosophically important sects of Saivism and Vaisnavism, as well as Jain and Buddhist philosophy. The aim of this 28-volume Encyclopedia is to present the contents of different streams of Indian Philosophical texts citing experts on the points that seem debatable. As a whole, this series should give serious pause to any western philosopher who’s been trained to think that philosophy begins and ends with the Greek-European tradition.
From the inside front flap: This [volume 8] (all 827 pages) constitutes the second devoted to Buddhist philosophy. It takes up where its predecessor, Volume 7 of this Encyclopedia, leaves off, around the beginning of the second century A.D. This is a period still not well understood, with a great deal of scholarly disagreement remaining about many aspects of the history and thought of the period. The editor of the volume has tried to utilize the most up-to-date scholarship known to us.
The editors describe the five volumes on Buddhist philosophy as follows: The volumes on Buddhist philosophy treat the subject altogether chronologically, beginning with the Buddha and ending when Buddhist thought leaves India around 14th century A.D. The purpose behind this approach is to avoid imposing more divisions into Buddhism than are historically apparent. The scope of these volumes is limited to summaries of the texts that are of philosophical interest throughout, theoretical rather than practical in their intended function, and polemical or at least expository in a context where defense of one view among alternatives is appropriate. These criteria have been interpreted here broadly and loosely. In these volumes dealing with Buddhism, the original Sutras (the Pali Sutras), the earliest literature regularly ascribed to the Buddha or his immediate disciples, is not summarized.
The present volume 8 begins with a three-chapter, 75-page introduction on this early period of what would eventually become Mahayana Buddhism. It continues with summaries of works such as the original Prajnaparamita literature appearing around the beginning of the new millennium, the centrally important works of Nagarjuna and Arjadeva, then later prajnaparamita works, and summarizes many well-known sutras that would eventually become the Mahayana canon, works such as the Heart and Diamond Sutras, The Gandavyuha (Entry into the Realm of Reality) sutra, Dasabhumika (The Ten Stages) sutra, the Lankavatara and Samdhinirmocana) (Third Turning) sutras, plus hundreds of lesser known texts, culminating in the 3rd century works of Asanga and Vasubhandu.
These volumes provide an excellent way for a student of Buddhism to get a general sense of Buddhist history and its relationship to the many other schools, philosophers, and texts that make up the philosophy of India.
There are some disappointments to the Encyclopedia volumes on Buddhism. One is that all volumes are published in India by Motitlal Banarsidass (https://www.mlbd.in/) so they're not promoted well in the West and their production quality isn’t the greatest. Another related issue is that there are no Chinese characters used, only strings of Pinyin transliterations (e.g., Bei jing instead of 北 京). This usually isn’t a problem with other forms of Indian philosophy but since so much of Buddhist research is in Chinese (and other languages, particularly Tibetan), this can be a problem because one sometimes has to guess what character the transliterations refer to.
This is not a criticism but a note to the reader: since the Encyclopedia focuses on India, a few Buddhist texts that originated in India which went on to have huge influence in East Asia aren't given much attention. For example, in this volume, the summary of what is perhaps the single most important Buddhist text of East Asia, the Lotus Sutra, is a measly two pages. Despite its huge influence in East Asian cultures, this Indian text neither has much philosophical content nor did it have much influence in India, so its summary here is perfunctory. Other texts which originated in India which also went on to have influence in non-Indian cultures (e.g., the Lankavatara), are given worthy summaries, mainly because they satisfy the criteria: 1) have philosophical content, 2) influenced philosophical thought in India. I suppose one could quibble with what constitutes “philosophical content,” that it is to some degree a culturally relative judgment, but it’s clear that the choices for what to include and not include were not solely Mr. Potter’s but the judgments of teams of scholars both Indian and Western.
The other four volumes on Buddhism in Potter’s Encyclopedia series are as follows:
[First]
Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies (Vol. 7)
Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 A.D.
Hardcover: 636 pages
by Karl H. Potter with Robert E. Buswell, Padmanabh S. Jaini, and Noble Ross Reat
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass; 1st Edition, 1996
The present volume undertakes to summarize the gist of these philosophical teachings, termed Abhidharma, from the first texts that developed after the Buddha up to and including the mammoth text called Mahavibhasa, generated from convention held in the first or second century A.D.
[Third]
Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies (Vol. 9)
Buddhist Philosophy from 350 to 600 A.D.
Hardcover: 762 pages
by Karl H. Potter
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass; 1st Edition, 2003
From the inside front flap: This, the third Volume in this Encyclopedia to deal with Buddhist philosophy, takes the reader from the middle of the sixth. Many of the authors and texts treated here are not well known to the casual student of Buddhism. The most important author is clearly Dignaga, who is almost entirely responsible for turning Indian Buddhism toward an exhaustive analysis of epistemic considerations and in particular of inferential reasoning. But other author whose works are summarized here deserve to be better known, in particular the rival Yogacara commentators Buddhapalita and Bhavya, the latter of whom in particular introduces for the first time into Buddhism contrasts between the viewpoint of his particular brand of Buddhism and all the other systems of contemporary India, and not just the Buddhists.
Contents: Preface, Abbreviations, PART ONE: Introduction, Historical Overview, Abhidharma Developments, Epistemology, Logic and Language, PART TWO: Summaries of Works, Endnotes, Glossary, Index.
[Fourth]
Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies (Vol. 21)
Buddhist Philosophy from 600 to 750 A.D.
Hardcover: 662 pages
by Karl H. Potter
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass; 1st Edition (January 1, 2017)
From the inside front flap: The fourth volume of the Encyclopedia to deal with Buddhist philosophers of India, focuses on Chandrakirti and Dharmakirti, along with a few others (importantly Shantideva) who appear to have lived in the period of 600-750 CE. The volume consists of summaries of these philosophers, preceded by an Introduction by Eli Franco and Karen Lang. Topic of interests discussed in both the Introduction and summaries include ontology, epistemology, soteriology, inference, causation, and (in Shantideva’s case) ethics.
[Fifth and Last]
Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Vol.22
Buddhist Philosophy from 750 Onward
Hardcover: 691 pages
by Karl H. Potter
ISBN-10: 8120841530
ISBN-13: 978-8120841536
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass; 1st Edition (January 1, 2017)
From the inside front flap: This is the fifth and last volume of the Encyclopedia to deal with Buddhist philosophy of India. The volume consists of summaries of the works of Buddhist philosophers who lived from the mid-8th century to the early 13th century (Santaraksita, Vimalamitra, Kamalasila, Haribhadra, Atisa). All major systems of Buddhism—Sautrantika, Vaibhasika, Madhyamaka, and Yogacara—were full developed at the beginning of this period, and a time of syncretism was underway. Such pivotal figures as Santaraksita were integrating various of these schools into an ordered hierarchy that could lead a person from a state of greatest ignorance to an enlightenment that would end the cycle of rebirths. As a source of philosophical literature, Buddhism largely disappeared from India after this period, although it continued to flourish in other parts of Asia such as Tibet.
[Revised, corrected, September 21, 2020]
From the inside front flap: This [volume 8] (all 827 pages) constitutes the second devoted to Buddhist philosophy. It takes up where its predecessor, Volume 7 of this Encyclopedia, leaves off, around the beginning of the second century A.D. This is a period still not well understood, with a great deal of scholarly disagreement remaining about many aspects of the history and thought of the period. The editor of the volume has tried to utilize the most up-to-date scholarship known to us.
The editors describe the five volumes on Buddhist philosophy as follows: The volumes on Buddhist philosophy treat the subject altogether chronologically, beginning with the Buddha and ending when Buddhist thought leaves India around 14th century A.D. The purpose behind this approach is to avoid imposing more divisions into Buddhism than are historically apparent. The scope of these volumes is limited to summaries of the texts that are of philosophical interest throughout, theoretical rather than practical in their intended function, and polemical or at least expository in a context where defense of one view among alternatives is appropriate. These criteria have been interpreted here broadly and loosely. In these volumes dealing with Buddhism, the original Sutras (the Pali Sutras), the earliest literature regularly ascribed to the Buddha or his immediate disciples, is not summarized.
The present volume 8 begins with a three-chapter, 75-page introduction on this early period of what would eventually become Mahayana Buddhism. It continues with summaries of works such as the original Prajnaparamita literature appearing around the beginning of the new millennium, the centrally important works of Nagarjuna and Arjadeva, then later prajnaparamita works, and summarizes many well-known sutras that would eventually become the Mahayana canon, works such as the Heart and Diamond Sutras, The Gandavyuha (Entry into the Realm of Reality) sutra, Dasabhumika (The Ten Stages) sutra, the Lankavatara and Samdhinirmocana) (Third Turning) sutras, plus hundreds of lesser known texts, culminating in the 3rd century works of Asanga and Vasubhandu.
These volumes provide an excellent way for a student of Buddhism to get a general sense of Buddhist history and its relationship to the many other schools, philosophers, and texts that make up the philosophy of India.
There are some disappointments to the Encyclopedia volumes on Buddhism. One is that all volumes are published in India by Motitlal Banarsidass (https://www.mlbd.in/) so they're not promoted well in the West and their production quality isn’t the greatest. Another related issue is that there are no Chinese characters used, only strings of Pinyin transliterations (e.g., Bei jing instead of 北 京). This usually isn’t a problem with other forms of Indian philosophy but since so much of Buddhist research is in Chinese (and other languages, particularly Tibetan), this can be a problem because one sometimes has to guess what character the transliterations refer to.
This is not a criticism but a note to the reader: since the Encyclopedia focuses on India, a few Buddhist texts that originated in India which went on to have huge influence in East Asia aren't given much attention. For example, in this volume, the summary of what is perhaps the single most important Buddhist text of East Asia, the Lotus Sutra, is a measly two pages. Despite its huge influence in East Asian cultures, this Indian text neither has much philosophical content nor did it have much influence in India, so its summary here is perfunctory. Other texts which originated in India which also went on to have influence in non-Indian cultures (e.g., the Lankavatara), are given worthy summaries, mainly because they satisfy the criteria: 1) have philosophical content, 2) influenced philosophical thought in India. I suppose one could quibble with what constitutes “philosophical content,” that it is to some degree a culturally relative judgment, but it’s clear that the choices for what to include and not include were not solely Mr. Potter’s but the judgments of teams of scholars both Indian and Western.
The other four volumes on Buddhism in Potter’s Encyclopedia series are as follows:
[First]
Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies (Vol. 7)
Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 A.D.
Hardcover: 636 pages
by Karl H. Potter with Robert E. Buswell, Padmanabh S. Jaini, and Noble Ross Reat
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass; 1st Edition, 1996
The present volume undertakes to summarize the gist of these philosophical teachings, termed Abhidharma, from the first texts that developed after the Buddha up to and including the mammoth text called Mahavibhasa, generated from convention held in the first or second century A.D.
[Third]
Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies (Vol. 9)
Buddhist Philosophy from 350 to 600 A.D.
Hardcover: 762 pages
by Karl H. Potter
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass; 1st Edition, 2003
From the inside front flap: This, the third Volume in this Encyclopedia to deal with Buddhist philosophy, takes the reader from the middle of the sixth. Many of the authors and texts treated here are not well known to the casual student of Buddhism. The most important author is clearly Dignaga, who is almost entirely responsible for turning Indian Buddhism toward an exhaustive analysis of epistemic considerations and in particular of inferential reasoning. But other author whose works are summarized here deserve to be better known, in particular the rival Yogacara commentators Buddhapalita and Bhavya, the latter of whom in particular introduces for the first time into Buddhism contrasts between the viewpoint of his particular brand of Buddhism and all the other systems of contemporary India, and not just the Buddhists.
Contents: Preface, Abbreviations, PART ONE: Introduction, Historical Overview, Abhidharma Developments, Epistemology, Logic and Language, PART TWO: Summaries of Works, Endnotes, Glossary, Index.
[Fourth]
Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies (Vol. 21)
Buddhist Philosophy from 600 to 750 A.D.
Hardcover: 662 pages
by Karl H. Potter
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass; 1st Edition (January 1, 2017)
From the inside front flap: The fourth volume of the Encyclopedia to deal with Buddhist philosophers of India, focuses on Chandrakirti and Dharmakirti, along with a few others (importantly Shantideva) who appear to have lived in the period of 600-750 CE. The volume consists of summaries of these philosophers, preceded by an Introduction by Eli Franco and Karen Lang. Topic of interests discussed in both the Introduction and summaries include ontology, epistemology, soteriology, inference, causation, and (in Shantideva’s case) ethics.
[Fifth and Last]
Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Vol.22
Buddhist Philosophy from 750 Onward
Hardcover: 691 pages
by Karl H. Potter
ISBN-10: 8120841530
ISBN-13: 978-8120841536
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass; 1st Edition (January 1, 2017)
From the inside front flap: This is the fifth and last volume of the Encyclopedia to deal with Buddhist philosophy of India. The volume consists of summaries of the works of Buddhist philosophers who lived from the mid-8th century to the early 13th century (Santaraksita, Vimalamitra, Kamalasila, Haribhadra, Atisa). All major systems of Buddhism—Sautrantika, Vaibhasika, Madhyamaka, and Yogacara—were full developed at the beginning of this period, and a time of syncretism was underway. Such pivotal figures as Santaraksita were integrating various of these schools into an ordered hierarchy that could lead a person from a state of greatest ignorance to an enlightenment that would end the cycle of rebirths. As a source of philosophical literature, Buddhism largely disappeared from India after this period, although it continued to flourish in other parts of Asia such as Tibet.
[Revised, corrected, September 21, 2020]
Displaying 1 of 1 review