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Empty Words: Buddhist Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Interpretation
This volume collects Jay Garfield's essays on Madhyamaka, Yog-ac-ara, Buddhist ethics and cross-cultural hermeneutics. The first part addresses Madhyamaka, supplementing Garfield's translation of Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way (OUP, 1995), a foundational philosophical text by the Buddhist
saint Nagarjuna. Garfield then considers the work of philosophical rivals, and sheds important light on the relation of Nagarjuna's views to other Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical positions.
saint Nagarjuna. Garfield then considers the work of philosophical rivals, and sheds important light on the relation of Nagarjuna's views to other Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical positions.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
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September 21, 2017
Actually, I have only read the parts of the book on Madhyamaka Buddhism. I shall finish the rest of the essays at a later date.
Garfield does the same excellent job of explaining the thought of Nagarjuna as he did is Engaging Buddhism, just in a briefer manner. His technique is mostly to bring the reader into Buddhist philosophy in a straightforward but technical way, discussing the themes as he would in western philosophy. His aim is philosophical, not religious or Buddhist practice.
I read this as a memory jogger on Garfield's book, Engaging Buddhism. My goal, after I finish Westerhoff's, Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka, is to finally engage with Garfield's translation of The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Something about which I am more than apprehensive. I have thus far avoided all original texts by Buddhist philosophers.
Garfield does the same excellent job of explaining the thought of Nagarjuna as he did is Engaging Buddhism, just in a briefer manner. His technique is mostly to bring the reader into Buddhist philosophy in a straightforward but technical way, discussing the themes as he would in western philosophy. His aim is philosophical, not religious or Buddhist practice.
I read this as a memory jogger on Garfield's book, Engaging Buddhism. My goal, after I finish Westerhoff's, Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka, is to finally engage with Garfield's translation of The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Something about which I am more than apprehensive. I have thus far avoided all original texts by Buddhist philosophers.
April 23, 2022
Jay Garfield's Empty Words is a challenging but highly rewarding set of essays that reveal his deep scholarship on Buddhist philosophy and its growing influence on western academic philosophers. I have been working on one essay at a time, chewing and digesting slowly, researching along the way, and coming away enriched and more appreciative of the slow but steady engagement of Buddhist philosophy by western philosophers. Garfield surely is among the leaders of this engagement with the presentation in this volume.
The essays are divided into three sections: the first five essays deal with Madhyamaka philosophy, the second four essays with Yogacara philosophy, and the final group of essays discuss Buddhism in the context of western philosophy. Throughout the book Garfield presents Buddhist philosophical ideas with a keen eye to western philosophy, often making fascinating comparisons such as using the perspectives of Yogacara idealism to interpret the Berkeley, Kant, and Schopenhauer.
All of the essays are fascinating but here are the titles of a few of my favorites:
1. Epoche and Shunyata: Skepticism East and West
2. Nagarjuna and the Limits of Thought (w/ Graham Priest)
3. The Sounds of Silence: Ineffability and the Limits of Language in Madhyamaka and Yogacara
4. Buddhism and Democracy
The second essay above with Graham Priest is also part of Priest's own book Beyond the Limits of Thought which explores this theme of limits, paradoxes, and contradictions in the context of western philosophy. Highly recommended.
I can't imagine there's a philosopher alive who would not be interested in these essays. At long last, western philosophers have begun to engage non-western philosophy outside the Greek tradition and the world of ideas and wisdom is becoming immensely richer for it!
The essays are divided into three sections: the first five essays deal with Madhyamaka philosophy, the second four essays with Yogacara philosophy, and the final group of essays discuss Buddhism in the context of western philosophy. Throughout the book Garfield presents Buddhist philosophical ideas with a keen eye to western philosophy, often making fascinating comparisons such as using the perspectives of Yogacara idealism to interpret the Berkeley, Kant, and Schopenhauer.
All of the essays are fascinating but here are the titles of a few of my favorites:
1. Epoche and Shunyata: Skepticism East and West
2. Nagarjuna and the Limits of Thought (w/ Graham Priest)
3. The Sounds of Silence: Ineffability and the Limits of Language in Madhyamaka and Yogacara
4. Buddhism and Democracy
The second essay above with Graham Priest is also part of Priest's own book Beyond the Limits of Thought which explores this theme of limits, paradoxes, and contradictions in the context of western philosophy. Highly recommended.
I can't imagine there's a philosopher alive who would not be interested in these essays. At long last, western philosophers have begun to engage non-western philosophy outside the Greek tradition and the world of ideas and wisdom is becoming immensely richer for it!
January 16, 2026
if you like this review i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com
230811: excellent essays. this is academic work. necessary to know a lot of buddhism, Mahayana and yogacara. know European philosophers to contrast... chapters have been previously published as essays...
part 1: madyamaka, begins with that essential impetus of philosophy east and west, skepticism...
ch 1- epoch and sunyata showing parallels and differences, there are great, extensive quotes from nagarjuna, particularly 'treatise on the middle way' to express concept of sunyata/emptiness, which reward careful examination. Wittgenstein has his say. this is useful corrective (dissolving) of many forms of dogmatic (western?) philosophy, such as the insistence on 'causal powers' rather than simple 'conditions' that enable this or that action, as reading of causation. this error is most focefully seen in fodor's extreme, individualistic, scientific realism. read this.
ch 2- dependent arising and the emptiness of emptiness, again great quotes, argues that everything is interdependent and as such has no 'inherent essence', no 'being from its own side'. in contrast to western philosophy, search for ground, for absolute, bd is entirely insistent on no ground, on the abyss of being. in this way everything is 'empty'- not nonexistent but very existent only if seen interdependent, as great, famous quote notes that these terms are the same. and then to be 'empty' is itself 'empty', is itself interdependent on 'conditions', and thus is different from the appearance/reality dualism or phenomena/numenon of Western thought...
ch 3- emptiness and pointlessness, nagarjuna insists again on total 'emptiness' but now through admonition that to abandon all views but emptiness is not to abandon 'all' views. 'views and entities' are 'positionless and emptiness is not an object of knowledge. this is where 'conventional' and 'ultimate' truths are deployed, where convention is how we interact with this world, our fellows, but must recognise all is empty...
ch 4- nagarjuna's theory of causality is actually where he begins 'treatise on the middle way' and the author argues the centrality of this theory, for, after all 'karma' means 'action', and once we have eliminated 'powers' there must be some affective 'cause' in bd universe. ngj is perhaps difficult to prise his assertions from cryptic poetry, which insists 'cause' is not in the 'caused' not in the 'causing agent' but in the interdependent/multiple/innumerable 'causes'. the author takes issue with the doctrine of rebirth, viewing it as holdover from hindu culture and not necessary...
ch 5- least readable for me
part 2: yogacara
ch 6- vasbanhu argues emptiness is not of emptiness but of subject/object duality. yogacara uses cittamatra is 'mind-only' or 'consciousness-only' and insists that while everything else is indeed empty, though exist, thoughts are not interdependent, thoughts are the 'essence' of being. this he argues by positing the 'three natures': 1) emptiness of emptiness- imagined, 2) other dependent, 3) consummate. anything in the mind (only place it can be) must participate in these three. I have read much more Mahayana than yogacara but it seems to me only further elaboration of buddhist thought as in ch 8...
ch 7- examines vasubanhu's treatise on the three natures and naturelessness in greater detail...
ch 8- Western idealism through Indian eyes, now this is what I was most hopeful from this book, though it might be too technical and require too much knowledge of named philosophers west (Berkeley, kant, Schopenhauer) and east (cittamatra philosophers, vasubandhu) and their ideas and assertions. first of which the author must argue against certain western commentators that yogacara is indeed buddhist idealism. then vasubadhu must characterise 1) each object has imagined nature 2) other-dependent nature (on the mind) 3) consummate nature when it and idea of it are same. objects do not exist without mind. these three aspects are interdependent, mutually implicative, not merely ontological but epistemological as well. to be ideal object is to be of the three natures... to vasubandhu, Berkeley makes good start at idealism, but vulnerable to Kant's criticism that his objects in space an imaginary matter. so Kant decides to create 'transcendental idealism'. his concepts of phenomenal vs ideal reality map well on vasubandhu's three natures but Schopenhauer will note there is noumenal reality found in 'representations' in positive manner as 'will'. all three aspects of idealism as conceived by vasubsandhu are finally here. this chapter ends with some diagnosis of why philosophy departments in the west haven't learned from Indian thought: parochialism, distance etc....
ch 9-14 are less interesting to me after 8. only ones of much interest are 11, 12, 14: democracy and buddhism- satya in satyagraha- philosophy, religion and the hermeneutic imperative...
more
Innovative Buddhist Women: Swimming Against the Stream
Women in the Footsteps of the Buddha: Struggle for Liberation in the Therigatha
Gender Equality in Buddhism
The Vimalakirti Sutra
Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
Buddhism: A Philosophical Approach
What the Buddha Thought
Nietzsche and Buddhist Philosophy
Buddhist Philosophy: A Historical Analysis
Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction
Ethics Embodied: Rethinking Selfhood Through Continental, Japanese, and Feminist Philosophies
After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age
What the Buddha Thought
Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings
Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction
Self, No Self?: Perspectives from Analytical, Phenomenological, and Indian Traditions
After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age
Philosophers of Nothingness: An Essay on the Kyoto School
The Kyoto School
Nishida And Western Philosophy
Buddhism: A Philosophical Approach
What the Buddha Thought
Wisdom Beyond Words: The Buddhist Vision of Ultimate Reality
Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction
An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy
Why I Am Not a Buddhist
Why I Am a Buddhist: No-Nonsense Buddhism with Red Meat and Whiskey
230811: excellent essays. this is academic work. necessary to know a lot of buddhism, Mahayana and yogacara. know European philosophers to contrast... chapters have been previously published as essays...
part 1: madyamaka, begins with that essential impetus of philosophy east and west, skepticism...
ch 1- epoch and sunyata showing parallels and differences, there are great, extensive quotes from nagarjuna, particularly 'treatise on the middle way' to express concept of sunyata/emptiness, which reward careful examination. Wittgenstein has his say. this is useful corrective (dissolving) of many forms of dogmatic (western?) philosophy, such as the insistence on 'causal powers' rather than simple 'conditions' that enable this or that action, as reading of causation. this error is most focefully seen in fodor's extreme, individualistic, scientific realism. read this.
ch 2- dependent arising and the emptiness of emptiness, again great quotes, argues that everything is interdependent and as such has no 'inherent essence', no 'being from its own side'. in contrast to western philosophy, search for ground, for absolute, bd is entirely insistent on no ground, on the abyss of being. in this way everything is 'empty'- not nonexistent but very existent only if seen interdependent, as great, famous quote notes that these terms are the same. and then to be 'empty' is itself 'empty', is itself interdependent on 'conditions', and thus is different from the appearance/reality dualism or phenomena/numenon of Western thought...
ch 3- emptiness and pointlessness, nagarjuna insists again on total 'emptiness' but now through admonition that to abandon all views but emptiness is not to abandon 'all' views. 'views and entities' are 'positionless and emptiness is not an object of knowledge. this is where 'conventional' and 'ultimate' truths are deployed, where convention is how we interact with this world, our fellows, but must recognise all is empty...
ch 4- nagarjuna's theory of causality is actually where he begins 'treatise on the middle way' and the author argues the centrality of this theory, for, after all 'karma' means 'action', and once we have eliminated 'powers' there must be some affective 'cause' in bd universe. ngj is perhaps difficult to prise his assertions from cryptic poetry, which insists 'cause' is not in the 'caused' not in the 'causing agent' but in the interdependent/multiple/innumerable 'causes'. the author takes issue with the doctrine of rebirth, viewing it as holdover from hindu culture and not necessary...
ch 5- least readable for me
part 2: yogacara
ch 6- vasbanhu argues emptiness is not of emptiness but of subject/object duality. yogacara uses cittamatra is 'mind-only' or 'consciousness-only' and insists that while everything else is indeed empty, though exist, thoughts are not interdependent, thoughts are the 'essence' of being. this he argues by positing the 'three natures': 1) emptiness of emptiness- imagined, 2) other dependent, 3) consummate. anything in the mind (only place it can be) must participate in these three. I have read much more Mahayana than yogacara but it seems to me only further elaboration of buddhist thought as in ch 8...
ch 7- examines vasubanhu's treatise on the three natures and naturelessness in greater detail...
ch 8- Western idealism through Indian eyes, now this is what I was most hopeful from this book, though it might be too technical and require too much knowledge of named philosophers west (Berkeley, kant, Schopenhauer) and east (cittamatra philosophers, vasubandhu) and their ideas and assertions. first of which the author must argue against certain western commentators that yogacara is indeed buddhist idealism. then vasubadhu must characterise 1) each object has imagined nature 2) other-dependent nature (on the mind) 3) consummate nature when it and idea of it are same. objects do not exist without mind. these three aspects are interdependent, mutually implicative, not merely ontological but epistemological as well. to be ideal object is to be of the three natures... to vasubandhu, Berkeley makes good start at idealism, but vulnerable to Kant's criticism that his objects in space an imaginary matter. so Kant decides to create 'transcendental idealism'. his concepts of phenomenal vs ideal reality map well on vasubandhu's three natures but Schopenhauer will note there is noumenal reality found in 'representations' in positive manner as 'will'. all three aspects of idealism as conceived by vasubsandhu are finally here. this chapter ends with some diagnosis of why philosophy departments in the west haven't learned from Indian thought: parochialism, distance etc....
ch 9-14 are less interesting to me after 8. only ones of much interest are 11, 12, 14: democracy and buddhism- satya in satyagraha- philosophy, religion and the hermeneutic imperative...
more
Innovative Buddhist Women: Swimming Against the Stream
Women in the Footsteps of the Buddha: Struggle for Liberation in the Therigatha
Gender Equality in Buddhism
The Vimalakirti Sutra
Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
Buddhism: A Philosophical Approach
What the Buddha Thought
Nietzsche and Buddhist Philosophy
Buddhist Philosophy: A Historical Analysis
Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction
Ethics Embodied: Rethinking Selfhood Through Continental, Japanese, and Feminist Philosophies
After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age
What the Buddha Thought
Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings
Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction
Self, No Self?: Perspectives from Analytical, Phenomenological, and Indian Traditions
After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age
Philosophers of Nothingness: An Essay on the Kyoto School
The Kyoto School
Nishida And Western Philosophy
Buddhism: A Philosophical Approach
What the Buddha Thought
Wisdom Beyond Words: The Buddhist Vision of Ultimate Reality
Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction
An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy
Why I Am Not a Buddhist
Why I Am a Buddhist: No-Nonsense Buddhism with Red Meat and Whiskey
April 24, 2019
‘If Western philosophers don’t think that philosophy can lead to liberation from cyclic existence, why do they do it?
A question asked by dozens of Tibetan colleagues and students
‘But of course the point of all this is to attain enlightenment. Otherwise philosophy would be just for fun.
Tsongkhapa, commenting on the motivation for philosophical analysis
Isn’t Mill forgetting that an individual has only the purpose to benefit his society? How can you have complete individual liberty if your society needs you? What would the point of existing be?
...asked by Tibetan students studying Western political philosophy
...philosophy always begins in aporia, always aims at noûs, and always for the sake of eudaimonia. Or to put it another way, philosophy always begins in avidya and samsara, always aims at prajñā, and always for the sake of nirvāna. This quest turns out to be built into the Dasein itself.
A question asked by dozens of Tibetan colleagues and students
‘But of course the point of all this is to attain enlightenment. Otherwise philosophy would be just for fun.
Tsongkhapa, commenting on the motivation for philosophical analysis
Isn’t Mill forgetting that an individual has only the purpose to benefit his society? How can you have complete individual liberty if your society needs you? What would the point of existing be?
...asked by Tibetan students studying Western political philosophy
...philosophy always begins in aporia, always aims at noûs, and always for the sake of eudaimonia. Or to put it another way, philosophy always begins in avidya and samsara, always aims at prajñā, and always for the sake of nirvāna. This quest turns out to be built into the Dasein itself.
December 1, 2020
Jay Garfield is a philosopher and a Buddhist, so this collection of excellent essays is rather dense with words. I needed a dictionary at the beginning to look up the words we rarely use. The first two sections of the book deal with different writers and concepts of Buddhism and I found them very helpful. The last two sections are looking more at how Buddhism relates to the cultures in which it develops, and also how it is possible for Buddhism to abide in different political situations. I wasn't as interested in this part, but found a few new ideas there. Overall, for a non-formally trained philosopher like me, it took some effort to read the book but I found it rewarding.
June 28, 2009
Really top-notch scholarship. The metaphysics and epistemology are really great, the essays on liberal political theory less so. There are enough typos to get on your nerves, which is weird since this is Oxford University Press. Maybe the copy editor got drunk or never showed up. The first eight pages of the essay "Nagarjuna's Theory of Causality: Implications Sacred and Profane" is especially worth reading for its implications for a philosophy of science.
August 28, 2012
Much of it is relatively technical, especially the parts dealing with Nagarjuna, and not suited to those who haven't read the key texts. I did enjoy the comparison with Sextus Empiricus a lot, though.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews