Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
18
Introduction
rejectsdichotomybetweenthesubjectandtheobjectinfavorofholisticex-
perienceanddescriptionofreality,asonemakesnosensewithouttheoth-
er.Alldescriptionsaretemporary,andinevitablyhistorical,biased,experi-
entialandinterpretative.Terefore,aliterarytextisnotgivenonceandfor
all,butitisbeingconstantlyre-interpretedaccordingtoinstitutionalcon-
ventions,vocabulariesandreaders’opinions.Asthereisnoabsolutetruthof
thetexttobefound,atrueinterpretationisitsmostpersuasivere-descrip-
tion,notnecessarilybasedonan–anywayimpossible–absoluteadequa-
cytoatextitself.Teonlytruthvalidatorsofthoughtsandideasareuben-
eficialinteractions”withtheworldandotherpeople.Buddhism,however,
seemstobeevenmorepracticalthanpragmatisminitssearchforanulti-
matebeneficialinteraction:
IndiscussingPeirce’swritingsonthenatureofscienceandscientif-
icmethod,Icited,amongotherpassageshisobservationthat’True
scienceisdistinctivelythestudyofuselessthings’.TeBuddhistphi-
losopherwithwhomIcomparedPeircewastheseventhcenturyIn-
dianBuddhistphilosopherDharmakirti[who]statesthatdiscerning
usefulfromuselessthings(artha-anartha-vivecana)isthecentral
taskofhisphilosophicalproject;reason,hesays,istobeusedtoena-
bleonetogetwhatisbeneficialandtoavoidwhatoughttobeavoid-
ed…theBuddhistmentalitywouldbeapoorchoiceforsomeonein-
terestedinlearningforthesheerjoyofdiscovery,andthescientific
mentalitywouldbeapoorchoiceforapersondeterminedtoachieve
nirvdn
.a(Hayes2009:1–2).
Terefore,fromtheBuddhistperspectivetruthisnotmerelywhatcanbe
philosophicallypersuadedtoothers,sincehistoryclearlyshowspropagan-
dacanconvincepeopletoperformalsonon-meritoriousactivities,butitis
rathertheliberatinginfluenceonanindividualresultinginanultimateben-
eficialinteraction–theexperienceoftruthcalledenlightenment.
TepracticalapplicationofBuddhismtoliteraturestudies,anditsrela-
tiontoethics,willbeanalyzedinchapterthree.Itwillshowthatevencon-
sideringinevitabledifferencesbetweenWesternliterarystudiesandBud-
dhistphilosophy,amarriageofthetwoispossible,andevenmightprove
beneficialforboth.