DVPR 42800:Madhyamaka
Winter Term 2008
Swift Hall 200
Fridays, 1:00-3:50
Instructor: Dan Arnold
Office phone: 702-8276
E-mail: d-arnold@uchicago.edu
Office hours: Swift 401A, Tuesdays, 9:15-11:30 (or by arrangement with instructor);
contact my secretary (Susie McGee, 702-7049) in the Martin Marty Center for an appointment
Required readings:
The following books are (or will soon be) available at the Seminary Coop Bookstore, and on reserve at Regenstein Library:
Jay Garfield, Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way
Kamaleswar Bhattacharya, The Dialectical Method of Nagarjuna
Georges Dreyfus and Sara McClintock, eds., The Svatantrika-Prasangika Distinction
C. W. Huntington, The Emptiness of Emptiness
Moon of Wisdom: Chapter Six of Chandrakirti's Entering the Middle Way...
Malcolm David Eckel, Jnanagarbha's Commentary on the Distinction between the Two Truths
Additional readings (including some selected works, representative of various trends in scholarly interpretation, which are not specifically indicated on this syllabus) are available on reserve -- and mostly on electronic reserve through Chalk.
In addition, students may wish to be aware of the invaluable bibliographic resource that is the Bibliography volume of Karl Potter, ed., Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, which is continuously updated.
Course requirements:
In addition to exemplifying regular attendance and spirited participation in discussion, students will be required to submit, at the end of the term, either a philosophical paper of moderate length (15-25 pages), or an annotated bibliography of works related to some aspect of the philosophical study of Madhyamaka. (For helpful guidance on the kind of exercise I have in mind in the case of the former option, consider philosopher James Pryor's "Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper.") Papers will be due on March 21, and will not be accepted late without prior arrangement.
***********************************************************************************************************************
Schedule of Topics and Readings
WEEK 1 (Friday, January 11):
Introduction to the course. Recommended reading: Dan Arnold, "Madhyamaka Buddhism" (from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy); David Seyfort Ruegg, The Literature of the Madhyamaka School of Philosophy in India (peruse on reserve); Andrew P. Tuck, Comparative Philosophy and the Philosophy of Scholarship: On the Western Interpretation of Nagarjuna.
WEEK 2 (Friday, January 18):
Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamkakarika, chapter 1. Basic text: Louis de La Vallee Poussin, ed., Mulamadhyamakakarikas (Madhyamikasutras) de Nagarjuna, avec la Prasannapada Commentaire de Candrakirti (Bibliotheca Buddhica, Vol. IV; on reserve), as supplemented by J. W. De Jong, "Text-critical Notes on the Prasannapada" (Indo-Iranian Journal 20, nos.1/2: 25-59; nos.3/4: 217-252). Based on his revisions, De Jong also produced an edition of Nagarjuna's karikas alone: Mulamadhyamakakarikah (Madras: Adyar Library and Research Centre, 1977; on reserve).
Reading: Jay Garfield, Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, pp. 3-5, 87-123; Richard Hayes, "Nagarjuna's Appeal" (Journal of Indian Philosophy 22: 299-378); William Ames, "The Notion of Svabhava in the Thought of Candrakirti" (Journal of Indian Philosophy 10: 161-71); Jan Westerhoff, "The Madhyamaka Concept of Svabhava: Ontological and Cognitive Aspects" (Asian Philosophy 17/1: 17-45); Kamaleswar Bhattacharya, "Nagarjuna's Arguments against Motion: Their Grammatical Basis" (in A. L. Basham, et al, eds., Corpus of Indian Studies: Essays in Honor of Professor Gaurinath Sastri, pp. 85-95); Jay Garfield and Graham Priest, "Nagarjuna and the Limits of Thought" (Philosophy East & West 53/1: 1-21)
WEEK 3: (Friday, January 25):
Mulamadhyamakakarika, Chapter 1 (continued). Reading: rJe Tsong Khapa (trans. Geshe Ngawang Samten and Jay L. Garfield), Ocean of Reasoning, pp. 45-99, to be read in consultation with Garfield's earlier translation (reserve); William Ames, "Bhavaviveka's Prajnapradipa: A Translation of Chapter One: 'Examination of Causal Conditions' (Pratyaya)" (Journal of Indian Philosophy 21 & 22: 209-259, 93-135 [respectively]); William Ames, "Bhavaviveka's Own View of His Differences with Buddhapalita," in Dreyfus and McClintock, eds., The Svatantrika-Prasangika Distinction, pp. 41-66; David Eckel, "The Satisfaction of No Analysis: On Tsong kha pa's Approach to Svatantrika-Madhyamaka," in Dreyfus and McClintock, eds., pp. 173-203.
WEEK 4: (Friday, February 1):
Nagarjuna's Vigrayavyavartani. Basic text: The critical edition of E. J. Johnston and Arnold Kunst, included in Kamaleswar Bhattacharya, The Dialectical Method of Nagarjuna; a devanagari printing of this edition is available here.
Reading: Kamaleswar Bhattacharya, The Dialectical Method of Nagarjuna, pp. 89-138 (in consultation with Sanskrit text, if possible); Mark Siderits, "The Madhyamaka Critique of Epistemology I" (Journal of Indian Philosophy 8: 307-335); Jay Garfield, "Epoche and Sunyata: Skepticism East and West" (Philosophy East and West 40/3: 285-307); Adrian Kuzminski, "Pyrrhonism and the Madhyamaka" (Philosophy East and West 57/4: 482-511)
WEEK 5: (Friday, February 8):
Candrakirti's Madhyamakavatara and Madhyamakavatarabhasyam. Basic text: Louis de La Vallee Poussin, ed., Madhyamakavatara par Candrakirti: Traduction tibetaine (Bibliotheca Buddhica, Vol. IX; on reserve).
Reading: C. W. Huntington, The Emptiness of Emptiness (in consultation with basic text, if possible); C. W. Huntington, "Was Candrakirti a Prasangika?" in Dreyfus and McClintock, eds., pp. 67-91.
WEEK 6 (Friday, February 15):
Candrakirti's Madhyamakavatara, continued. Reading: Moon of Wisdom, pp.11-275; Jonardon Ganeri, The Concealed Art of the Self, pp.185-215.
WEEK 7 (Friday, February 22):
NO CLASS (instructor in New York).
WEEK 8: (Friday, February 29):
Post-Dharmakirtian Madhayamaka I: Jnanagarbha. Basic text: Jnanagarbha's Satyadvayavibhangavrtti (extant only in Tibetan translation, an edition of which is in Eckel, Jnanagarbha's Commentary, pp.153-190) Reading: David Eckel, Jnanagarbha's Commentary on the Distinction between the Two Truths, pp. 3-150 (in consultation with the Tibetan text, if possible); Tom Tillemans, "Metaphysics for Madhyamikas," in Dreyfus and McClintock, eds., pp. 93-123
WEEK 9: (Friday, March 7):
Post-Dharmakirtian Madhyamaka II: Santaraksita. Basic text: Santaraksita's Madhyamakalamkara (wholly extant only in Tibetan translation, an edition of which is comprised in the selection from Ichigo). Reading: Masamichi Ichigo, ed., trans., "Santaraksita's Madhyamakalamkara" (in Luis Gomez and Jonathan Silk, eds., Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle: Three Mahayana Buddhist Texts, pp. 141-240; complete selection on reserve; text and translation on e-reserve); James Blumenthal, The Ornament of the Middle Way: A Study of the Madhyamaka Thought of Santaraksita, pp.81-139, 167-175, 220-227 (e-reserve); Claus Oetke, "Remarks on the Interpretation of Nagarjuna's Philosophy" (Journal of Indian Philosophy 19: 315-323)
WEEK 10: (Friday, March 14):
No class (American Oriental Society conference in Chicago; University reading period); the possibility of an alternative session this week will be discussed, as we have the following readings yet to be considered: Mark Siderits, Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy, pp.113-209 (reserve); Siderits, Buddhism as Philosophy, pp.180-207; Jan Westerhoff, "Nagarjuna's Catuskoti" (e-reserve)
Final papers due by Friday, March 21!