The Kyoto School (\u4eac\u90fd\u5b66\u6d3e) of Japanese philosophers provides a fascinating insight into the combination of 20th Century German and Buddhist philosophy. The combination of Western philosophical analytical frameworks and unique East Asian perspectives, gave rise to ideas on the self, existence, and experience (phenomenology), that had never before been seen.
The Kyoto School\u2019s efforts to understand the Buddhist concept of \u201cNothingness\u201d (\u7121) contrasted with Heideggerian understandings of \u2018being\u2019 is a good example of how fundamental assumptions in Western Philosophy are difficult to apply to certain concepts. [1] Nishida\u2019s efforts to \u201ctopologise nothingness\u201d portrays how his understanding of both Buddhism and Western thought on \u201cself\u201d produced a unique philosophical position. The Buddhist idea of Nothingness, in Nishida\u2019s view, is a \u2018place\u2019 where subjectivity and objectivity are part of a whole, and where knowing and experiencing exists together. Hence, Nishida contextualised Nothingness in Western Philosophical terms as a \u201cmeontology\u201d or \u201cmu-ontology\u201d, a category of analysis that does not quite fall into traditional categories in philosophy. Although the term \u201cmu-ontology\u201d has been used to describe Nishida\u2019s thought, I believe that the way he describes the phenomena of self and the world around self suggests a breakdown of the traditional barriers between epistemology and ontology. [2]\u00a0
Brett W. Davis discusses this idea in terms of the separation of epistemology and ontology. However, it seems almost counterproductive to do so when understanding Nothingness. Nishida\u2019s referral to Nothingness as a \u201cplace\u201d bash\u014d (\u5834\u6240), despite explicitly denying this separation, suggests that the idea falls into the realm of Ontology more so than Epistemology. [3] Despite this, by examining the practice of meditation as a path to enlightenment, we can better understand what Nishida is attempting to do in his philosophy.
Zen practices of meditation as a means of achieving enlightenment, discuss Nothingness as both an experiential and phenomenological process, guided by an internalised understanding of the Dharma. This suggests that in Buddhist thought, epistemology and ontology are not separated. To reach a state of Nothingness, a practitioner must simultaneously understand the Dharma (epistemological) and change their view of the world around them (ontological). That is to say, that, to know something, also changes one\u2019s perception of the world and vice versa. The continual process of combining the two allows one to reach such a stage in their path to Enlightenment. [4] Thus, Nishida\u2019s attempt to form an understanding of Nothingness by finding an alternate philosophical perspective that integrates a fundamental split in Western Philosophy is enormously impressive. This is because Nishida\u2019s concept of combining epistemology and ontology are rare in philosophical discussions now.
Returning to original Buddhist texts, the classical description of Nothingness taken from the Heart Sutra describes it as a state where the dualities of existence and non-existence become one, and the \u201cself\u201d exists without attachments (5 Aggregates, or Skhanda). [5] In this case, the Heart Sutra describes Nothingness not necessarily as a \u201cplace\u201d as Nishida describes it, but rather as a state of being. Perhaps Nishida\u2019s attempts to reconcile the subjective and objective, are an effort to rationalise Nothingness both as a state of being and also a \u201cplace\u201d. By saying that there is no distinction between what exists in the mind and what exists in reality, one can rationalise Nothingness as a \u201cplace\u201d. This perplexing idea that appears to be diametrically opposed, is later re-examined by Hajime Tanabe in Hegelian terms; by treating existence and non-existence through a dialectical thought process. [6]<\/p>\r\n
Tanabe criticised Nishida\u2019s understanding of Nothingness as an unmoving \u201cplace\u201d that merely exists at a point in time and space. His application of the Hegelian dialectic created a more dynamic understanding of nothingness as a \u201cmoment of absolute negation\u201d. This understanding of Nothingness seems more similar to the experiential descriptions that exist in the Heart Sutra. [7] Rather than seeing Nothingness as a state that is reached and maintained, Tanabe\u2019s conceptualisation of it as consistent existence and non-existence resonates more accurately with the Heart Sutra. Indeed, Tanabe\u2019s criticisms did go on to influence the way Nishida considered his original ideas. Towards the later stages of Nishida\u2019s thought, he began to see Nothingness less as a \u201cplace\u201d and more as a continual dialectic process.<\/p>\r\n
With all of this considered, there is a distinct possibility that I may have misunderstood Nishida and Tanabe\u2019s ideas on Nothingness. The ideas discussed by the Kyoto school are very difficult to grasp and are questions that perplex even experienced practitioners of Zen. That being said, I believe that it is beneficial to genuinely reflect on the efforts that the scholars of the Kyoto School have made to apply different philosophical perspectives to existing thought. Figures such as Nishida and Tanabe amongst the other Kyoto School philosophers have made a serious effort to apply what they have learnt from Western philosophy to a central idea in Zen Buddhism. I would hope that their work receives more attention and generates greater dialogue in the years to come.<\/p>\r\n
[1] Davis, Brett W., The Kyoto School,<\/em>\u00a0https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/kyoto-school\/, 2019, Introduction<\/p>\r\n [2] Ibid, Section 3<\/p>\r\n [3] Ibid, Section 3.3<\/p>\r\n [4] Gethin, Rupert, The Foundations of Buddhism,\u00a0<\/em>1998, pp 175-176<\/p>\r\n [5] The Heart Sutra<\/p>\r\n [6]\u00a0Davis, Brett W., The Kyoto School,<\/em>\u00a0https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/kyoto-school\/, 2019, Section 3.4<\/p>\r\n [7] Ibid, Section 3.3<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Kyoto School (\u4eac\u90fd\u5b66\u6d3e) of Japanese philosophers provides a fascinating insight into the combination of 20th Century German and Buddhist philosophy. The combination of Western philosophical analytical frameworks and unique East Asian perspectives, gave rise to ideas on the self, existence, and experience (phenomenology), that had never before been seen. The Kyoto School\u2019s efforts to … Continue reading “Epistemology, Ontology and Nothingness: The Kyoto\u2019s School\u2019s Ideas on \u7121”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[108,111,83,87,109,110],"class_list":["post-666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-epistemology","tag-heart-sutra","tag-kyoto-school","tag-nishida-kitaro","tag-ontology","tag-tanabe-hajime"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":686,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666\/revisions\/686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}