A Saiva interpretation of the Buddhist theory of exclusion

The present project is meant as a contribution to the history of Indian philosophy, and more particularly, to the understanding of the fruitful interaction between Saiva and Buddhist philosophical systems in Medieval India. It focuses on the appropriation and transformation, by the 10th-century Saiva nondualist Utpaladeva and his 11th- century commentator Abhinavagupta, of a theory developed by Dignaga and Dharmakirti (5th-6th centuries?) and essential in the Buddhist epistemological tradition, namely that of exclusion (apoha). The study will be based on the critical edition of a series of commentaries on an important chapter (1.6) of Utpaladeva`s Isvarapratyabhijnakarika-s. It will show how the representatives of the Saiva Pratyabhijna ("Recognition") school adopted this Buddhist theory and even gave it a central role in their philosophical system, but not without profoundly subverting its meaning so as to fit their own metaphysical principles. The theory was originally designed by Buddhist philosophers to defend the nominalist idea that concepts do not refer to real universals (but merely to mental constructs), as well as the corollary thesis that there are no enduring substances such as a Self (atman) or God (isvara), but only momentary events. Paradoxically, it was exploited by the Saivas so as to establish the existence of Siva understood as an all-encompassing consciousness being both the universal Self and the creator of the universe. While thus appropriating and transforming this Buddhist notion of exclusion arguably one of the most influential philosophical theories ever elaborated in India , Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta did not confine themselves to the epistemological issues of apoha highlighted in most Buddhist and Brahmanical sources, but also explored its ontological, soteriological and even aesthetic aspects. The project has as its main aim to provide a better understanding of the Pratyabhijna philosophy (the most elaborate among Saiva philosophical systems) by showing how Utpaladeva adopted and adapted this crucial theory of his Buddhist rivals, by examining the sources (both Brahmanical and Buddhist) of Utpaladeva`s knowledge of the Indian controversy over the nature of conceptualization, and by offering critical editions and annotated English translations of several key texts on this topic. But it also has as its purpose to shed light on the history of the apoha theory within Buddhist circles through the examination of the different later Buddhist interpretations of Dharmakirti`s exclusion theory (notably that of Sankaranandana) that are alluded to and criticized in the Saivas` works.

The project investigated the philosophical debate that raged in medieval Kashmir (10th11th c. CE) between the Brahmanical non-dualistic tradition of the Pratyabhijna (or school of the Recognition) and its Buddhist rivals. The main issue at stake was to verify the existence of a real self, a hypothesis that is utterly rejected by Buddhism but strongly advocated by the Saiva Pratyabhijna authors. The latter make indeed self and consciousness the very heart of a strong non-dualistic perspective whereby all that exists is in the end a manifestation of consciousness, which in turn coincides with the supreme godhead (Siva) the tradition worships. The Pratyabhijna authors attempt to rationally prove the existence of the self involved the discussion of a number of epistemological and ontological ideas that are crucial for the history of South Asian philosophy. In the first few months the project focussed on the question whether similarities among things can be accounted for resorting to real universal properties or as the Buddhists would argue to a peculiar form of nominalism, the so- called theory of exclusion (apoha), whereby a universal is just a name that excludes all that differs from what the name stands for. In a second phase the investigation focused on the influence an earlier thinker, the grammarian Bhartrhari (5th. c CE) had on the theoretical elaboration of the Shaiva authors in their debate with Buddhists. Although Bhartrharis influence has long been acknowledged, the research conducted within the project has for the first time thoroughly evaluated and contextualized its significance. Research was therefore performed by inquiring into into four main subtopics, which correspond to different epistemological and ontological problems. The first regards the question whether a cognition is by nature self-revealing and discusses the consequences such a position has in connection with the debate on the existence of the self. The second analyses the intimate relationship that occurs between language, cognitions and consciousness. The third examines the nature of relations, a problem that boils down to the possibility of imposing unity on a series of discrete parts. In particular, it takes into account questions like the status of action, time etc. Finally, the fourth subtopic explores the role free will and agency have in the process of knowing and structuring reality. Research has shown that in all these four issues the same pattern emerges: the Pratyabhijña authors quote Bhartrharis texts as authoritative sources in order to disprove the Buddhist theses. On the whole, the results of the research shed new light on the history of the Pratyabhijña tradition as well as on the internal dynamics of South Asian philosophy, especially on what is probably its most paradigmatic aspect, that is the process of mutual interaction that took place between Brahmanical and Buddhist traditions. In addition to that, research also clearly indicates that several questions and arguments these thinkers discuss are relevant to the contemporary philosophical debate.