Zugl.: Köln, Universiẗat, Diss., 2006.

Shankara, the great Indian thinker, was known as the accurate expounder of the Upanishads. He is seen as a towering figure in the history of Indian philosophy and is credited with restoring the teachings of the Vedas to their pristine form. However, there are others who do not see such contributions from Shankara. They criticize his philosophy by calling it “crypto-Buddhism.” It is his unique philosophy of Advaita Vedanta that puts him at odds with other Hindu orthodox schools. Ironically, he is also criticized by Buddhists as a “born enemy of Buddhism” due to his relentless attacks on their tradition. This thesis, therefore, probes the question of how Shankara should best be regarded, “a Hindu Revivalist or a Crypto-Buddhist?” To address this question, this thesis reviews the historical setting for Shakara’s work, the state of Indian philosophy as a dynamic conversation involving Hindu and Buddhist thinkers, and finally Shankara’s intellectual genealogy.

Thesis advisor: John Makransky / The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to Christian theological anthropology by bringing in the "interruption" of another religious tradition, Buddhism, in order to see how key Buddhist doctrines such as emptiness and practices of meditation may inform aspects of the Christian feminist discussions of kenosis in the spiritual life, and the search for a relational self. It also seeks to enhance Buddhist-Christian dialogue by bringing the "interruption" of feminist voices from both the Buddhist and Christian traditions into conversation with each other in order to see what they might offer, not only towards the search for "right relationship," but also towards bringing about the re-integration of doctrine and spiritual practices for more effective action in the world today. In the first part of the dissertation, I lay out the background of these two concepts of kenosis and emptiness within their respective religious traditions including the Buddhist-Christian dialogues around these two concepts. I then look at how Christian feminists (Sarah Coakley and Mary Grey) as well as Buddhist feminists (Anne Klein and Rita Gross) critique the traditional interpretations of these concepts and how they reconstruct such concepts in their articulation of a relational self and in their argument for the importance of practice and its relationship with doctrine. In the second part of this dissertation, I focus on the comparison between these Buddhist and Christian feminists and how they can mutually learn from each other. I argue that Buddhist feminist discussions on emptiness and meditation enhances and deepens the Christian feminist articulations of kenosis and how an empowered self can be found through a kenotic spirituality. I also demonstrate how such a dialogue can bring us back to the rich resources within the Christian tradition, such as the image of Mary and Marian devotions. Furthermore, I show how this feminist comparison contributes back to Buddhist-Christian dialogue by including the voices of women and their concern for suffering and the importance of praxis in our interreligious encounters today. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Mi tesis doctoral investiga la Teoría del Big Bang sobre el origen del universo y su relación con la doctrina del sabio filósofo budista, Nagarjuna (India s.II-III), fundador de la Vía Media o Camino Medio del budismo, según su obra genuina titulada Mûla-mâdhyamaka-kârik_, un texto decididamente auténtico, opus magna de este autor conforme la tradición india, china y tibetana, prueba indiscutible de la historicidad de su figura. Nagarjuna, uno de los cuatro soles que iluminan al mundo desde sus cuatro direcciones, maestro espiritual de Oriente y Occidente, fue el creador de la escuela budista Mâdhyamaka viva en la India desde el siglo II al VI. La teoría científica de la Gran Explosión Universal o Big Bang concluye que el "vacío" es la fuente energética de donde surge el Cosmos: nuestro origen. La Doctrina de Nagarjuna prueba que el "vacío" es la esencia más profunda de la Realidad; un sistema filosófico consistente con las descripciones físicas contemporáneas acerca del campo de fuerza que da principio al Cosmos.De ahí que esta Tesis Doctoral se intitule: La Teoría del Big Bang y la Doctrina de Nagarjuna: el vacío o s_nyat_ como síntesis de todo cuanto existe. Una construcción teórica fundamentada en el principio según el cual filosofía y ciencia tienen un carácter universal y no están basadas únicamente en la cultura, es decir, responde a la autoridad de la experiencia, de los hechos empíricos. El texto se inscribe en el marco paradigmático de la Filosofía de la Ciencia y contempla un enfoque sincrético, ecléctico, multidisciplinar y holístico. El principal objetivo ha sido centrar la investigación en la temática cosmológica de la filosofía de Nagarjuna, es decir, en la verdad última sobre la naturaleza de todas las cosas, el origen del universo; si bien también posee implicancias soteriológicas, epistemológicas, gnoseológicas y éticas, de primera magnitud, en especial, para quienes estamos interesamos en el futuro de nuestra Cultura Occidental.El tema de la Introducción son los conceptos científicos centrales de la Teoría del Big Bang. En el Capítulo I abordo el Estado de la Cuestión. La aparición historiográfica del budismo en Occidente y de la figura de Nagarjuna. Además realizo un registro completo de autores, editores y traductores que han escrito sobre Nagarjuna en Occidente.En el Capítulo II elaboro un examen crítico de la obra literaria nagarjuniana centrándome en la temática cosmológica del corpus, sin descuidar la ética y ascética. Me refiero a una descripción racional y crítica a las ediciones. Preciso el privilegio de unos textos sobre otros, para centrarme en la Mûla-mâdhyamaka-kârik_, de la cual realizo una primera traducción al castellano de la traducción al francés del original tibetano de Georges Driessens, Traité du Milieu, Seuil, 1995; la única traducción completa al castellano existente del citado texto fundamental.En el Capítulo III pruebo que la visión del origen del universo de la actual ciencia occidental encuentra paralelos objetivos en el budismo oriental de nuestro autor, Nagarjuna, particularmente al considerar el concepto de vacío; una especie de leit motiv que une y sintetiza dichas corrientes de pensamiento, filosofía y ciencia. Profundizamos el estudio del significado de s_nyat_ o vacío y de la vacuidad, y realizamos un resumen de la Doctrina de Nagarjuna en su Camino Medio a la iluminación del hombre y la sociedad. Así observamos que las teorías y modelos principales de la física moderna conducen a una visión del mundo que es internamente consistente con el sistema filosófico de Nagarjuna. / My doctoral thesis studies the Big Bang Theory about the origin of the universe and his relationship with the doctrine of the buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna (India s.II-III), founder of Buddhism of the Middle Way, in accord with his genuine work, titled: Mûla-mâdhyamaka-kârik_; an authentic text, opus magna of this author in accord with the india, chinese and tibetan tradition, clear probe of the history of his figure. Nagarjuna, one of the four suns witch illuminated the world in the four directions, spiritual master of Orient and Occident, was the creator of the Buddhist Mâdhyamaka school lived in India from centuries II to VI. The Big Bang theory concludes that the vacuum is the main energy from which one emerge the Cosmos. Nagarjuna´s doctrine probe that the sunyata (or vacuum) is the most deep essence of the Reality; a philosophical vision that is consistent with the physics description about the force who permitted the beginning of the universe, that means, about the latest natural essence of all things. A theoretical construction founded in the principle that philosophy and science has a universal character, not only based on a unique culture, that means, respond to the experience authority and the empirical facts. I inscribed the thesis in a syncretism, eclectic, multisciplinary and holistic point of view. In the Introduction I describe the mains concepts of the Big Bang's theory.In Chapter I begin the description of the appearance of buddhism in Occident and Nagarjuna's figure. I made a complete register of the bibliography of authors, editors and translater about Nagarjuna. In Chapter II I made a critic exam of nagarjuna's works focused in the cosmological thematic. I privilege the Mûla-mâdhyamaka-kârik_, and I made a first translation to spanish from the french translation of the tibetan original of Georges Driessens, Traité du Milieu, Seuil, 1995; the first, unique and complete spanish translation of this fundamental text.In Chapter III I probe that the contemporary universe vision of the west scientific have objectives parallels with Nagarjuna's buddhism, in particular, with the vacuum concept or sunyata. My main intention is show that the scientific vision of the vacuum is similar to the Nagarjuna's sunyata, a kind of leit motiv between the modern science and budhhist philosophy. We are in front of a definition of the same thing and in the same sense, but from different disciplines; wherever, not only in front of a mere parallelism, but in front of a synthetic of the first magnitude and resonance, with a main significant for the World Culture.The Big Bang is a cosmological physic theory with naturals questions to philosophy and religion. We're in the ultimate limit of the universe, the exact place where we suppose is home's God. This scene is singular for faith and reason's history. What kind of philosophical adventure propose the contemporary physics to the World Culture? What kind of enigma take place now to the human spirit? The actual moment of cosmology is similar to the state of the Ptolemaic theory before Copernicus. The matrix of such a research impose to postulate new cosmic ingredient of a unknown essence -hot dark matter, cool dark matter, dark energy and additional new dimension of space-time-; and the biggest work is the unification between General Relativity and Quantum Mechanic, the way to describe -maybe- the initial instant of the Cosmos, full of fundamental questions. But this it is not the complete picture. On the other side, we need a new fundamental gnoseological paradigm between faith and reason, if our will is continuing. The philosophical vision complements the physic. My personal conviction is that only the synthesis between faith-reason, Orient-Occident, will be at last the most useful and powerful line of thinking for the Third Millennia. I see the present thesis in this paradigm of Philosophy of Science, in order to reject any conflict perspective between science, philosophy and religion.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [245]-266).

Proponents of Middle Way (Sanskrit: Madhyamaka) Buddhist philosophy argue that all phenomena lack inherent nature. This dissertation provides an analysis of the meaning of inherent nature and the lack of inherent nature in the basic physical character of non-living physical phenomena as indicated by certain interpretations of ancient and contemporary Middle Way Buddhist philosophy, contemporary Western analytic metaphysics, philosophy of science, and physics. The primary intellectual focus in the dissertation is Madhyamaka. I explicate an interpretation of Madhyamaka that is both amenable to discourse and dialogue with the other disciplines, and also consistent with at least some extant Madhyamaka interpretations. The discourse and dialogue with other disciplines results in a revision of some of the arguments of Madhyamaka—specifically making it consistent with modern physics. However, that revision does not deny the foundational view of Madhyamaka that there is no inherent nature in phenomena, but rather supports it within the revised interpretation. Additionally, I also find that this foundational view provides at least heuristic guidance in development of a generic interpretive framework (‘contextualization’ and Physics Pluralism) that I then apply in criticism and revision of some arguments in modern analytic metaphysics and in philosophy of science.That generic interpretive framework is used within this dissertation in examination of Western analytic metaphysics and philosophy of science. While I find independent support for that framework within contemporary philosophy, the framework also reflects an interpretation of Madhyamaka that I develop as a variation of the classic two truths view of Madhyamaka. My interpretation of the classical expression of the two truths is that there is relative existence of inherent nature that may be reflected in our conventions of discourse and habit, while ultimately no inherent nature can be found when the phenomena are analyzed more fully. In my modified interpretation of the two truths that corresponds to modern physics, for some phenomena inherent nature is found within specific (‘local’) contexts of discourse or domains of physics theory applicability, yet when we take a ‘global’ view that acknowledges many domains and relationships between domains we find an ultimate relationality rather than inherent nature.

This paper examines the role played by death in the philosophy of Nishitani Keiji, through the nondual logic of contradictory identity developed by his teacher and founder of the Kyotoschool of philosophy, Nishida Kitarō. I explore Nishitani’s understanding of how Nothingness, nihility, through our awareness of death penetrates and nullifies existence itself, how the irreality of all being comes to the fore to make being itself unreal. The nullifying nothingness of nihility, however, is still nothingness represented as a something; it is a reified nothing, defined as the antithesis to being and thus still seen as a corollary of being itself. A truly absolute nothingness, what Nishitani calls Śūnyatā, emptiness, must be a nothingness so devoid of being as to not even be nothing; it must be absolutely nothing at all, and thus nothing else than being itself. The final chapter of my paper seeks to apply this nondual understanding of being and nothingness to the question of death itself; to understand the ontological meaning of death - the passage from being to non-being - when being and non-being have been one from the very beginning. The paper also seeks to blur the lines between what has traditionally been considered philosophy and religion, using the thinking of the Kyoto school to point to the deeper ties between the two in the borderland that is buddhist philosophy.

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