Filozofska istraživanja, Vol. 43 No. 1, 2023.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21464/fi43102
Sautrāntika vs. Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika – Early Buddhist Controversies on the Nature of Reality
Goran Kardaš
; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Filozofski fakultet, Ivana Lučića 3, HR–10000 Zagreb
Abstract
The article analyses and interprets the critique of the special dharmic theory of the early Buddhist school of sarvāstivāda-vaibhāṣika undertaken by the school of sautrāntika. Special attention is paid to the critique of the theory of the existence of dharmas, elementary psycho-physical data, in all three time periods. At the beginning, a general Buddhist theory of two truths is presented, which tries to legitimize the so-called philosophy of abhidharma as a “higher teaching” regarding reality (dharma theory) which is only rudimentarily present in the Buddha’s discourses. Then we turn to a concise presentation and analysis of the key ontological concepts of sarvāstivāda-vaibhāṣika, and then to the critique of the same undertaken by the school of sautrāntika. It is concluded that sautrāntika, with its critique, “returned” Buddhist philosophy on the path of pure phenomenology after the sarvāstivada-vaibhāṣika’s attempt to interpret the Buddha’s teaching in line with a realistic reductive ontology.
Keywords
abhidharma; dharma; two truths; kāritra; sarvāstivāda-vaibhāṣika; sautrāntika
Hrčak ID:
309349
URI
Publication date:
7.5.2023.
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