Event Detail

Sun Nov 6, 2016
TBA
9–11 AM
Conference
Conceptuality and Nonconceptuality in Buddhist Thought

This conference will explore the different ways that Buddhist scholastic traditions (Sarvāstivāda, Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, Pramāṇavāda) engaged with the issue of “conceptuality” and “non-conceptuality” in their analyses of mind, perception, thinking, and insight. In exploring this topic, participants are invited to focus on one or more key terms or notions, such as saṃjñā, manovijñāna, manas, vitarka/vicāra, manojalpa, prajñapti, and pratyakṣa, as well as pairs like vikalpa versus nirvikalpa (or avikalpaka), svalakṣaṇa versus sāmānyalakṣaṇa, dravya-svalakṣaṇa versus āyatana-svalakṣaṇa, and so on. Finally, participants are encouraged to address the relevance of these notions in the light of contemporary philosophical discussions of conceptual and non-conceptual perception and experience.

Panel 5 — 9 am to noon: Pramāṇavāda Chair: Jowita Kramer (Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich)

Patrick McAllister (Austrian Academy of Sciences): “A Buddhist Account of the Simultaneity of Perceptual and Conceptual Awareness Events”

Vincent Eltschinger (École Pratique des Hautes Études): “Dharmakīrti, Apoha, and the Two Truths”

Toru Funayama (Kyoto University): “Non-conceptuality through Repetition of Conceptual Meditation: Kamalaśīla’s Theory of Yogic Perception”