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240922: this is review after some thought. first thought, after reading tis book, is self-reflexive: why did I read this book. that there need be some justification for thinking seriously about thought, particularly of another culture, is perhaps mistaken from philosophical (western) or 'seeing' (eastern) perspectives. I prefer to believe knowledge is good, is to be shared, is to be sympathetically, if not entirely convinced, by all thinkers. my own way of doing this is by reading a. lot. of. books. I have in turn published only one book (primarily fiction) that expresses my then-current incorporation of various themes. it has unique weaknesses of any first novel. it is also exactly what I wanted to publish at that time. not now...
so I have continued to read 'philosophy' and 'seeing' because I am continuing to write works influenced by these ways of thought. I have read enough books of these sorts to try and qualify and recognise what 'style' they express. in this case, in this work, though the subject is 'eastern' (buddhism), the critical lenses are mostly 'western' (and of that, 'analytic)...
this text is very good at analysing, at defining, at critiquing, certain buddhist thoughts westerners can see as 'philosophical'. that buddhism is at least equally religion does not interest or concern the author- as the title proclaims this. but is this possible, I am skeptical. I recall reading Buddhist contending that if all our philosophising is not directed to liberation from samsara (suffering), all our thought is 'intellectual gymnastics'...
this text is therefore incomplete: not wrong, simply limited. this work does not address metaphysics proposed (as perhaps analytic philosophy in general does not) which is of course metaphysical perspective unspoken. I find qualifications, hypotheticals, critiques unconvincing but this may simply be my readings and my concerns towards Buddhist and metaphysics in general...
241014: it is in the (sub) title, so how can I possibly contend this book does not address Buddhist metaphysics? for it does, in one way, from primarily 'western' perspective. this is too much separation of metaphysic and ethic, with little recognition that bd as religion has major influence on ethics. it is in the title 'as' so perhaps I misunderstand, but it seems ethics is so integrated, so absorbed, so inextricable, from previous readings, that the word should be 'is'. for bd recognises no other way of being in the world but to see overarching causality, conditioning, continuity if not identity in our lifestreams. and ethics proscribes exactly how we should relate to others, to worlds, to something like selves...
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[book:The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā|1048288]
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[book:What the Buddha Thought|6980500]
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[book:Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment|32895535]
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[book:Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction|2487511]
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[book:After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age|25246817]
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[book:What the Buddha Thought|6980500]
[book:Wisdom Beyond Words: The Buddhist Vision of Ultimate Reality|4329466]
[book:Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction|2487511]
[book:An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy|2280672]
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[book:Indian Buddhist Philosophy: Metaphysics as Ethics|15956276]
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