Philosophy, Philosophers, and Buddhist Scholastic Texts (Śāstra)

Abstract

Vasubandhu would surely have been thrilled to learn that centuries after the composition of his work, philosophers would choose to spend their time reading and thinking about his words, ideas, and arguments. He might well have been intrigued by the following questions: In what form, with what supporting material, and to what end could his Viṃśikāvṛtti [Twenty Verses and Exposition] become a part of the curriculum in Euro-American-style philosophy departments today, if at all? This essay addresses these questions by stepping back from Vasubandhu and his text to consider the broader project of whether, and if so how, to bring Buddhist philosophers and philosophical texts from classical India into our contemporary philosophy curriculum. It addresses this question by evaluating the various ways Buddhist philosophy has been understood in modern scholarship, and by comparing modern philosophers’ methods with those of traditional Buddhist scholastic texts.