‘Systems of Buddhist Thought’ First of all, the author says that Buddhism consists of partially developed and fully developed Mahayanism. The Madhyamikas and the Vijnanavadins fall into the category of partially developed Mahayanism, while the Avatamsaka school the Dhyana School, the Mantra School as well as the great Chinese school of Buddhism known as Tien Tai school are included in the fully developed Mahayanism. There is a second method of classification which is based on a practical point of view. According to this method, Buddhist schools are divided into two great groups, viz., those which believe in the possibility of emancipation through one’s own intellectual powers, and those which consider salvation to be dependent on the power of another person. A third and perhaps a more important mode of classification is based upon the division of the Tripitaka. All the schools of Buddhism mentioned above, with the sole exception of the Dhyana School, depend principally upon some Sutra of some book of the Vinaya or some Sastra consisting of the sacred text upon which they base their theories.
Last comes the psychological classification of Buddhism which corresponds to the psychological division of all mental functions into intellect, emotion and volition.
In the course of the discussion on the subject of Alaya phenomenology, the author has gried to explain the distinction between noumenon and phenomenon. In the context of the Buddhist philosophy it must be properly understood that noumenon represents the Parinspanna and phenomenon represents the Paratantra. Their mutual relationship is such as we cannot separate one from the other. The phenomena are the manifestations of the noumenon.
In conclusion, it may be said that the book throws ample light on all the important subjects connected with Buddhist Philosophy. |
