Early Buddhist Philosophy in the Light of the Four Noble Truths

A new systematization of the main philosophical tenets of Hinayana Buddhism as derived from the Four Noble Truths, the work is divided in three parts: (1) "Suffering" and the Nature of Existence; (2) "Origin of Suffering" and the Notion of Existence and World - causation; (3) "Cessation of Suffering" and the "Path to Cessation of Suffering": Psycho-cosmic spheres of purification. It attempts novel exploration of the notion of Karma as entailing both individual retribution and World causation. It also contains a newly approached linkage to Buddhist idealism and the later Mahayana schools of Buddhist totalism

The Strength of this book and its original contribution lie in its comprehensive explication of the Abhidharmakosa. It functions more or less like a modern commentary of Vasubandhu's treatise. Like classical Buddhist commentaries, this modern commentary gives precise explanations of the technical points in the Abhidharma philosophy. This modern commentator assists Western readers to comprehend the ideas of the Abhidharma by citing parallel or similar ideas from the thought of major Western philosophers, such as Kant, Heidegger, and Husserl.

About the Author:

Prof. Alfonso Verdu was born in Alicante, Spain, in 1925. In 1963 he obtained his Ph. D. with a dissertation on the phenomenology of Eastern mysticism. In the fall of 1966 Prof. Verdu was accepted as a visiting lecturer by the Department of Philosophy at the University of Kansas, U.S.A. Two years later he became Associate Professor of Philosophy and East Asian Studies and in 1972 he was promoted to full professorship. Beyond Eastern and Buddhist thought, his teaching specialities cover medieval philosophy, phenomenology and the philosophies of Hegel, Husserl and Heidegger. Prof, Verdu has in the meantime obtained two teaching awards and has published four extensive books on Eastern and Buddhist thought including the present one. His most comprehensive work on Buddhist philosophy, The Philosophy of Buddhism: A "Totalistic "Synthesis, has been published by Martinus Nijhoff BV, the Hague, London and Boston.

INTRODUCTION. - The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. The Tripitaka and Early Buddhist Metaphysics

PART I. - Duhkha (Suffering) and the Notion of Existence.

• Chapter 1. - The "Three Marks" of existence: Non- selfness, Impermanence and Suffering

• Chapter 2. - The doctrine of

 dharmas 

• (factors of existence). Basic divisions of

 dharmas

• : conditioned and non-conditioned

 dharmas

• . Doctrine of "momentariness" and the notion of time

• Chapter 3. -

 Samkrta 

• or "conditioned"

 dharmas

• . - The Five

 Skandhas 

• or "five divisions of

 dharmas

• ." Conception of matter. Theory of mind

• Chapter 4. - Eighteen

 gotra-dhatus 

• (

dharma

• -families) and three

 loka-dhatus 

• (three spheres of consciousness and three planes of existence)

PART II. - Duhkha-samudaya (Origin of Suffering) and the Notion of Causation.

• Chapter 1. -

 Karma 

• (human action) and the notion of existence-causation. The

 hetu-pratyaya 

• (principal and subordinate causes) doctrine of con-causation

• Chapter 2. - The

 vipaka-hetu 

• ("heterogeneous" or "maturation-" causality) and the cycle of Individual

 karma

• . The "twelve

 nidanas

• " or "twelve links of interdependent co-origination" (

pratityasamutpada

• )

• Chapter 3. - The

 sabhaga

• - and

 karana-hetus 

• as forms of universal causation. The notion of universal

 karma 

• and Universecausation

PART III. - Duhka-nirodha (Cessation of Suffering). The Notion of Absoluteness and the Path (Marga) to Nirvana.

• Chapter 1. - The three absolute or "non-conditioned"

 dharmas

• :

 akasa 

• (space) and the two

 nirodhas 

• (cessations). The Buddhsit notion of space. Absolute and relative space.

• Chapter 2. -

 Asamskrta-dharmas 

• or "non-conditioned factors" (continued). The two

 nirodhas

• :

 apratisamkhya-nirodha 

• (cessation without the intervention of wisdom-knowledge) and the

 pratisamkhya-nirodha 

• (cessation through wisdom-knowledge)

• Chapter 3. - The path (

marga

• ) to

 nirvana 

• and the two cessations (

nirodhas

• )