The Cardinal Meaning: Essays in Comparative Hermeneutics: Buddhism and Christianity

204 Pages·1973·5.604 MB·English

by  Michael Pye (editor), Robert Morgan (editor)

The Cardinal Meaning
RR
Religion and Reason 6
Method and Theory
in the Study and Interpretation of Religion
GENERAL EDITOR
Jacques Waardenburg, University of Utrecht
BOARD OF ADVISERS
Th. P. van Baaren, Groningen
R.N. Bellah, Berkely
E. Benz, Marburg
U. Bianchi, Bologna
H.J.W. Drijvers, Groningen
S.N. Eisenstadt, Jerusalem
M. Eliade, Chicago
C. Geertz, Princeton
K. Goldammer, Marburg
P. Ricoeur, Paris
M. Rodinson, Paris
N. Smart, Lancaster
G. Widengren, Uppsala
MOUTON . THE HAGUE · PARIS
The Cardinal Meaning
Essays in Comparative Hermeneutics :
Buddhism and Christianity
edited by
MICHAEL PYE and ROBERT MORGAN
MOUTON · THE HAGUE · PARTS
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 72-89592
Jacket design by Jurriaan Schrofer
© 1973, Mouton & Co., Herderstraat 5, The Hague, Netherlands
Printed in Hungary
Preface
This book is concerned with theoretical questions about interpretation
which arise in two religious traditions, namely Buddhism and Christianity.
The first paper considers the feasibility of a comparative approach to such
'hermeneutical' questions, and the following papers analyse problems about
criticism and authenticity arising out of the historical development of these
two religions. Professor Smart has kindly contributed some concluding
reflections on some of the issues raised.
The main papers were originally read at the fourth annual colloquium on
Religious Studies at the University of Lancaster (England) in January 1972.
The general intention of the colloquium was that after a discussion of the
comparative approach to matters of this kind some broadly parallel questions
should be asked about the two religions in question. The contributors were
left free however to develop their arguments in the manner which seemed
to them to be appropriate and this accounts for a certain variety of approach
and emphasis.
Nevertheless all the papers are in some way concerned with one set of
questions, namely those which arise out of the historical expansion and
diversification of complex religious traditions. Despite the great differences
between Buddhism and Christianity, it does seem that in this area similar
sorts of problems arise for those concerned with the interpretation of either.
If this much is confirmed by what follows there seems to be a case for
exploring the comparative approach further by broadening the range of
questions and considering other religious traditions.
It will be noticed that it was an essay by Ernst Troeltsch, 'The theologian
of the history of religions school', which provided the initial talking point
out of which the plan for the colloquium arose. This is particularly appro-
priate in that the Department of Religious Studies at Lancaster itself
provides a historical and phenomenological framework in the study of
religion in which questions of meaning and interpretation can also be
examined.
6 Preface
A complementary starting point in East Asian Buddhism is reflected in
the title phrase 'The Cardinal Meaning', in Chinese -χ M (ta i), and the
usage referred to below (pp. 44-8) is mainly that of The Platform Sutra
which is one of the most influential texts of Zen Buddhism. In its own way
this term picks up controversial points about tradition and criticism, mean-
ing and authenticity, which are broadly analogous to those which have
arisen in the development of Christianity.
As a result of the discussion of each paper by those present at the collo-
quium in Lancaster some additions and adjustments have been made, and
the stimulus for these is gratefully acknowledged. The editors also appreciate
the efficient cooperation of the other contributors themselves, and of Dr.
Jacques Waardenburg, general editor of the series 'Religion and Reason* in
which this volume appears.
Michael Pye and Robert Morgan
Contents
Preface 5
1. Comparative Hermeneutics in Religion
Michael Pye, University of Lancaster 9
2. Expansion and Criticism in the Christian Tradition
Robert Morgan, University of Lancaster 59
3. Continuity and Diversity in Early Buddhism
David Bastow, University of Dundee 103
4. Authenticity in the Interpretation of Christianity
David Pailin, University of Manchester 127
5. Authenticity in the Interpretation of Buddhism
Karel Werner, University of Durham 161
6. Comparative Hermeneutics : An Epilogue about the Future
Ninian Smart, University of Lancaster 195
Index of Authors 201

MICHAEL PYE 1
Comparative Hermeneutics in Religion
1. A STARTING POINT FOR COMPARATIVE HERMENEUTICS
The word 'hermeneutics' is intended here to mean only 'theory of inter-
pretation', and the argument is limited to the field of religion. Thus while
the interpretations of Christianity may be many and varied, the study of
what is going on or what might go on when such interpretations are produced
may be conceived of as a unified theoretical investigation called 'hermeneut-
ics'. Again, while the various interpretations in themselves may be intended
as normative contributions to theology, hermeneutics may be sufficiently
abstracted from the specific content of normative theology to function as
both servant and critic to expositors, preachers and systematic theologians.
The relationship may be clearly illustrated by some words of Ernst Troeltsch
in his article 'Was heisst "Wesen des Christentums"?' (i.e. 'What does
"Essence of Christianity" mean?'), an article which is taken as a general
starting point for what follows.1 He writes, Ί do not intend to enter the
debate about the substantial correctness or mistakenness of Harnack's
conception of the essence... I wish rather, in view of the various appraisals
which have been made, to raise the methodological question : What does the
expression "essence of Christianity" mean in the first place? What presup-
positions are involved in the search for the essence of Christianity? What
kind of tools are taken for granted as being useful for the solution of this
problem? Is the meaning and goal of this enterprise really so simple and
straightforward? What does the task involve, if indeed it is necessary and
feasible at all? How far is it purely a historical problem?... .'2 By taking
1. In Gesammelte Schriften, II (Tübingen 1913), pp. 386-451; first published in Die
Christliche Welt, 1903. My attention was first drawn to this article by my friend and col-
league Mr. Robert Morgan. His advice and encouragement have been of great value in the
development of the argument set out below, though of course he is not at all to be blamed
for its shortcomings.
2. Gesammelte Schriften, II, p. 390. The edition from which this and all subsequent
quotations from Troeltsch's article have been translated is that of the Scientia Verlag
Aalen 1962.
10 Michael Pye
one step back in this way Troeltsch was able to consider the varied positions
of Harnack and others, especially Loisy, and to analyse the problem in a
way which did not depend upon his taking up a position with regard to the
point of substance, but which nevertheless may be deemed to have been
helpful. Such a stance is akin to an important aspect of the study of religion
as this is increasingly widely understood these days; namely it is akin to
the phenomenological approach which attempts to discern significant
structures without prejudging issues of truth or falsity, value or otherwise,
the latter being supposed to belong to a different area of the total enquiry.3
I wish to propose that the same principle could be applied not merely
in the case of a variety of interpretative positions within one religious tra-
dition, but also in the case of a series of problems about interpretation
which seem to occur analogously in various religious traditions. In other
words I wish to propose that there is not only hermeneutics, but that there
could also be, and ought to be, comparative hermeneutics. In order to
indicate the feasibility of this both briefly and concretely it is necessary to
select one problem which seems to arise analogously in different religious
traditions. The problem known in the Christian tradition as the problem
about the 'essence' of Christianity seems to be an appropriate one. Just as
one problem only is selected, so one other important religious tradition is
selected, namely Buddhism, on the grounds that this religion is roughly
comparable to Christianity in terms of its general complexity, length of
history in various countries, varying role as missionary religion, minority
religion, state religion, variety of doctrinal forms and dogmatic standpoints,
and so on, while at the same time its central conceptions and practices
are sufficiently distinct from those of Christianity for the comparison to be
significant. Like Troeltsch I do not intend here to enter the debate about
the substantial correctness or mistakenness of any particular attempt to
define the 'essence' either in the case of Christianity or in the case of Bud-
dhism. Nor moreover does it seem necessary yet to attempt a definitive
theory of what the concept 'essence of religions such as Christianity and
3. On what is meant by 'phenomenological method' here, see further at the end of this
argument, below. The position adopted, especially with regard to the 'phenomenological'
and 'comparative' aspects of the study of religion (which are not simply to be equated),
is explained in greater detail in the theoretical Introduction to my Comparative Religion:
An Introduction Through Source Materials (Newton Abbot, 1972").