Il pensiero del Buddha

by Richard F. Gombrich, Roberto Donatoni (Translator)

Quali furono le idee del Buddha? Quali le sue parole? Paradossalmente, alcuni studiosi sostengono che non è dato saperlo con certezza, giacché le testimonianze più antiche, i sermoni conservati nel Canone pali, furono messe per iscritto solo vari secoli dopo la sua morte. In questo libro Richard Gombrich, fra i massimi indologi viventi, si ribella a tale «ermeneutica della pigrizia» e mostra come sia possibile, vagliando attentamente i testi e tenendo in debita considerazione l'ambiente culturale dell'epoca, far emergere, appunto, le idee fondamentali di «uno dei pensatori più brillanti e originali di ogni tempo», liberandole dalle concrezioni dottrinarie successive e dai fraintendimenti e letteralismi dei seguaci. Non solo vengono così sottoposte a una radicale reinterpretazione nozioni essenziali quali il karman, l'impermanenza, il «non sé», ma Gombrich evidenzia anche come il Buddha abbia largamente attinto al vocabolario e al patrimonio ideologico del jainismo e del brahmanesimo di epoca tardo-vedica, rivoluzionandone le concezioni e sovvertendo il significato dei termini da essi mutuati. E ci mostra un Buddha che, in netto contrasto con la figura sovrumana e onnisciente della tradizione, procede per tentativi ed errori e affina col tempo la formulazione del suo insegnamento. Un insegnamento tutto incentrato sull'esperienza umana, vista come un processo privo di soggetto agente che, simile a un fuoco divoratore, arde dolorosamente fino a che non venga rimosso ciò che l'alimenta, consentendone l'«estinzione» – tale alla lettera il senso di nirvana. Solo allora potrà aversi il «risveglio», meta ineffabile di un sentiero che il Buddha si è adoperato costantemente a delineare.

Genres: Buddhism, Philosophy, Religion, History, Spirituality, Meditation, Eastern Philosophy

283 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Kamakana · Rating 4 out of 5]

081211: this is very interesting, certainly makes a good try at uncovering the buddha’s original insights, placing it in context, reconciling contradictions, by returning to the pali canon- the oldest texts from the first council. in many cases it is later additions that introduce confusion, in some cases it is the usual corruption that religious thought suffers in becoming institutionalized religion...

the key of this work is it argues well that the buddha created a logical, pragmatic, universal metaphysics that intertwined the influences of jains, brahmins, ethicized the doctrine of karma, and reveals persistence and consistency of his thought. yet i do not know if this is best text to start learning about buddhism, as it unfortunately does not address the schism or separation into therevada and mahayana buddhism. so he does not answer all my interests. he does end by offering probably the best way to learn: learn pali, read, judge for yourself...

more
What the Buddha Taught
Buddhism: A Philosophical Approach
Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings
Nietzsche and Buddhist Philosophy
Buddhist Philosophy: A Historical Analysis
Empty Words: Buddhist Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Interpretation
Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction
The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
Ethics Embodied: Rethinking Selfhood Through Continental, Japanese, and Feminist Philosophies
Self, No Self?: Perspectives from Analytical, Phenomenological, and Indian Traditions
After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age

[Frank Jude · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Gombrich is an eminent buddhist scholar, specializing in the Pali tradition of early buddhism and the Theravada tradition in particular. He's also the founder and president of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. The man has written over 200 publications, and several of his books are truly deserving of "must read" status, including his Theravada Buddhism: A Social History and How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings.

In this book, Gombrich does what you would have thought would have been done long ago: situate the buddha in the social and cultural context of his life in order to get a deeper and more contextual understanding of his teachings. Primarily, as Gombrich makes clear, the buddha used metaphor and analogy, emphasized pragmatics and ethics, and discounted metaphysical speculation.

He also was more 'subversive' of the brahman status quo than we may have initially understood, using parody, sarcasm and a radical re-valuation of brahmanical concepts and terms. As Gombrich makes clear, from the forceful criticism of brahmanical culture, it is clear the buddha certainly must have had some powerful support or he could never have gotten away with what he taught! If he were alive today, and criticized the monotheistic religions of the west in similar ways (and have no doubt, he most certainly would as he rejected the notions of creation and a creator god, the soul, and textual authority). There'd probably be an Islamic fatwa against him!

Besides clarifying the buddha's critical engagement with brahmanism, Gombrich makes clear his debt to, as well as his critique of, Jainism. The centrality of his conception of karma owes much to Jainism, even as he criticizes the unsophisticated, physicalist conception the Jains held.

Contemporary western "buddhists" may be surprised to find that the buddha denied the common notion that "we are all one," and that the buddha taught any form of idealism! As Gombrich points out:

"He would have agreed with modern psychologists in declining to accept idealism: there really is a world out there, even if we cannot know it precisely." Gombrich goes on to emphasize:

"...for were there no distinction between a person and the world, including other people, his entire soteriology would make no sense at all.... That these distinctions were blurred in Mahayana thought has misled many students of earlier Buddhism."

If you've any interest in how buddhism originated, and what social and cultural conditions led to its arising, this and the other two above-mentioned books by Gombrich should definitely be on your reading list!

[Ellison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in a style that is somehow both academic and avuncular. I found it irritating at first but by the half way point it became enjoyable. He often seems to go around the block to get next door but he is writing about the neighborhood and the architecture of the times not just about the Buddha’s house.
It deepened my understanding of the concept of karma and its central role in Buddhism:
‘For the Buddha, the most important thing about living beings was their moral aspect, their karma. Though he says that by karma he means volition, in fact karma is both a process and the result of that process’
‘The Buddha’s theory of karma not only substituted ethics for ritual, but made intention, a private matter, the final criterion for ethical value. Furthermore, the Buddha took the extremely bold step of claiming that we are the masters of our own destinies, each responsible for our fates. I have suggested that the social conditions of his time must have been unusual for this to carry any plausibility with his audiences.'

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a challenging book that often gets bogged down in meta-details, has something of an incoherent or anthological structure, and somewhat loses sight of the wood for the trees. I was left scratching my head in looking for a central thesis here about what the Buddha thought beyond Gombrich's desire to give historical context to Buddhism and to correct misinterpretations that plague mainstream views of some of its concepts, like karma and anatta. However, with all this in mind, the book still provides a myriad of valuable insights and contextualisations that will enrich anyone interested in Buddhism (though with some prior knowledge on the subject).

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is revolutionary, it changed many of my preconceived notions about the teachings of the Buddha. In particular, Gombrich is adept at putting the Buddha's teachings into perspective: with particular emphasis on the Brahmanical-Vedic influence on the Buddha's thinking and His usage of the extant terminology of these philosophies to create his own soteriology.
Highly recommended, particularly if you consider yourself to be well-versed and knowledgeable about the Buddha's teachings; you may just learn something new!

[Anmol]

I am broadly in support of Gombrich's central premise: to understand the Buddha's words in the context of Upanishadic Brahminism. Gombrich quotes extracts from the Pali Canon which, in fact, directly demonstrate that the Buddha was responding (with satire and irony) to passages in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. This, I think, is an amazing discovery, and clarifies that the Buddha was definitely aware of the early, large Upanishads - the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya. It is unfortunate that the later Pali commentators lost all touch with these Brahminical texts, and so could not explain the context of the Buddha's words, and importantly, how he differs from Brahminism. What we need today is a comparative study between Buddhism and Vedanta, which, following Gombrich, shows the Buddhist response to the Upanishads, and goes beyond the 20th century Hindu assimilationists who thought that the Buddha was just repeating what the Upanishads said in a "negative" way. It's about time that Indian philosophers realised that there is no concept of 'Being' in Buddhism: Nirvana is not a transcendental realisation of some otherworldly realm, like Brahman. At least, working with the assumption that the Buddha has something more to say about the world, and that all knowledge is not contained in the Vedas and Vedanta, would help.

[Serdar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ambitious and expertly-argued look at the Buddha in, and out of, his historical context.

http://www.genjipress.com/2012/01/wha...

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly the kind of book I wanted to find!

This exactly the kind of book I wanted to find.

The material helps me understand the context of the Buddha and his teachings and seems to confirm my uninforned suspicion that much of Buddhism must have been influenced by the mindset of people in India at that time.

Gombrich helps one see both the context of the Buddha's time and place, as well as the novel ideas he taught - and how they related to the thinking of his day. It's interesting to learn of the play on words, the metaphors, and the humor the Buddha employed.

As Gombrich says, we should read the Pali text ourselves, preferably in the Pali language, though not necessarily, and thereby come to our own conclusions about that which is claimed in this book. Whether I ever get to do that or not, much of what I've read in this book will help me with my future readings on the subject of Buddhism. It's really been a refreshing read.

The book requires concentration to follow the reasoning behind Gombrich's opinions. In that sense, it's a Buddhist practice of a kind. It's a little academic but not so specialized that I couldn't follow the main thrust of each point being made.

It's a great book for someone who, like me, has read a dozen or so books on Buddhism but wants something meaty (considering my lack of academic background in the subject), with academic rigor.

I also have to say that for much of the book Gombrich maintains a style of writing which is engaging and makes the book a pleasure to read. I suppose only occasionally it got a little technical or assumed knowledge I did not have. This is not the authors fault. I take it as my responsibility to learn more.

A final point: the Kindle version comes as pictures of the physical book version, which means you can't highlight, use the Kindle dictionary function, or adjust the text size (other than by zooming in on each page). This wasn't a big problem and gave me the feel of actually reading a printed copy.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Buddha said that just as the ocean has only one flavour, that of salt, his teaching had only one flavour, that of liberation. While the comparison strikes as a natural one to make, the Buddha and his audiences lived very far from the ocean.'

An intriguing book as to why the Buddha was one of the greatest thinkers. Sometimes I found the language difficult to fully comprehend, however the information and detail included was wonderful. It was also really refreshing to read a book about Buddhism which wasn't written by a Buddhist, for once!!!

[Jessica Zu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply the best! I've never known the Buddha as a satirist! But he is! Read this book then you'll know why.

[David O'Dowd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful.

[Kandachamy Vijayakumaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting and critical look at the teachings of the Buddha with comparison to appropriate Brahmanical literature.

[Aman · Rating 1 out of 5]

everything goes against archaeological evidences.

[Tetrijeb · Rating 3 out of 5]

.

[Neil Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Gombrichs's insight into how the original Buddhist texts should be translated is precious. He uses his deep knowledge of life in ancient India, together with mastery of both Pali and Sanskrit, to give insights that are unique and rewarding. He uncovers the wit in the Buddha's teachings, and some valuable links between key concepts that are not available in other sources. In researching my own book on the Buddha's teachings, I referred to this book, and indeed contacted Richrd and found him generous enough to get in touch and offer to review my book! Thank you Richard for this wonderful book.

[İbrahim · Rating 5 out of 5]

kimsenin karması bir değil bu yüzden kendi kurtuluşunuz için çalışınız

dahi fertlerin kendi bulundukları zamanın ötesinde fikirler üretebilme güçü var fakat jainizmin ve brahminizmin altyapısı olmadan socrates ve david hume'la eşdeğer bir düşünürün böylesine nokta atışı bir doktrin geliştirebilmesi mümkün değildi.
sorumluluğa ve bireyselliğe dair zamanın ötesinden bir çağrı ve herkesin sonunda kendi bacağından asılacağına dair onlarca asır geçmişten gelen bir uyarı...

mürekkep olan her şey zevale mahkumdur

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but a bit too academic and detailed for my requirements!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not at all what I thought this book would be like. It was a bit to technical and not what I had wanted at the time. There are some solid references and areas that were useful.