A History of Buddhist Philosophy: Continuities and Discontinuities

by David J. Kalupahana

David J. Kalupahana's Buddhist A Historical Analysis has, since its original publication in 1976, offered an unequaled introduction to the philosophical principles and historical development of Buddhism. Now, representing the culmination of Dr. Kalupahana's thirty years of scholarly research and reflection, A History of Buddhist Philosophy builds upon and surpasses that earlier work, providing a completely reconstructed, detailed analysis of both early and later Buddhism.

Genres: Buddhism, Philosophy, Religion, History

336 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1992

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book, though some of the later chapters in part two seemed too undeveloped (particularly those chapters discussing Zen and Tibetan Buddhism). Only the first couple chapters had been assigned in college. Decided to re-read it in its entirety. Very difficult. Assumes knowledge and familiarity of several primary sources. Certainly polemical in some of his interpretations and re-interpretations of various scholars' writings (Nagarjuna, Vasubhandu, D.T. Suzuki, etc.). Worth (perhaps requires) a second read for serious study. Provides the context and some of the history of Indian philosophy out of which Buddhism emerged and responded to. Interesting to see how author makes connections and interesting references with Western philosophers including Kant, David Hume, and William James and traditional Western philosophical problems.

[CJ Selig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book requires a foundational knowledge of Buddhism (I recommend Early Buddhist Discourses by John J Holder). With the right foreknowledge this is a masterpiece of philosophy.

Recommended for those interested in philosophy, not religion. It left me stunned that my own university philosophy courses didn’t teach Buddhist philosophy.

[Chad Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great and easy read. I read the first version of the book and this update and revision in better and more in depth. After looking up a few philosophy terms I knew what he was talking about.

[Madhav Radder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read book to understand non-absolutist approach of Buddha. Author explains Buddhist Philosophy in terms of Epistemology, Ontology, Logic and Philosophy of Language

[Kandachamy Vijayakumaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very comprehensive account of Buddhist Philosophy covering important texts and authors- a single-window source for Buddhist philosophy. The effort of the author is quite laudable.

[Alfonso José Pizarro Ramírez · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best works on the topic that I have read along with Sri Walpola Rahula's 'What the Buddha Taught'. David Kalupahana makes use of extensive knowledge spanning from the debates between the strands of thinking related in the Rig Veda's (1500-1200 bc) Nasadiya-sukta up to the discussions in the late Mahayana, including Tantras and Ch'an. Even though not necessary, prior knowledge is highly desirable, given the highly technical debates which include topics on logic, metaphysics, and the traditional phenomenological themes. Although I would highly recommend this book to someone interested in Buddhism and general ancient Indian thought, it will be a more fruitful read if the contents of Walpola Rahula's book have already been mastered.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title of this book suggests a scope more comprehensive than Kalupahana delivers. Indeed, a glaring lacunae exists in his coverage: Kalupahana covers little ground concerning recent developments in Buddhism (by recent, I mean anything from the last five hundred years). However, this represents only a slight quibble I carry with his work here.

Highly competent in matters of etymology, translation, and semantics in addition to profound understanding of early discourses surrounding and encompassing Buddhism, Kalupahana writes with awesome authority. One might easily devote him/herself to this book for many months without scratching the surface of his 13 page "Select Bibliography."

Kalupahana's work helps me understand the early history of Buddhist Philosophy--starting with pre-Buddhist thought in India provides requisite information in order to more fully appreciate the Buddha's middle path. Furthermore, Kalupahana's coverage of initial responses to Buddhism as well as later developments by folks such as Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, and Dignaga delineate Buddhism's early history quite helpfully.

Of particular interest to me: I could not help but draw continual parallels between ancient Buddhist thought and Western philosophy of the past two hundred years. Indeed, early Buddhist thinkers seem to have realized (long before folks such as Quine, Wittgenstein, Derrida, etc.) the complex relationship between the sign and signified--in the language of Kalupahana's work, the concepts and the objective world--but also in the relativity between language and reality that Lévi-Strauss discovered. Herein lies a project for my further studies.

I recommend this book to folks who have already flirted (at least in a cursory manner) with both Western and Eastern philosophy and who have no small constitution of stamina.

[Paul H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of philosophy in my life but this is legitimately one of the densest books I've ever run across. I highly recommend it, but anything more than ten pages in a day and my brain just stopped working . . . Kalupahana fits about ten books' worth of content into a reasonably slim 260 pages, and also assumes a fairly broad knowledge of early Buddhism.

I arrived at this particular volume after having read most English translations of classical Buddhist texts as well as various secondary sources on the topic, and this definitely isn't one of those cases I have often run across when reading English-language texts on Buddhism -- where, to be completely frank, the author is usually some random ex-hippie who started reading Zen poetry in the 1960s and calling himself 'Red Pine' (née Bill Porter) or 'Sangharakshita' (née Dennis Longwood) or 'Testugen' (née Bernie Glassman), etc. It's often the case that Shambhala et al. have published not-so-scholarly books where authors free-associate their way through a shallow exploration of the grooviest aspects of the Pali/Sanskrit tradition (which they have, of course, never read in the original language).

Kalupahana, on the other hand, was an absurdly intelligent Theravada Buddhist philosopher from Sri Lanka who had read, apparently, every Buddhist text ever written; I basically felt like I was taking my life into my hands with each chapter. He is charmingly and appropriately skeptical of most of the Mahayana nonsense from the Lotus Sutra onward -- as I always put it, in the spirit of Bosquet, "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la Buddhism" -- and does an impressive job at getting to the core of the historical Buddha's teachings.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

tough read. worthwhile at points.