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Daoism and Buddhism

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Dao Companion to Daoist Philosophy

Part of the book series: Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy ((DCCP,volume 6))

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Abstract

This study focuses on the comparison of key concepts of nothingness and non-action in pre-Qin Daoism and emptiness and nirvāṇa in Indian Buddhism. If we distinguish nothingness into three basic types, then the nothingness in Daoist philosophy belongs to original nothing. In contrast, the emptiness in Madhyamaka Buddhism is basically a type of privative nothing, but its tendency to negate all existents at the ultimate level leads to negative nothing. The emptiness in Yogācāra Buddhism is basically nothingness as absence or privation, but its affirmation of ultimate reality leads to original nothing, which was more influential among East Asian Buddhists.

The concept of non-action provides us both a spiritual ideal and a social and political value. In contrast, nirvāṇa, the spiritual ideal for Buddhists, is concerned primarily with a metaphysically transcendental dimension. The so-called paradox of non-action may be explained away if non-action is understood more positively as a higher-order value of the sage.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Hence I am not going to discuss the later Daoist scholars such as Sima Chengzhen who wrote in response to Buddhist metaphysics or the Quanzhen Daoists who absorbed many ideas and practices from Buddhism and integrated them into their own theories and spiritual praxis. My thanks to an anonymous reviewer for suggesting a further research along the above lines, which could be interesting topics for future studies.

  2. 2.

    For Heidegger’s concept of original nothing, see Yao 2010. Part of this section is drawn from this early publication.

  3. 3.

    Kobusch 1971–: 809. The other three types are negation, mutual relation, and the not-yet-existent (Noch-nichtsein).

  4. 4.

    For instance, Liu 1997: 159, Wang 2001: 155, and Lin 2007: 151.

  5. 5.

    I exclude chapter 1, because I read the relevant sentence there as “the nameless (wuming無名) is the origin of heaven and earth” rather than “nothingness (wu無) is called (ming名) the origin of heaven and earth.”

  6. 6.

    See the Mojing and its commentary: 無不必待有, ……無天陷, 則無之而無. (Non-being does not necessarily presuppose being. . . . In the case of the non-being of the sky’s falling down, it is non-being without ever having been.)

  7. 7.

    Daodejing, ch. 40: 天下萬物生於有, 有生於無.

  8. 8.

    Zhuangzi, Gengsangchu chapter: 萬物出乎無有, 有不能以有為有, 必出乎無有, 而無有一無有.

  9. 9.

    Daodejing, ch. 2: 有無相生.

  10. 10.

    It is found in the encyclopedic Yogācārabhūmi (T1579: 362c15-21) and its commentaries (T1828: 416a12-16 and T1829: 97a20-26).

  11. 11.

    Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 15.1-2: na saṃbhavaḥ svabhāvasya yuktaḥ pratyayahetubhiḥ/ hetupratyayasaṃbhūtaḥ svabhāvaḥ kṛtako bhavet//svabhāvaḥ kṛtako nāma bhaviṣyati punaḥ kathaṃ/akṛtrimaḥ svabhāvo hi nirapekṣaḥ paratra ca/ /.

  12. 12.

    Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 24.18ab: yaḥ pratītyasamutpādaḥ śūnyatāṃ tāṃ pracakṣmahe/.

  13. 13.

    Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 24. 18c: sā prajñaptir upādāya pratipat.

  14. 14.

    Contemporary scholars with this approach are represented by Eugene Burnouf, H. Jacobi, M. Walleser, I. Wach, A.B. Keith, and La Vallée Poussin. See Lin 1999: 183–186.

  15. 15.

    Contemporary representatives of this approach are St. Schayer, Stcherbatsky, and Murti. See Lin 1999: 186–191.

  16. 16.

    Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 24. 18d: saiva madhyamā//.

  17. 17.

    See Piṅgala’s commentary on the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, T1564: 33b17.

  18. 18.

    Majjhima-Nikāya III 104, Cūḷasuññata-sutta: iti yaṃ hi kho tattha na hoti, tena taṃ suññaṃ samanupassati, yaṃ pana tattha avasiṭṭhaṃ hoti, taṃ santaṃ idaṃ atthīti pajānāti.

  19. 19.

    Madhyāntavibhāga I.13ab: dvayābhāvo hy abhāvasya bhāvaḥ śūnyasya lakṣaṇaṃ/.

  20. 20.

    See the relevant studies of Luo (2003) and Zhao (2007).

  21. 21.

    For a fuller list, see Liu 1997: 111.

  22. 22.

    In his critical book review of Slingerland 2003, Fraser (2007:101) proposed a similar view.

  23. 23.

    Lu (2007) made this point in his critical book review of Slingerland 2003.

  24. 24.

    Abhidharmakośabhāṣya II.55d: anyathā hy asya prāptau sāmarthyam anyathā visaṃyoge/ katham asya prāptau sāmarthyam/utpādanāt/kathaṃ visaṃyoge/prāpaṇāt/tasmān na tāvad asya mārgaḥ kathaṃcid api hetuḥ/phalaṃ cāsya visaṃyogaḥ/.

  25. 25.

    According to the Pāli sources. In the Sanskrit and Chinese sources the list is extended to fourteen to include the following questions: (1) Is the would both eternal and non-eternal? (2) Is the world neither eternal nor non-eternal? (3) Is the world both finite and infinite? (4) Is the world neither finite nor infinite?

  26. 26.

    Daodejing, ch. 1: 道可道, 非常道。名可名, 非常名。

  27. 27.

    Zhuangzi, “Qiwulun”: 天地與我並生, 而萬物與我為一。既已為一矣, 且得有言乎?既已謂之一矣, 且得無言乎?

  28. 28.

    For a comparative study on the Daoist and Buddhist approaches on this issue, see Wang 2003: 81–122 and Lin 2007: 23–73.

  29. 29.

    This work was supported by the Academy of Korean Studies (KSPS) Grant funded by the Korean Government (MEST) (AKS-2012-AAZ-104).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Department of Philosophy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong

    Zhihua Yao

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  1. Chinese University of Hong Kong Dept. Philosophy, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR

    Xiaogan Liu

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Yao, Z. (2015). Daoism and Buddhism. In: Liu, X. (eds) Dao Companion to Daoist Philosophy. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2927-0_22

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