Since Nietzsche, the history of philosophy has been about overcoming itself – what Wittgenstein and Heidegger referred to as the ‘End of Philosophy.’ A contemporary of these two was Jean Gebser, whose pivotal role in concluding the whole process is still largely unknown.
Heidegger went beyond conventional philosophy to explore the nature of thinking itself: ‘To think is to confine yourself to a single thought that one day stands still like a star in the world’s sky.’ Based on Heidegger’s instructions and armed with the Buddhist notion of Sunyata (Emptiness), Christian Reinhardt translates this ‘star’ into an exact formula: everything/nothing.
The author dives deeply into the foundations of Emptiness and, in the process, reveals the link between Heidegger, Gebser, Buddhism and the essence of awareness. Above the level of the intellect stands the relatively unexplored realm of the intuition, direct ‘aperceptual’ experience and the ineffable source of all reality which is Emptiness.
Reinhardt takes an unapologetic swipe at pedagogy, dismantling what stands today for education. The implications promise to transform both the humanities and science, and especially the fields of psychology and philosophy. He delivers an original yet sardonic contemporary testimony.
Table of Content
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: Present Western Philosophy as an Introduction and Interpretive Basis for Chinese Buddhism
1.1 The basic thesis
1.2 Proposal of a hermeneutic approach
1.3 The creation aspect of language
1.4 The current state of Philosophy through Jean Gebser’s cultural analysis
1.5 Hypothesis on the foundation of philosophy
1.6 The overhaul of Aristotelian logic
Chapter 2: The Deep Structure of Chinese Buddhism
2.1 The discriminating thought operation of Buddhism: Yuanqi
2.2 Help for the central word of Buddhist Thinking
2.2.1 History and etymology
2.2.2 The Buddha’s listing of the three most obvious confusions of Sunyata
2.2.3 Heidegger’s path from Being to Nothingness into ‘das Ereignis’ (the ‘Event’)
2.2.4 On ‘Relationality’
2.2.5 The negation of the tetralemma (Catuscoti)
2.2.6 The most modern design for Sunyata?
2.2.7 Sunyata in the concert of the core thoughts of this world
2.3 The two truths
2.3.1 On the Foundation of Buddhism: The Buddha as the ‘Critic’ of the Indian Tradition
2.3.2 Zhiyi and the Two Truths of Chinese Buddhism
Chapter 3: On two schools of Chinese Buddhism with respective parallels to recent Western thought
3.1 Transposition of the Central Theme Emptiness/Form in Li/Shi of the Huayan School of Fazang
3.1.1 On the translation of Li
3.1.2 Huayan and the word ‘energy’
3.1.3 Steve Odin’s ‘Process Metaphysics and Hua-Yen Buddhism’
3.2 The Chan (Zen) School and its broad impact in the 20th Century
3.2.1 Yuanqi Law in its psychological application
Chapter 4: Is Buddhism a Religion?
4.1 The Substrate of the Two Truths of Chinese Buddhism: Ti /Yong
4.2 Can the goal of Buddhism be experienced?
Summaries of various types
Chapter 5: Implications
5.1 The crisis of established knowledge
5.1.1 New topics
5.1.2 New question
5.2 Towards a hierarchy of disciplines
5.2.1 The topos of Buddhism
5.3 On rigor in the humanities
Epilogue
Obituary
Closing words
Pedagogical supplements (Excerpts from letters)
Bibliography
About the author
Christian Reinhardt was born in Mannheim, Germany and has lived his life in Munich in the quiet study of the Ageless Wisdom Tradition (Alice Bailey & Benjamin Creme). What began as a ‘truthseeker’ led to a life of service with his primary influences being the emergence of Maitreya, the World Teacher, and the Masters of the Wisdom alongside the practice of Transmission Meditation since 1987. He also received a Masters degree at the University Munich with studies in Sinology, Philosophy and Religious Studies. He currently lives and continues to write in Munich, and enjoys long walks through the English Garden. His first book was published in German (2004) by Novalis under the title Das Polare Paradox and is reprinted here in English by Vedanta Publishing under the title The Existence Paradox and the Ineffable Nature of Reality. While he loves children and took care of many he’s absolutely in accordance with the will of providence to have none of his own.
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