In the Vimalakirti Sutra there is a universe described, the inhabitants of which receive the Buddha's teachings olfactorily -- by smell. What do you imagine it smells like?
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Replying to @ericlinuskaplan
Could you send me the exact details? Non-Buddhist authors in South Asia use exactly this argument *against* yogipratyakṣa! (No matter how good your smell faculty is, you will never reach beyond smells).
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Replying to @elisa_freschi @ericlinuskaplan
I’ve wondered this myself: do you think there is a background discourse in play? As to how much representational content any single sense could convey on its own? But there are two issues in play: the sufficiency of any single sensory medium, and the necessity of concepts
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Replying to @bsod_nams @ericlinuskaplan
Thanks for asking. The Brahmanical-Buddhist polemics on the possibility of the Buddhavacana often focuses on the possibility of yogipratyakṣa (or one of its synonyms). Brahmanical authors (esp. Mīmāṃsā ones) insist that one cannot "see" dharma. 1/2
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pratyakṣa is only indriyap. As a reductio ad absurdum, people like
#VedāntaDeśika say that it would be as expecting smell to be able to grasp things other than smells. So, yes: 1. pratyakṣa cannot grasp non-indriya things and 2. each pramāṇa has a specific gocara. 2/32 replies 0 retweets 7 likes -
The issue of conceptuality could be beside the point, since Buddhist authors claim that the Buddha had a direct experience of dharma (so, no need to say that pratyakṣa can grasp concepts). Hope it is clear enough! 3/3
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Replying to @elisa_freschi @ericlinuskaplan
Super clear! The world of smells can be used to think about vikalpa and language—in the Lankavatara it is used as an example to say you can have communication and even teaching (and so vikalpa) with just a sensory and non-linguistic medium—of course the point requires...
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Very interesting! I'm also curious about the reference. This comes up explicitly in both the Śūraṅgama and Avataṃsaka, but I somehow missed it in the Laṅkāvatāra.
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Thanks for mentioning. Please, if possible, add the relevant sentences from Śūraṅgama and Avataṃsaka.
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The "Twenty Five Sages" section of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra includes a few. Adding those first. The "Purifying Practice" section of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and references to "doors to liberation" are closely related. Might take a bit longer. Both exist in Chinese and Eng. translation.
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Replying to @NoaidiX @elisa_freschi and
1) Śūraṅgama Sūtra (pp. 207-208 of Buddhist Text Translation Society translation from Chinese)pic.twitter.com/RIYsZbEXX5
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Replying to @NoaidiX @elisa_freschi and
2) Avataṃsaka Sūtra (p. 357 of Thomas Cleary's translation from Chinese)pic.twitter.com/rHfZmFxJxs
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