[Buddha-l] Photographs of buddha-l regulars

["Kåre A. Lie"]

At 14:11 02.11.2006 -0700, Richard Hayes wrote:

>On Thursday 02 November 2006 08:17, Kåre A. Lie wrote:
>
> > In our book "Tanke og virkelighet" Svein Myreng and I have translated and
> > commented Vasubandhu's Madhyantavibhaga. There we argue that Vasubandhu was
> > not an idealist (in the Western philosophical sense of the word), at least
> > not as far as can be judged from his Madhyantavibhaga.
>
>Vasubandhu striks me as one of the most diverse thinkers in all of Indian
>Buddhism. Not only was the range of topics about which he wrote wide, but his
>ability to look at all sides of an issue makes it impossible to pin any label
>on him for very long. I think one can easily find some passages in some of
>his works that make him look a lot like an idealist of some sort, but there
>are plenty of passages elsewhere that make that label peel off.

In addition to all this, Vasubandhu also at times seems to have been 
thoroughly fed up with traditional Buddhist terminology. He is using 
language rather creatively, and this sometimes throws new and interesting 
light on standard Buddhist concepts.

For instance, I found it highly refreshening to see how he described the 
Pratityasamutpada (in Madhy.). His interpretation is rather different from 
Buddhaghosa's. Vasubandhu's interpretation of Pratityasamutpada supports a 
thoroughly psychological understanding of the series, and not the 
several-life-interpretation.

>Another thinker, of much less breadth than Vasubandhu but equally 
>difficult to
>label, is Dignaga, and yet another is Dharmakirti. And of course we also have
>Nagarjuna, that Teflon monster to which no label sticks even for a few
>moments.

I am ashamed to admit that I have not yet found time and daring to dive 
into Dignaga's and Dharmakirti's writinigs. I have been tempted, but have 
managed to resist ... so far.

> > Hmmm ... maybe we should have the book translated into English, for the
> > benefit of those few of you who are not quite fluent in Norwegian yet ...
>
>An English translation would be most welcome,

Svein (my co-author) and I have been toying with the idea.  The problem of 
course is that we both feel that our native language is the best medium for 
expressing our very subtle thinking. And do you really want yet another 
Buddhist book in unidiomatic English?

>although your book might provide
>an incentive to some of us to learn Norwegian.

Ah! When you put it that way, we probably ought to put away for good all 
our thoughts of providing a translation.

>My wife comes from Norwegian
>stock in Minnesota (which I understand is a Nowrwegian phrase that
>means "Eskimos don't have enough words for snow"). She and I keep thinking it
>might be fun to try to learn at least enough of the language to gain deeper
>insight into an American comic essayist named Garrison Keillor. Keillor
>claims of Norwegians that whenever they encounter anything they do not
>understand, they put sugar on it and bake it into a pie.

All Americans know (or ought to know) that Norwegians eat nothing but lefse 
and lutefisk.

>Is Vasubandhu pie a favourite dish in Norway?

Only if it comes in the sky.

Yours,

Kåre A. Lie
http://www.lienet.no
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