[Buddha-l] Pudgalavada

[Joy Vriens]

>The issue is not the affirmation of something ineffable existing, but rather that Buddhists who talk about such things as skandhas-of-appropriation (skandha-up¨¡d¨¡na), previous lives, and nirv¨¡¡¡a as entailing the cessation of appropriation of skandhas¡ªas all mainstream Buddhists do¡ªare dabbling with "unsayables," but they are not aware of that. It is a clever polemic accusing other Buddhists of ignoring the "unsayables" in their own heuristic expressions ¨C i.e., the extent to which what Buddhists claim as foundational realities turn out to only be heuristics. The gist, for the Pudgalavadins is that as long as one has to employ such heuristics, one may as well select those that are coherent, reasonable, and are useful for practice (avoiding nihilistic immobility and attachment to false literalisms). 

Thank you for the postings, I put them all in one file as you suggested. Very interesting and I am looking forward to reading Bhikshu Thich Thien Chau's translation.

>In most other respects, the pudgalavadins are just like every other Buddhist group --

I am convinced of that. But of course, I have my idea about Buddhism and tend to prajnaptically read it into any Buddhist text I encounter.   

I have herad or read recently that when one focuses on the differences, one will only see differences, whereas when one focuses on what systems and ideas have in common, the differences will pop up automatically. 

Joy