Rationality and Mind in Early Buddhism

Here is a study of rationality and mind based on the earliest recorded stratum of Buddhism, the Pali Nikayas. The author makes a distinction between what can be said from within the context of the Buddhist texts themselves and what can be spoken of from the point of view of contemporary philosophy of religion. Insights from philosophy of religion are employed to elucidate the texts without any overall imposition of any foreign ‘ism’ onto Buddhism. An attempt to understand something of the nature of religion by paying attention to one particular religion marks the philosophical side of the work. Combined with attention to the Pali texts, the approach which emerges is contextual and critically philosophical. The author is at once sympathetic to early Buddhism as a system of religious belief and attentive to its philosophical difficulties. The volume is primarily addressed to students of Buddhism. Scholars and researchers in the field of philosophical and religious studies will find it interesting.