The Self's Awareness of Itself: Bhatta Ramakantha's Arguments against the Buddhist Doctrine of No-Self.

AuthorDuerlinger, James P.

The Self's Awareness of Itself: Bhatta Ramakantha's Arguments against the Buddhist Doctrine of No-Self. By ALEX WATSON. Publications of the De Nobili Research Library, vol. 32. Vienna: INTER PRESS CO. LTD., 2006. Pp. 443.

In this well-documented and carefully argued book, Alex Watson studies the arguments for the existence of a self formulated by Bhatta Ramakantha (c. 950-1000 C.E.), the prolific and influential exegete of early Saiva Siddhanta. Watson shows how Ramakantha drew upon both arguments used by the Buddhists to deny the existence of a self posited by other schools of philosophy and the doctrine of the Buddhist Yogacara epistemological school that cognition of objects includes self awareness (svasomvedana), to argue that a self exists as permanent and unchanging cognition of objects. For this purpose Watson edits, translates, and explains a number of passages from the first chapter of Ramakantha's Naresvarapariksaprakasa (NNP), a commentary on Sadyojyoti's Naresvarapariksa, and a passage from his Matangavrtti. Although he chooses to base his study of Ramakantha's assimilation of Buddhist doctrines on these texts, he also includes an appraisal of Ramakantha's related discussions in other texts. In this book, which is a slightly modified version of his doctoral thesis, Watson displays an excellent command of the history of Indian philosophy and expertly handles the philological tools and philosophical theory needed for the study. His intention in the book, he tells us, is to introduce scholars and students of Indian philosophy to the Saiva Siddhanta position in the history of the debate in India between the Buddhist and Brahmanical schools concerning the existence of a self.

In the introduction (pp. 49-115) Watson (i) outlines the Buddhist-Brahmanical controversy, (ii) corrects what he believes to be misconceptions about Saiva Siddhanta, (iii) clarifies the place of NPP within Saiva Siddhanta, (iv) contrasts Ramakantha's theory of the self to the theories of the Brahmanical schools, including the theory of the Samkhyas, with which it has the greatest affinity, and (v) discusses the editions and manuscripts of the NPP and his editorial policy, the dates of Sadyojyotis and Ramakantha, and the difficulties of translation posed by Ramakantha's prose.

After providing a synopsis of the contents of the first chapter of NPP (pp. 117-23), in chapter I (pp. 125-207) Watson translates and explains the passages in which Ramakantha uses to his...

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