Heidegger and Dōgen on the Ineffable
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Filippo Casati
Abstract
Many writers have commented on connections between the work of Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) and Chan/Zen Buddhism—a school of Buddhism originating in China around the 6th Century. In this essay, we will explore one aspect of that connection, drawing on the work of the Japanese Zen philosopher Dōgen Kigen (1200–1253). Heidegger held that being is ineffable, and Dōgen held that ultimate reality is ineffable. Now, ineffability is an extreme form of indeterminacy: if something is ineffable it transcends any determinacy whatsoever. However, there is an obvious contradiction involved in talking about the ineffable, as do both Heidegger and Dōgen. Indeed, even to say that something transcends all determinacy is to give it a determination. Though Heidegger and Dōgen’s concerns are, prima facie, completely different, we will show that they both responded to the contradiction (or came to respond to it) in exactly the same way: they were dialetheists about the matter. Not only did they endorse the contradiction in question; they both, in much the same sense, endorsed the necessary entanglement of the speech of effability and the silence of ineffability. Finally, by looking at the work of Nishitani Keiji (1900–1990), we will show that the thoughts of Dōgen and Heidegger converge in the fact that the subject of the contradiction for both may, in fact, be seen as nothingness.
Abstract
Many writers have commented on connections between the work of Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) and Chan/Zen Buddhism—a school of Buddhism originating in China around the 6th Century. In this essay, we will explore one aspect of that connection, drawing on the work of the Japanese Zen philosopher Dōgen Kigen (1200–1253). Heidegger held that being is ineffable, and Dōgen held that ultimate reality is ineffable. Now, ineffability is an extreme form of indeterminacy: if something is ineffable it transcends any determinacy whatsoever. However, there is an obvious contradiction involved in talking about the ineffable, as do both Heidegger and Dōgen. Indeed, even to say that something transcends all determinacy is to give it a determination. Though Heidegger and Dōgen’s concerns are, prima facie, completely different, we will show that they both responded to the contradiction (or came to respond to it) in exactly the same way: they were dialetheists about the matter. Not only did they endorse the contradiction in question; they both, in much the same sense, endorsed the necessary entanglement of the speech of effability and the silence of ineffability. Finally, by looking at the work of Nishitani Keiji (1900–1990), we will show that the thoughts of Dōgen and Heidegger converge in the fact that the subject of the contradiction for both may, in fact, be seen as nothingness.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Dedication V
- Contents VII
- Introduction: Facing Contradiction in the Absolute 1
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Part I : Asian Philosophy
- Transcendental Contradictions: The Spectre of Non-Being in Early to Middle Brāhmanic-Hindu Thought-System 9
- “It is Distant, it is Near” – Vedāntic Hindu Visions of Divine Contradictions 39
- Contradictions and Certainty: The Mīmāṃsā Defense of the Authorless Veda 61
- Buddhism, Emptiness, and Paradox 77
- All in One Mind. Huayan’s Holistic Panbuddhism 89
- Heidegger and Dōgen on the Ineffable 105
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Part II : Christian Philosophy
- Contradiction and God Between Neoplatonism and the Byzantine Tradition: Proclus, Pseudo-Dionysius, and Nicholas of Methone 137
- The Ways God Overcomes Contradictions in Human Understanding: Nicholas of Cusa 169
- Identity and non-Identity of the Human Soul with God in Meister Eckhart’s Metaphysical Mysticism 185
- Hegel’s Absolute from a Logical Point of View 211
- The One, the Many, and the Trinity: A Dialetheist Response to the Trinitarian Contradiction 221
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Part III: Jewish and Islamic Philosophy
- “Laud and praise Him justly and uprightly, not by attributing to Him exaggerations and absurdities”: God and logic in Jewish thought 249
- On Ayin, or the Divine Nothing 269
- Transcendence vs. Immanence in Jewish Philosophy and Poetry 289
- God’s attributes; Are aḥwāl contradictory? 297
- God and Impossibility: A Classical Ashʿarī Perspective 311
- Is Being Contradictory? — Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Principle of Non-Contradiction 347
- Contributors
- Names Index
- Topic Index
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Dedication V
- Contents VII
- Introduction: Facing Contradiction in the Absolute 1
-
Part I : Asian Philosophy
- Transcendental Contradictions: The Spectre of Non-Being in Early to Middle Brāhmanic-Hindu Thought-System 9
- “It is Distant, it is Near” – Vedāntic Hindu Visions of Divine Contradictions 39
- Contradictions and Certainty: The Mīmāṃsā Defense of the Authorless Veda 61
- Buddhism, Emptiness, and Paradox 77
- All in One Mind. Huayan’s Holistic Panbuddhism 89
- Heidegger and Dōgen on the Ineffable 105
-
Part II : Christian Philosophy
- Contradiction and God Between Neoplatonism and the Byzantine Tradition: Proclus, Pseudo-Dionysius, and Nicholas of Methone 137
- The Ways God Overcomes Contradictions in Human Understanding: Nicholas of Cusa 169
- Identity and non-Identity of the Human Soul with God in Meister Eckhart’s Metaphysical Mysticism 185
- Hegel’s Absolute from a Logical Point of View 211
- The One, the Many, and the Trinity: A Dialetheist Response to the Trinitarian Contradiction 221
-
Part III: Jewish and Islamic Philosophy
- “Laud and praise Him justly and uprightly, not by attributing to Him exaggerations and absurdities”: God and logic in Jewish thought 249
- On Ayin, or the Divine Nothing 269
- Transcendence vs. Immanence in Jewish Philosophy and Poetry 289
- God’s attributes; Are aḥwāl contradictory? 297
- God and Impossibility: A Classical Ashʿarī Perspective 311
- Is Being Contradictory? — Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Principle of Non-Contradiction 347
- Contributors
- Names Index
- Topic Index
