Lamotte And Concept Of Anupalabdhi

Author(s): Ernst Steinkellner
Publisher: Ernst Steinkellner

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LAMOTTE AND THE CONCEPT OF ANUPALABDHI
Ernst Steinkellner, Vienna
In his clarification of Étienne Lamotte's position on the issues of the doctrine of non-self, and in answer to Staal's opposition to an earlier remark in the same spirit, J.W. de Jong not only reconsiders Lamotte's words in the introduction to the extensive chapter on śūnyatā in the fourth volume of his Traité? but also refers to other statements of Lamotte's that would corroborate an assessment that he "categorically rejects all attempts at discovering in Buddhism the belief in a Vedantic Ātman".3
Lamotte's view is particularly clear when he points out that the argumentum ex silentio employed in Frauwallner's formula "Ihm selbst lag es zwar fern, damit das Vorhandensein einer Seele überhaupt zu leugnen" (“To be sure, it was far from his intention to deny the existence of the soul altogether.")* has not much weight in view of the dialogues which come to conclusions such as ... ditth'eva dhamme saccato thetato tathāgato anupalabbhiyamāno (SN III 112, IV 384).
The opposition between these two alternative interpretational tendencies is again exemplified by Lamotte with reference to Oldenberg's and de La Vallée Poussin's translations: the first affirms a transcendent Tathāgata-Ātman when he says that the Tathāgata is "in Truth and Essence for you not to be apprehended", the latter denies the Tathāgata who "is not perceived, ascertained as true, real”.?
While these two translations of the word anupalabbhiyamāno differ only in respect of the emphasis put on its meaning by the interpretation, Lamotte went beyond these vague interpretations, which do not specifically express themselves with regard to the semantic field of the verb itself.
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I would like to thank Lambert Schmithausen and Tilmann Vetter for their careful interest in this paper and for many helpful suggestions. J.W. de Jong, "Lamotte and the Doctrine of Non-Self", Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie 3, 1987, 151-153. Le Traité de la Grande Vertue de Sagesse IV Louvain 1976. 2004-2005. J.W. de Jong, "Review of Lamotte 1976", in: T'oung Pao 44, 1978, (168-173) 168. Quoted from Die Philosophie des Buddhismus, Berlin 1956, 63, in Traité IV, 2004. The word seems to be transmitted in this problematic form. ibid., 2004. Cf. also K. Bhattacharya, PĀtman-Brahman dans le Bouddhisme ancien, Paris 1973, 67, note 3.
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