Bhikkhu Ñanananda’s Concept and Reality
A Reply to Stephen Evans
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/bsrv.35391Keywords:
Bhikkhu Ñāṇananda, concept, Concept and Reality, language, papañca, realityAbstract
This article offers a critical reply to the assessment of Bhikkhu Katukurunde Ñanananda’s Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought (1971) published by Stephen Evans in Buddhist Studies Review 34(1), 2017. The alleged flaws and inconsistencies detected by Evans — both internal to the presentation in Concept and Reality and vis-à-vis the doctrinal evidence in the early Pali discourses — are re-addressed in the light of Bhikkhu Ñanananda’s work. In particular, the response aims at clarifying the compass of the categories of ‘concept’ and ‘reality’ in relation to perceptions and notions that arise due to conceptual proliferation according to the exegetical line put forward in Concept and Reality.
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