MIND AS MIRROR AND THE MIRRORING OF MIND MIND AS MIRROR AND THE MIRRORING OF MIND Buddhist Reflections on Western Phenomenology STEVEN LAYCOCK STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1994 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address the State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246 Production by Bemadine Dawes Marketing by Terry Swierzowski Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Laycock, Steven William. Mind as mirror and the mirroring of mind : Buddhist reflections on western phenomenology / Steven Laycock. p. cm. — (SUNY series in Buddhist studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-1997-5 ISBN 0-7914-1998-3 (pbk.) 1. Phenomenology. 2. Madhyamika (Buddhism). 3. Knowledge, Theory of. 4. Philosophy, Comparative. 1. Title. II. Series. B829.5.L37 1994 181’.043—dc20 93-41539 CIP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Dedicated, With boundless mettá, to: Huma, Rashid ¡VimalJ and Shahid [Chandra] Contents Acknowledgments xi An Incident at Wang-Mei Shan 1 Prelude in the Key of Emptiness 3 Frameworks 3 Mirroring and Representation 6 A Paradox of Phenomenological Optics 10 The Dialectic of Mirroring 13 The Thesis of Phenomenal Undecidability 16 Com(mens)uration 18 I. MIND AS MIRROR 25 The Mirrorless Mirror: Reflections on Buddhist Dialectic 29 Analytic and Dialectic Phenomeno-Logic 29 Ex/planation 31 Absolute and Relative “Space” 33 Reflective Negativity 35 Buddhist Dialectics 37 Distinguished Distinctions 39 Archaic Distinctions 41 Deconstructing the Mirror 43 The Mirror of Mind 46 Reflections 48 Visible Invisibility 49 Instantiation and Manifestation 50 viii MIND AS MIRROR AND THE MIRRORING OF MIND Analytic Thought 52 The Thing-in-Itself 53 Bivalence and the Real 54 The Pathless Path: Reflections on Buddhist Meditative Practice 61 Tranquility and Insight 61 The Formal Absorptions 64 Toward a Critique of Pure Suffering 65 Discursive Thought 73 The Formless Absorptions 78 The Hierarchy of Concretion 84 Infinite Divisibility 88 Dependent Co-origination 93 The Lotus and the Chiasm 98 The Body and the Bodhi Tree 105 II. THE MIRRORING OF MIND 113 The Gateless Gate: Reflections on the Methodology of Reflection 117 Phenomenology and Its “Word” 117 Mirror as Metaphor 122 The “Madness” of Phenomenological Method 125 Presuppositionlessness 132 The Modes of Reflection 13 5 Reflections on Reflection 140 The Eidetic Reduction 143 Hyper-Reflection 147 The Great Doubt 149 The Transformative Phenomenology of Liberation 154 Mindless Minding: Reflections on Intentionality 163 The Mystery of Consciousness 163 The Rupture of Immanence 173 Reduction and the Immanence of Intentionality 180 The World-Horizon 181 The Ego as Reflection 187 The Ego as Gestalt 193 CONTENTS ix Diary of a Moon Gazer 201 Notes 205 Bibliography 301 Index of Subjects 319 Index of Names 336