PHILOSOPHY l a nothingness and emptiness y c o a buddhist engagement with the ontology of jean-paul sartre c k steven w. laycock This sustained and distinctively Buddhist challenge to the ontology of Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness resolves the incoherence implicit in the Sartrean conception of nothingness by opening to a Buddhist vision of empti- ness.Rooted in the insights of Madhyamika dialectic and an articulated medita- n tive (zen) phenomenology, Nothingness and Emptinessuncovers and examines o the assumptions that sustain Sartre’s early phenomenological ontology and t questions his theoretical elaboration of consciousness as “nothingness.” h Laycock demonstrates that, in addition to a “relative”nothingness (the for-itself) i n defined against the positivity and plenitude of the in-itself, Sartre’s ontology g requires, but also repudiates, a conception of “absolute” nothingness (the n Buddhist “emptiness”), and is thus, as it stands, logically unstable, perhaps inco- e herent. The author is not simply critical; he reveals the junctures at which Sartrean ontology appeals for a Buddhist conception of emptiness and offers the s needed supplement. s a “Numerous authors have contributed to the phenomenology/Buddhism dialogue, n but Laycock’s work is perhaps the most detailed and profound meditation on d their convergence to date.The book’s major contribution is a reassessment of phenomenology—especially that of Sartre—in a global philosophical context. e Individuals who care about the development and application of phenomenology m will want to own this book.” — Frederic L.Bender, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs p t “This book makes an important contribution to comparative phenomenology.” in — J.N.Mohanty, coeditor of Phenomenology and Indian Philosophy e s Steven W. Laycock is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of s Toledo and the author of Mind as Mirror and the Mirroring of Mind: Buddhist Reflections on Western Phenomenology, coeditor (with James G. Hart) of Essays in Phenomenological Theology, also published by SUNY Press, and author of Foundations for a Phenomenological Theology. State University of New York Press Visit our web site at http://www.sunypress.edu a buddhist engagement with the ontology of jean-paul sartre s u n steven w. laycock y Nothingness and Emptiness Nothingness and Emptiness A Buddhist Engagement with the Ontology of Jean-Paul Sartre Steven W. Laycock State University of New York Press, Albany Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2001 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 whatso- ever 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 elec- tronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY12207 Production by Michael Haggett Marketing by Anne M. Valentine Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Laycock, Steven William Nothingness and emptiness : ABuddhist engagement with the ontology of Jean-Paul Sartre / Steven W. Laycock. p. cm. ISBN 0-7914-4909-2 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-4910-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Sartre, Jean Paul, 1905– 2. Sunyata. 3. Nothingness (Philosophy) I. Title. B22430.S34 N64 2001 111'.092—dc21 00-056275 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Con tents Acknowledgments vii The Radiance of the Lotus 1 Chapter One Dancing with the Light 9 Chapter Two Light upon Light 35 Chapter Three Questioning Sartrean Questions 65 Chapter Four Nothingness 83 Chapter Five Emptiness 107 Chapter Six Making Nothing of Something 131 Chapter Seven The Myth of Repletion 155 Chapter Eight The Possibility of the Possible 175 References 197 Index 211 Acknowledgments The author is gratefully indebted to the following publishers for permission to reproduce copyrighted material: Passages from Against Ethics: Contributions to a Poetics of Obligation with Constant Reference to Deconstruction,copyright © 1993, by John D. Caputo. Used by permission of Indiana University Press. Passages from The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika by Nagarjuna, translation copyright © 1995 by Jay L. Garfield. Used by permission of Oxford University Press, Inc. Passage from Out in the Open, copyright © 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, by Margaret Gibson. Reprinted by permission of Louisiana State University Press. Passages from Zen: Poems, Prayers, Sermons, Anecdotes,translation copy- right © 1963, by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto. Used by permission of Doubleday Press.