CONSTRUCTIVE POST-MODERNISM IN THE DIAMOND-CUTTER SUTRA

(Kalup[2], pp. 154ff.) 

Dialectical Triads of Thesis-->Antithesis-->Synthesis, roughly following Hegel-Fichte in Western philosophy. The triad can also be seen as Substance Philosophy-->No Substance-->Process Philosophy; or Absolutist-->Deconstruction-->Reconstruction.

ON VIRTUE

Virtue as perfect substance--->No Virtue--> Virtue as a human disposition, temporally

(Plato: a perfect form)                                                                   constituted and fully embodied

ON THE ARHAT

Arhat as perfect being--->No Arhat--> "a dweller in peace, a dweller in peace"--an arhat free from craving and living in the world with ordinary desires.

ON KARMA

Heap of Merit-->no Heap of Merit-->reconstructed as"heap of merit, heap of merit"

"Scare" quotes indicate karma as empty of substance, but not totally negated (as in deconstructive postmodernism). Karma not as a substance, but as an element of interdependent coorigination.

Karma as substance --->no Karma as substance --->"Karma" as process or relation. Karma as psychological rather than Jain's physical view.

(Jainism)                            (skeptic/materialist)                              (Buddhism)

ON THE SELF

Self -----> no-self -----> "self" as a relational, nonsubstantial process self

(Atman)     (anatma)                      Bundle Theory of the Self

ON REALITY

Being----->non-being----->becoming, "process," or "history" in Hegel’s first dialectical triad

(Sat)   (asat)