Buddhist Hermeneutics on Essence of Mind in the Process of Wisdom Development

Abstract

The objectives of this research are as followings: 1) to study the process of wisdom development in western and Buddhist philosophies; 2) to study the Essence of Mind (or Original Mind) in Zen and Theravada Buddhist philosophies; 3) to study western and Buddhist hermeneutics as the tools of dissertation; 4) to apply Buddhist hermeneutics on the Essence of Mind in the process of wisdom development; and 5) to build a body of knowledge and a platform in the process of other developments. It is a qualitative research on the study of humanities through dialectic and discursive methods under the analytic, appreciative, and applicative approaches.

 The results of research are the followings: 1) the process of wisdom development in western and Buddhist philosophies shows a relation between epistemology and sources for the arising of right view;

2) the Essence of Mind in Zen Buddhist philosophy is highly significant to the Passive State of Mind (or Subconscious Mind) in Theravada Buddhist philosophy;

3) the western hermeneutics is originally a religious interpretation, after that, it has evolved to epistemology in postmodernism. For Buddhist hermeneutics, it is a theory of interactionism which uses in this research is the skillful means;

4) an application of the Buddhist hermeneutics on the Essence of Mind in the process of wisdom development has been divided into two levels: 1) Worldly Wisdom or Ethical; 2) Transcendental Wisdom or Truthful. These levels are based on a theory of Skillful Means, i.e. Koan, Zazen, and Mondo as tools of getting the Essence of Mind;

5) a new body of knowledge in the process of wisdom development has been divided into three parts: 1) Zen Dialectic of Non-duality; 2) Relation between Bodhisattva Ideals and Wisdom/Dhamma 2; and 3) Zen Hermeneutical Theory.