The Looping Structure of Buddhist Thought (Or, How Chan Buddhism Resolves the Quantum Measurement Problem)

Bibliographic Data

ID8202474
AuthorsRobert H Sharf (Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of California, Berkeley, Dwinelle, Berkeley, CA, USA, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume89
Issue3
Pages1039-1073
Publication date2021-09-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jaarel/lfab029
OpenAlexW3173626032
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited25

Is there a world out there when nobody is looking? This is a question that medieval Buddhist scholiasts struggled with over many centuries, giving rise to a variety of competing positions. In this article, I identify a loop that runs through and structures seemingly antithetical positions—some realist, some antirealist—in these debates. My claim is that the loop is a feature of our lifeworld, and thus any serious reflection on the mind/world relationship is bound to get entangled in it. Even modern physics has come up against it, such that rival positions advanced by quantum theorists are structurally analogous to positions proffered in medieval Buddhist writings. I conclude by turning to the Chan Buddhist tradition, which is often mischaracterized as hostile to philosophical analysis. Chan is among the few Buddhist schools that recognize, foreground, and celebrate the manner in which mind and world enfold each other. As such, this paper foregrounds the decidedly philosophical insights of the Chan tradition

Art · Buddhism · Buddhist philosophy · Epistemology · Literature · nobody · Theology · Variety (cybernetics) · Biofield Effects and Biophysics · Computer Science · History of Science and Medicine · Mathematics · Philosophy · Quantum Mechanics and Applications

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