ABSTRACT

This study has demonstrated that Buddhist liberating knowledge involves a complex web of ideas. It includes a number of variations and interrelated themes. And Buddhist thought is often characterized by a degree of philosophical fluidity that allows for a range of interpretations. Liberating knowledge in Buddhism is thus not a simple matter. In the introductory chapter I raised the possibility that Buddhism is not one entity but rather an ‘umbrella concept’ for a family of closely connected but distinct phenomena. This book has, I believe, supplied a considerable amount of evidence for this theory. The forms of Buddhism that I have been reflecting on share much in the way of vocabulary and basic assumptions about ‘how things really are’ – such as the three characteristics of existence, the notion that craving causes suffering and ought to be eradicated and so forth. Furthermore, they generally give knowledge, in the context of the Buddhist path as a whole, a crucial role in bringing about emancipation. But within these parameters there is also considerable divergence.