ABSTRACT
Buddhism has sometimes been referred to as the most psychological of the world’s religions. This observation might be further extended to say that it may also be the most semiotically oriented of the religions of the world, insofar as it exhibits a sustained interest in understanding, and ultimately altering, the way that the mind engages with the world through signs, concepts, and language. Indeed, according to one form of Mahāyāna Buddhist thought, “the world” just is processes of mental engagement with representations (i.e., the doctrine of vijñapti-mātra, or “representation-only”). Discussing the Theravāda tradition, Richard Gombrich (1996: 4) states that the Buddha’s teachings “were so clearly nominalist that for over a thousand years Buddhist philosophy maintained the tradition that things as we conceive of them and talk about them are mere conceptualisations, mere labels – prajñapti-mātra.” This essay will offer an overview of the relation of Buddhism to language, primarily aiming to present a framework for thinking about the various ways in which different forms of Buddhism have approached the topic. More specifically, the intent will be to highlight a tension in Buddhist thought between the critique of language and perspectives emphasizing its salvific power. Furthermore, some thoughts will be presented regarding how these two competing tendencies in Buddhist approaches to language might be interpreted, attempting to view them as other than directly opposed to one another.
