Buddhism, Buddhist Studies, and “Buddhist Studies” Studies? Purposes and Methods of Studying Buddhist Scriptures

Abstract

When studying Buddhist scriptures, it should be noted that scriptures in particular are preached from the perspective of the Buddha who has achieved liberation. Have we not so far treated the scriptures, like other literature, only from a secular point of view? In this paper, I focus on the following:

1: Does the liberated Buddha “hesitate” like an ordinary person?

2: In reaction to the conventional view of Theravada texts as “orthodox,” I wonder if we are now biased toward “anti-orthodoxy” when reading the Pali texts of Theravada.

I propose a fair and objective research attitude of researchers who decipher Buddhist scriptures.