Two Paths: A Critique of Husserl's View of the Buddha

Abstract

In “On the Teachings of Gotama Buddha” (1925) and “Socrates-Buddha” (1926), Edmund Husserl claims that the Buddha achieves a transcendental view of consciousness by performing the epoché. Yet, states Husserl, the Buddha fails to further develop a purely theoretical and universal science of being because his purely practical goal of Nibbāna limits his knowledge of consciousness. I evaluate Husserl’s claims by examining the Buddha’s Majjhima Nikāya, arguing that Husserl correctly identifies an epoché and transcendental viewpoint in the Buddha’s teachings. However, I contend that Husserl’s distinction between pure theory and pure praxis leads him to misconstrue the function of the Buddha’s epoché, the extent of knowledge that the Buddha gains from the transcendental viewpoint, and the nature of Nibbāna.