LAUSR

Buddhists have any grounds to enter into debate with other Indian philosophers (which they most definitely did). Thus the four truths need to be both particular philosophical perceptions in meditation and also understood as having universal applicability if Buddhism is going to be considered to have any soteriological efficacy for anyone besides the Buddha. Similarly, for early Buddhists, wisdom attained throughmindfulness and deep concentration is liberative because it is training in restructuring experience to see things as ‘they really are’ (yathābhūtam / tathātā). If Buddhist philosophical perception did not lead to realizing reality, it would be just another form of delusion – a kind of autohypnosis. Thus without at least some minimal implication of universal truth, early Buddhist philosophy would fail to offer anything relevant for the seeker of liberation. In sum, Rethinking the Buddha is a thought-provoking study, which challenges current theories by proposing that early Buddhist philosophy may be best understood as a form of philosophical perception. Through his close scrutiny of primary sources and critical engagement with the most recent scholarship, Shulman provides his readers with an analytically precise and innovative thesis, which doubtlessly will stimulate serious reflection and debate among scholars and students of early Buddhist philosophy.