The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy by Jan Westerhoff (review)

Anyone who has engaged seriously with the academic study of Buddhism knows that Buddhist philosophical traditions are difficult to characterize. One must simultaneously consider historical and intellectual contexts in order to make sense of the development of Buddhist philosophy. Jan Westerhoff's The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy successfully does just this; it presents a survey of Indian Buddhist thought as it evolved from the beginning of the Common Era through the sixth century CE, simultaneously considering intellectual and historical developments. The book focuses on these organizing principles "while ensuring that an informative account of the history of Buddhist thought emerges through their joint presence" (11).

As a survey of Indian Buddhist thought within a relatively limited time-frame, this book would be appropriate reading in a graduate-level course or an advanced undergraduate seminar on Indian Buddhist philosophy. The book is clear and easy to read but presupposes some knowledge of general trends in Indian Buddhist thought in the first millennium CE.

The book is divided into a general introduction and four main chapters, detailing the history and development of Abhidharma, Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, and what Westerhoff calls "The School of Din. nāga and Dharmakīrti," respectively. The introduction sets up the development of Buddhist philosophy as a "game," based on arguments, sacred texts, meditative practices, and historical background. Westerhoff explains, "Arguments correspond to the techniques players use in the game, while thinkers may be compared to the players, and their debates the games played. The influence of meditative techniques may be compared (somewhat crudely) to the inner states of the players and how these affect their playing techniques, while the historical background functions like the condition of the pitch, the temperature, humidity, and so on" (2–3). Westerhoff's aim throughout the book is to take all of these factors into account in order to present a comprehensive overview of the development and major philosophical concerns of these four schools of Indian Buddhist thought.

Unlike other textbooks that might treat the advent of these four schools strictly chronologically, Westerhoff examines each tradition through multiple lenses, resulting in important insights about the ways in which we might understand these schools and reflect on their major philosophical concerns. When explaining the Mahāsaṃgika school in the chapter on Abhidharma, for example, he notes that "many of the key positions of later Mahāyāna schools are already present in the Mahāsaṃgika theses, underlining the fact that the development of Buddhist philosophy is not characterized by single-handed innovations of autonomous thinkers, but by gradual shifts in emphasis on particular concepts, shifts which, in the fullness of time, can lead to very distinct philosophical positions, but which proceed by never losing sight of anchoring their innovations in the continuity of the Buddhist tradition, thereby attempting to underline their authoritativeness as the genuine word of the Buddha" (49). In other words, this is not just a history textbook; Westerhoff presents the development of these four schools in a somewhat chronological manner, while also exploring each school's philosophical implications. In doing so, he manages to look both forward and backward in time, so to speak, presenting readers with new ways of thinking about the developments of these seemingly distinct schools of thought.

The first chapter focuses on Abhidharma and begins by providing some context for this tradition in terms of its characterization as the "word of the Buddha" (buddhavacana), even though it is widely acknowledged that the Abhidharma texts were not spoken by the historical Buddha himself. It then details five key subschools within this tradition: Mahāsaṃgika, Theravāda, Pudgalavāda, Sarvāstivāda, and Sautrāntika. Each of these subschools is examined from both historical and intellectual perspectives, providing a general overview of their views. It is worth noting that Westerhoff does not cite extensively from primary sources throughout this book; as such, this book would do well in a classroom when paired with primary sources...