Beyond Oneness and Difference: Li and Coherence in Chinese Buddhist Thought and Its Antecedents

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

BEYOND ONENESS AND DIFFERENCE SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture —————— Roger T. Ames, editor BEYOND ONENESS AND DIFFERENCE Li 理 and Coherence in Chinese Buddhist Thought and Its Antecedents BROOK ZIPORYN State University of New York Press Published by State University of New York Press, Albany© 2013 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever ­ without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu Production, Laurie Searl Marketing, Anne M. Valentine Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ziporyn, Brook, 1964Beyond oneness and difference : Li and coherence in Chinese Buddhist thought and its antecedents / Brook Ziporyn.     pages cm. — (SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4384-4817-6 (alk. paper) 1. Li. 2. Philosophy, Chinese. 3. Truth—Coherence theory. I. Title. B127.L5Z565 2013 181'.112—dc23 2012045682 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, one I. Ziporyn, immigrant, autodidact, Spinozist, and author of Cosmo‑Retardation: A Brief Introduction To A Theory Which Shows The Possibility Of Cosmic Function In A Continuum Devoid Of Energy, a work that received, as far as I know, a total of one printed review, in the journal Philosophy of Science, published by the University of Chicago, July 1940. Here is the entire review, consisting of a single sentence: “The mystic use of scientific terms prevents making head or tail of anything in this book. W. M. M.” On second thought: this book is dedicated collectively to I. Ziporyn and this reviewer, “W.M.M.,” in the Borgesian hope that they have by now turned out, in the afterlife, to be two aspects of a single soul. ...