Derrida and Buddha: A Review of Buddhisms and Deconstructions

For many years Robert Magliola has pioneered a bold effort to think together the Prasangika-Madhyamika tradition of Mahayana Buddhism inspired by Nagarjuna, the deconstructions of Jacques Derrida, and the Catholic tradition of Trinitarian and mystical theology. In Derrida on the Mend (1984), Magliola proposed to reflect “between the Tao” (Derrida), “a/Mid the Tao” (Heidegger), and “Across the Tao” (Buddhist and Christian differentialisms), interweaving Derrida’s and Heidegger’s projects with Nagarjuna and Christian theology and audaciously claiming that Derrida’s differentialism can illumine the mystery of the Christian Trinity better than traditional Western metaphysical models. In 1997 Magliola published a partially autobiographical reflection, On Deconstructing Life-Worlds: Buddhism, Christianity, Culture, which ranged widely across various painful, personal life experiences, as well as a number of academic deconstructive ventures. Half of the papers in the volume under review come from a panel on “Buddhism, Deconstruction and the Works of Robert Magliola,” which was held at the twenty-second annual conference of the International Association for Philosophy and Literature; the other papers were solicited for this volume. The volume concludes with a substantial “Afterword” by Magliola, in which he responds to various critics and dialogue partners.