Rebirth and the Western Buddhist - Khamkoo

34 Rebirth and the Western Buddhist
Reasoning does not take place in a vacuum, but in the
context of a theory that provides something to reason
about and something to reason from. In Mathematics or
Science, a theory starts with basic assumptions-axioms
and postulates-supplemented by definitions, which enable
deductions to be made. It is considered important to
identify the assumptions clearly. In Buddhist philosophy,
postulates are not identified as such: anything a proponent
of a system would accept is an "assertion," but the
assertions are not independent. Challenged to prove assertion
A, he may derive it from assertion B. Challenged
to prove B, he could well derive it from A. He is not
required to present his whole system at once as a sequence
of deductions but only to answer questions on
one point at a time. Losang Gyatso, however, begins with
a series of assertions that we may regard as postulates, P1
to P4. We shall have occasion to recall George Spencer­
Brown's definition:
We may take a postulate to be a statement
which is accepted without evidence, because it
belongs to a set of such statements from which
it is possible to derive other statements which
it happens to be convenient to believe. The
chief characteristic which has always marked
such statements has been an almost total lack of
any spontaneous appearance of truth. 70
P1: Effective things are not mere conceptual
imputations but exist in their own nature, reversed
from, or lacking the nature of, other
things. (LG 11-12, quoting Pramii7J.aviirttika I.40,
which I have interpreted with the standard
commentary and Geshe Rabten's explanation.)
Anyone versed in Prasali.gika-madhyamika philosophy
or modem physics can see that this is not strictly true. But
since it is embarrassing to perform logical analysis on