by Tang Huyen

The only possible logical form for Buddhist propositions
is the tautology.

The only possible logical form for Buddhist propositions
is the tautology. That's the only logical form by which
Buddhism can lay claim to effectiveness. Any other logical
form would immediately trap Buddhism in endless logical
circles that make little or no reference to reality, and the
only way for Buddhism to claim to deal with reality —
suffering and the ending of suffering — is by way of
tautology in its purest and baldest form.

Buddhism consists largely of tautologies, like these
(mostly not the Buddha's words):

"You yourself cause suffering to yourself, you yourself
inflict suffering on yourself, all for nothing, therefore if
you want to end suffering to yourself, you should stop
causing suffering to yourself and inflicting suffering on
yourself, all for nothing."

You torment yourself unasked with the thoughts of
immortality, of perfection, of justice, and with what you
perceive to be their absence in reality (which includes
you). More precisely, you think up the three thoughts
and impose them on reality, which doesn't fit them, and
the lack of fit causes you suffering. It's the classic
conflict between the ideal and the real. So the obvious
remedy is for you to stop forcing the three thoughts on
reality, and you're all set. You may entertain the thoughts
all you like, just keep them as pure fantasies, don't impose
them on reality but leave reality alone, pure of your
fantasies. That's as pure and bald a tautology as anything
can get.

Colophon

Posted to talk.religion.buddhism on February 1, 2005, in response to a questioner who observed that Buddhist teaching seemed logically tautological and asked whether this made Buddhism empty. Author: Tang Huyen. Message-ID: <[email protected]>.

Tang Huyen's reply turns the apparent criticism into an affirmation: yes, Buddhism is tautological, and that is precisely its strength. His argument is logical: a non-tautological claim about reality invites counterexamples and endless qualification, while a tautology — "if you want X, stop doing not-X" — is immune to these because it is definitionally true. The cost is that tautologies appear trivial; the benefit is that they are the only propositions that can guarantee their own application. The worked example (thoughts of mortality, perfection, justice imposed on reality) shows what the tautological form looks like in practice: not a metaphysical claim but a description of a process (imposing fantasy on reality) and a pointer to its remedy (stop imposing). The formula "leave reality alone, pure of your fantasies" is Tang Huyen's most compressed account of what Buddhist practice actually does.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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