borges' allusion

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BORGES' ALLUSIONS TO HINDUISM AND BUDDHISMAuthor(s): Didier JanReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. 16, No. 1, Part I: EAST-WEST LITERARYRELATIONS (Winter, Spring 1981), pp. 17-29Published by: Asian Studies Center, Michigan State UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40873619.Accessed: 19/06/2012 06:04

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DidierJanBORGES1LLUSIONSOHINDUISMND UDDHISM

Indianreligions in aLatinAmericanontextOneof themost ecentbooksof thatever-increasingndseeminglyunendingist of Borges1 riticismmakes he following tartling commentnthe study f Borges1 iterarysources:

There s notmuch o be gainedfromisting theauthors n other anguageswhomorgeshas read andwritten bout. They endto be from he nineteenthor early twentiethenturynd to make, hesedays,a rather xcentri collection.Thismay e true, of course, for a study hat considersBorges1 it-erature from hepointof view of Formalism)o be basedon the belief intheabsoluteautonomyf fiction from eality, and interprets ach ofBorges'stories as a rhetorical artifact illustrating itself (illustrating,that is, the act of fictionwriting tself). 2Onthe otherhand,there s the interpretationf Borges1 iteratureas "thoroughlyontrolledbyhis esthetic-metaphysicalcheme"ndusingallusion as thebasic literary technique o illustrate this scheme: "ForBorges, llusion first of all expressesthe collapse of time ndthedisin-tegration f personality"; "Borges1 echnique of allusion] destroys hro-nology nd treats identical ideas as enactmentsf the samemind: to thinkthe same s to be the same. To make llusions is to demonstratehe time-less universality f thehuman ind.3It is possible to support othpointsof view on the basis of Borges1own tatements,s their authorshave so aptly shown. It is also possiblethat the twopointsof viewmay otcontradict ach other. For a writerwho eems o believe that the act of life is tantamounto the act ofcreation or at least playswiththat possibility), it seemsrather rduousto distinguishbetweenhe act of fictionwriting ndthe act of living(granted, f course, he understandableistinctionswhichDonQuixotewasunable to make)What eems mpossible s to be able to appreciatefully or evenunder-standBorges1 rt withoutknowinghat hat "excentri collection" ofauthors lluded to byBorges tandsfor. Indeed,we can enjoya storybyBorges say, "TheCircularRuins")without verhavingheardof Berkeley,buthowmore ullyweappreciate t if we have. Not thatour interpolationof Berkeleywill improvehe story,which s a completendperfectunit,buttheexperience f which he story s a partmay e enhanced ytheassociation of the two. This study,then,is an attempto focuson one ofthefacets of thatcollection which o this pointhas beenundeservedlyneglected.


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-18-A houghurtitle refers bothto HinduismndBuddhism,he emphasiswill be on the latter. It wouldbe difficult to distinguishbetween hetwo n Borges1 iterature, partlybecauseBorgeshimself oes notmakeuchclear-cutdistinctions,andpartlybecause of thenatureof the subjectitself:

Themore uperficiallyone studies Buddhism,hemore tseems o differfrom rahmanismi.e. Hinduism]n whichit originated;themore rofoundurstudy hemore if-ficult it becomes o distinguishBuddhismrom rahmanism,or to say in whatrespectif anyBuddhisms reallyunorthodox.4Thus,we havekeptthe reference o bothHinduismnd Buddhismn thetitle since in somenstancesBorgesdraws n essential ideas and literarydocumentshatmay e considered ommono both. However,n contrast toBorges1 irect allusions to Buddhism,pecific allusions to Hinduismresparse. This contrastmay e significant n the sense that precisely thatin whichBorges oincideswithBuddhismas we shall see later) is what,according o Borgeshimself,distinguishesBuddhismrom thersystems:"In contrastto otherphilosophicalsystemsf India, Buddhismenies theexistence of the soul9" he says in the article "ThePersonality ndBuddha.5However,n theessay "Note n (Towards)Bernardhaw,"written boutthesame ime 1951), Borgesbases his highesteem f theBritishplay-wright n the fact that his creations, in contrastto othercontemporarywriters,according o Borges,do not foster the cult of thepersonality,that illusion of the self condemnedytheVedanta:

Man's character ndits variations are the essentialthemef thenovel of our times: lyric poetry s thecomplacent agnificationf love's fortunes nd misfor-tunes; thephilosophyf HeideggerndJasperturn achone of us into the interesting nterlocutor f a secretandcontinuous ialoguewithnothingnessr withthedivinity. Thesedisciplines, which ormallymay eadmirable, oster that illusion of the self which heVedanta ejects as a capital error. They ftenplay atdesperation ndanguish,but in essence flatter vanity;they re in this sense, immoral.Shaw'swork, n theotherhand, eaves a taste of the Portico and thetasteof thesagas.6This final association of the Vedantawiththe teachings f theStoicsand of the sagas illustrates one of the most ypical characteristics ofBorges' literature in which,bymeans f allusion, historical andgeographi-cal distancesare made o vanishto show heunityof mind r spirit in man-kind as R. Christ has pointed ut) or in the literaryworld as Sturrockwouldput it). This tendency,f course, is notexclusively Borgesian al-though orgeshas refined he literarytechnique o accomplish hemost f-fectiveandstartlingresults). In a way,Borges' literature could be seenas part (andalso as culmination) f that eclectic tendencyf the turnofthecenturyndfirst partof the present ne (as in Theosophy),hat saw,orattemptedo find, a synthesis f all religions, philosophies,andsciencesin the revival of a transcendentalr metaphysicalliterary, forBorges)interpretationf all knowledge; viewwhich iscovered,or re-discovered,


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-19-ancient roots in Indianphilosophyndreligion, but which lso saw thatphilosophys a partial expression f universaltruths,as Coomaraswamy,echoingAldousHuxleyThePerennialPhilosophy1944) sawit: "TheIndian tradition s one formf the PhilosophiaPerennins, ndas such,embodieshoseuniversal truthsto whichno onepeopleor age can makeexclusiveclaim. 7

Thus t may e seen thatmanyf the generalstatements hat one canmake n relation to allusions to Hinduismnd Buddhismn Borges1 itera-ture, can applyas well to allusions to otherauthorsor systems f meta-physical knowledge.Often,whenouching n Buddhist hemes, orgesmakesreference s well to western hilosophicalsources or to other iteraryandreligious authors. Thusdirect references o Buddhismr Hinduism,ndthesimilarityof Borges1deas to their essential ideas, when eenwithin hetotal context f Borges1 iterature, may e considered s partof a morecomprehensiveystemf referenceswhich overs the entire "esoteric tradi-tion" from uddhism,induism,ufism,Neo-Pitoni m,Gnosticism,heKabbalah, ndChristianmystics, s well as Idealist philosophersuchasBerkeleyndSchopenhauer,ndTranscendentalst writers ike WaltWhitmanor Emerson, hoseworks lso have roots in oriental thoughtndreligion.Bythe "esoteric tradition"is meant, oughly, he traditionwhich,throughouteligion, philosophy, r literature, ries to convey he intu-ition of the fundamentalnityof man ndGod,or of man ndthe underlyingsourceof all that exists (a sort of PhilosophiaPerennis) Whathatunity onsists of is opento speculation or invention) nd at this pointis where orges1 iterature comes n.

It has generallybeen held bythe critics that theoriginof Borges1esthetic and, consequently,f his literature can be traced to Berkeley'sphilosophical dealism. This is corroboratedyBorgeshimself n theessay "TheCrossroads f Berkeley.8 In this essay, Berkeley'snegation fthereality of theobjectiveworld s expanded yBorges,usingthe sameargumentsf idealism, to a negation f the reality of thepersonalself.It is this intuition,that the self does notexist as a permanenteality,that constitutesthe central intuition of Borges' literature andits start-ingpoint. Thushe states in almosttextbook ashion n the first para-graph f theessay "TheNothingnessf Personality":Statementf purpose:I want o abate the exceptional pre-eminencehattoday s usually givento the self: I am purred othis bya yery irm ertainty,and notbythewhimfaccomplishingn ideological deception r a rashlypre-maturentellectual cleverness. I intend o provethatpersonality s a dream onsented o byconceitandhabit, butwithout nymataphysical asis noressentialreality. Furthermore,want o applyto literature theconsequences manatingrom hesepremises nd to con-structupon hemn esthetic hostile to thepsycho gismbequeathedo us bythe last century, n esthetic in-clined towards he classics and vet encouraginghe mostdisparate tendencies f ourday.9The rest of the essay expounds ifferent rgumento underminehebelief in the existenceof a permanentelf, as well as of objectivereality, with climaxwhich oes beyond erkeley'sdoctrine,notonly


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-20-in the rejectionof a divine reality butalso in the affirmationf appar-ent reality as the only reality there s:

Realitydoes notneed to be supported yotherrealities. There re nohidden ivinities amonghetrees, nor an ungraspable hing n itself behind heappearances,nora mythologicalelf to order ouractions. Life is trueappearance. The senses do notdeceiveus, understandingoes, as said byGoethe;statement hichwemay ompare ith this versebyMacedonio ernndez:Realityworksn openmysteryJ, 93-94).

Such a statementf the intuitionapproaches he paradoxicalstate-ments haracteristicof Buddhismspecially ZenBuddhism). s this acci-dental, or is this intuition a discovery y Borges n the basis of Berkeley?I havenoway f knowingt this momenthen uddhist otionsenterBorges1thinking,whethereforeor afterBerkeley utcertainlyas early as thisessay. To conclude he essay, Borgesrefersto theBuddhistmethodfelimination o prove he non-existencef a permanentelf. Thismethod,according o Borges,based on the principle that "Those hingsof whichcandetecta beginningndan end are notmyself," liminates fromhe selfthe senses, the passions, the emotions,nd eventhoughttself, to con-clude: "Once he affections,the foreignperceptions, ndeven the change-able thinking,re discarded,consciousness s a vacantthing,without nyappearances o give it existenceby reflectingthemselvesn it" (J, 95).Theseconcludingllusions to Buddhismn such an early essay estab-lish a relationshipbetween orges1 iterature and Buddhismo which ittleattentionhas beengiven. A review f sucha relationshipreveals, in myopinion,thatBuddhist rinciples, perhaps ven more hanBerkeley's,areat theverycenter of Borges1 iterarycreations. This is not intended, fcourse, to make Buddhist ut of Borges. He is simply, s he oftenas-serts, a writerwhose awmaterialsare the paradoxicalvisions suggestedbydoctrines uch as Buddhism.However,ne cannot ake Borges1 iteraryfantasies as simply hetoricalexercises, when orgeshimselfmakes dis-tinctionbetweenuchgames nd truepoetry r art which like theClassics)tries to expresseternal truths.Theclearest statementf this distinction is made y Borges n refer-enceto thefirst two ines of Shakespeare'sSonnetCVII as indicatedbyR. Christ,whose ranslation quote:

Shakespeare eginsa sonnet his way: Notmineown ears nor theprophetic oul of the wide worlddreamingn thingsto come . . andso on. Theex-perimentereis crucial. If the locutionpropheticsoul of the world s a metaphor,t is onlya verbalindiscretion r merely personal generalizationofthe one whowrote t; if it is nota metaphor,f thepoet really believed in the personality f a common,universalsoul of theworld,the locution is trulypoetic {idiomade los Argentinospp. 60-61)."Thispassage --observesR. Christ--"is specially importantecause itshowsBorges n the very ct of transformingrhetoricalmetaphor,he


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-21-stapleofhis Ultraist period, into a metaphysical roposition,the style ofhis maturert."^ In thesemetaphysical ropositions, n these truly po-etic truths,wemaydd, Borges oincideswithBuddhist octrines,as heneverfails to realize andacknowledge.

Borgeshas repeatedly tated, andrightly o, that he is nota Bud-dhist follower: "Thefact that in one of my tories the man s boththedreamerndthedream oes not mean hat I am follower f Berkeley ndtheBuddha," e states in the prefaceto R. Christ's book;and in a lectureon Buddhismeliveredin BuenosAires in 1977again he states: "I amnotcertainof beinga Christian nd I am ertain of notbeinga Buddhist."1Somehow,ucha need to denyhis connectionwithBuddhismeems o empha-size the relationship.Borges1 iteraturepresentsmanyhemeshat seem o originate inBuddhism:n the story"TheCircular Ruins" a man ets himself he task ofdreamingp a man nd insertinghim nto reality, onlyto discoverat theend that he himself s the product f someonelse's dream. A referenceto the Zend anguage eems o indicate that the action of the narrativetakesplace in Persia. However,he outcome f the story,the dissolutionof the individualpersonality ntomere reamr appearance, s a fact thataccordswell with thefundamentalrinciplewhich erves to distinguishBuddhismrom panishadic eligions, the principle of amatia: the absenceof a permanentnduringrivate"self" within he humanndividual. Ontheotherhand,from literary pointof view, the effectof the storyon thereader,the astonishmentf discovering hat the creatoris of the samestuffas his creation, resembles echniquesused in other iteraryworks,as is shownyBorges n the essay "Partial Magic n theQuixote." As intheQuixote, n Hamlet, n theRamayana,n AThousandnd OneNights,characters n the storybecomeeaders,or spectators,or narrators f thesame tory n which hey ppear.Ofthese, perhaps hemost stonishing, ccording o Borges,s theRamayanathe poem yValmikiwhichnarrates the exploits of Ramaand his warwiththe demons. In the final book,thesonsof Rama,who o notknow ho heir father s, seekprotectionn a forest,where hermit eaches themoread. This teacher s, strangely,Valmiki, he book nwhich hey tudy,theRamayana.Rama rders a sacrificeof horses; Valmiki ndhis pupils attendthis ceremony.The atter, accompanied ythe lute, sing theRamayana.Rama ears his own tory,recognizeshis children ndlater rewards he poet (01, p. 67).Thesetechniques, uggestsBorges,produce disquietingeffect on thereaderbecause"such nversions uggestthat if the character n a fictioncan be readersor spectators,we, their readersor spectators,can be fic-titious" (01, p. 68-69). Such an effecton the reader,wecould add, iswhatBorges onsidered rueart if it expressesa basic belief and is notmerely rhetoricalartifice.Such a disintegration f the self is notalways rrivedat as directlyas in "TheCircularRuins." Underlyinghe vision of man s a dreamrillusion in Borges s the idea that time s an illusion. In the story"TheGardenf Forking aths"the ancestorof one of the characters s a Chinese


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-22-scholarnamed s'ui Pen,who ttemptedo writea novel in which hecharacters,whenonfronted ithalternatives, instead of choosing ne, asis traditional, choose all of them t the same ime. Each of these alter-natives in turn eads to others,resulting n a proliferation f differentandcontradictorytories, all of which re possible anddevelop nto dif-ferent imes. Anotherharacter n the story,an English cholar, explainsthat the works no idle exercise in rhetoric. This is suggested ycer-tain facts in Ts'ui Pen's life: "Thetestimonyf his contemporariesro-claim-and his life fully confirms--his etaphysicalndmysticalinterests." 2

Ts'ui Penhadrenouncedverythingo devotehimself o writing book(whichmanyonfusedwitha labyrinth) ndfor thirteenyearshe retiredtothePavilion of Limpid olitude. Uponhis death,his familywanted o burnthemanuscriptsbut his executor- Taoist or a Buddhistmonk--insistedntheir publication" L, p. 24). The novel is thusinterpreted ythe Eng-lish scholaras a parable, a metaphorf timeor of eternity:In contrastto NewtonndSchopenhauerour ncestordidnotbelieve in a uniform,bsolute time. He believed inan infinite series of times,in a growing, izzyingnetof divergent, onvergent,ndparallel times. This net-work f timeswhich pproachedneanother,forked,brokeoff, or wereunawaref one another or centuries,em-bracesall possibilities (, p. 28; italics in the text).

Sucha labyrinth f timeexplainsTs'ui Pen's statement boutcreatingalabyrinth hatwouldbe strictly infinite, andalso correspondso a pre-monitionf his descendant t thebeginningf the story: "I thoughtfa labyrinth f labyrinths, f one sinuousspreading abyrinth hat wouldencompasshe past andthe future nd in someway nvolvethe stars"(L, p. 23).Thesettingof the storyof Ts'ui Pen (not that of his descendant)nancientChina,his mystical nclinationsandretreat, and his connectionwith Buddhistmonkuggestthe relationshipof the basic ideas of thestoryto Buddhist otionsof time. This relationship s mademore pparentin the essay "New efutation f Time,"whichwas an expansion nd continu-ation of a previous ssay, "History f Eternity,"bothof which resent heidea of the illusory natureof time nd the alternative notionthat allpossibilities are eternal or eternally present.Theessay "History f Eternity" ttempts o give a historyof theconcept f eternity. It beginswith n analysis of the concept f timeand of theparadoxest involves: negation f the reality of the past andthe futuremaymply, s well, negation f the present: "oneof thephilo-sophical schoolsof India denies the presentbecauseit is ungraspable.'Theorange s about to fall fromhe branch r is alreadyon theground,'claimthosestrange implifiers, 'No one sees it fall1." '3 Thusthe con-ceptof eternity annotbe, nor has it been,a simple ggregate f time,asum f the past, the present ndthe future,or an infinite series of time."It is a simpler nd moremagicalthing: it is the simultaneityf thosetimes" HE,p. 14). Expressedn otherwords t is: "thecontemporaneousand total intuitionof all fractionsof time" he*p. 28).Borges uggeststhat this concept f eternitymay e the result of ahumanesire "to stop in someway he flowof thehours,"thedesire to


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-23-possess all the possibilities, or perhaps n attempto preserve hepersonal elf:

The universerequireseternity. Theologians re notignorant f the fact that if the Lord's attentionweredrawn ora single second way rommy ighthand hatwritesthis, my andwouldfall back nto nothingness,as if fulminatedya fire withoutight. For thatreasonthey laim that the preservation f this worldis a perpetual reationand that theverbsto conserveandto create, so antagonistichere, are synonymousnHeaven" (HE, p. 33; italics in the text).Thus,ourcommon-senseeliefs in the permanencef the universe ndof thepersonalself-support, ndare supported y,our belief in eternity.Onthe otherhand,the contrary elief, our common-senseelief in time,impliesa denial of a permanentelf and a permanentniverse:

It is knownhat personal dentityresides in thememoryand the annihilationof that faculty brings boutidiocy.Onemay hink he same f the universe. Withoutternity,without delicate and secret mirror f whathappenedthroughhe souls, universalhistory s a wasteof time,andwith t, ourpersonal history-whichmakes s uncom-fortablyghostly. . . Eternity s a mostprofuse nven-tion. It is true that it is notconceivable,but neitheris the humbleuccessive time. To deny ternity,tosuppose he vast annihilation of years loadedwithcities,rivers, joys, is no less incredible thanto imaginetstotal salvation (he, pp. 35-36).Thuswe are confronted itha totally unsolvabledilemmaat least atthe rational level). This typeof confrontation, believe, is at the rootof the Zen Buddhistmethod.However, ^/eryentativeexperientialsolu-tion is offered r suggested yBorges n the final section of the essay.This experience, n which he contemplationf a suburb f BuenosAiresresembles, r repeats, or is the same cene as thirtyyears before,givesBorges hevague ntuitionof the concept f eternity:

I felt dead, I felt as an abstract spectatorof theworld: Undefined ear imbued ithscience, which s thebest clarity of metaphysics.I did not think hat I hadreturned pstreamn the supposedwatersof time; rather,I suspectthat I was the possessorof the reticentorabsentsense of the inconceivableword ternity {HE,p. 40; italics in the text).Thesectionmentionedbove s again reprintedwiththe essay "NewRefutation f Time,"which resentsperhaps he mostbasic idea underlyingBorges1 iterature, as he himself tates: "This refutation f time s insomewaypresent n all myworks"01, p. 237). This impliesmore hanthetitle suggests,becausethe refutation f time nvolves also the refutationof thereality of theworld,as implied n the following tatement romheessay:

I am old that thepresent,thespeciouspresentofpsychologists, asts from few econdsto a mi i eul


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-24-fractionof a second;that is theduration f the historyof the universe. Orrather,there s no suchhistory,as there s no suchthing s the life of a man,noteventhat of oneof his nights;eachmomente live exists,not its imaginaryggregate 0J, p. 242).

Theuniverse,as well as our individual lives, then,belongto the realm fimaginarybjects:Meignong,n his theory f apprehension,dmits heapprehensionf imaginary eings: the fourth imension,let us say, or the sensible statue of Condillac, or thehypotheticalnimalof Lotze, or the squarerootof -1.If the reasonsI have ndicatedare valid--saysBorges--that nebulous rbcan also includematter, he self, theexternalworld,universalhistory,our lives (01, p. 254).

Therelationshipof these ideas to Buddhistdeas is perhaps lear, butit is also suggestedn the essaywithreferences o Buddhist ources. Itis true thatBorges rrives at the idea of the illusory natureof timethroughhewritings f Berkeley,HumendSchopenhauer,ut its roots arepresent n Buddhism. chopenhauerllustrates the idea of the present sthepointat which revolving pheretouches he tangent. Borgesparal-lels this witha reference o Buddhistources:ABuddhist reatise of the fifthcentury, heVissuddhimaga(the Wayf Purity) illustrates the samedoctrinewiththe samefigure: "Strictly speaking, heduration f thelife of a living being s exceedingly rief, lasting onlywhile a thoughtasts, just as a chariotwheel n rollingrolls onlyat one pointof the tire, and in restingrestsonlyat onepoint; in exactlythe sameway he life of aliving being asts onlyfor the periodof one thought"(Radhakrishnan:ndianPhilosophy, , 373). OtherBuddhistexts say that theworld s annihilatedandre-createdsix thousand ive hundred illion times dayandthat ewerymans an illusion, vertiginouslyreatedfrom series of momentaryndsolitarymen. "Thebeingof thepast momentf thought-heWayo Puritytells us--has lived, but does not live nor will it live. Thebeingof a futuremomentill live, buthas not lived nor doesit live. Thebeingof the presentmomentf thought oeslive, but has not lived norwill it live" (op. cit., I,407) {01, pp. 255-256).

A reference o theMilinda-panhaecalls a line of reasoningwhichagain comparesman o a carriageand concludeswith a refutation f mate-rial existence: "Just s the king's carriage is neitherthewheels,northebody,northe axle, northe pole, nor theyoke,neither s manmatter,form,mpressions,deas, instincts, or consciousness. He is not the com-binationof thoseparts nor does he exist apart fromhem"01, p. 256).Such,then,are the conclusionsof intellectual reasoning.However,heyappearfutile when onfronted iththe experiences f existence; thusseems o concludeBorges n thefinal paragraphf the essay:

Andyet, andyet ... To deny emporalucces-sion, to deny heego, to deny he astronomical niverse


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-25-are apparent esperations nd secret consolations. Ourdestiny unlikethe hell of Swedenborgr the hell ofTibetanmythology)s notfrightfulbecause it is unreal:it is frightful ecause it is irreversible and ironclad.Time s the substance ammade f. Time s a river thatcarries me way,but I am he river; it is a tiger thatdestroysmebut I am he tiger; it is a fire that consumesmebut I am he fire. Theworld,unfortunately,s real;I, unfortunately,mBorges l, p. 256).

Finally, I shouldmention wo ssays: "Forms f a Legend" nd "Per-sonalityandBuddha,"which eal directlywith Buddhistmaterial. Thefirst oneostensiblydeals with the differentversions of the legendofBuddha's onversiono the ascetic life after encounteringn old man, ninvalid, a deadman, nd a monk,ndconsidering hat all of us are sub-ject to suffering. Borges ites theMajjhima-nikayao support he ideathat theBuddha arrated his parable to explain his conversion, lthoughperhapshe neverrelated it to his own ife. Yet tradition incorporatedthe legendto the life of Buddha. From ndia the legend passed on toEuropen the seventh entury ymeans f a novelentitledBarlaam ndJosaphatwritten ya Christianmonksee Dr. Monique itts' article,pp. 3-16). The novel was translated ntomany uropeananguages ndironically led to the inclusion of a St. Josaphatthe Christianversionof theBodhisattva)n ChristianMartyrology.

The ntention f Borges' essay, however,s perhapsbetter revealed inhis revisionof other ndian versions of the legend,which ried to accountfor the unrealistic coincidence f the fouroutingsand encounters fSidhartaby explaining t as a prearranged lan. Thus,in the epicBuddhacaritawhichBorges ites,the four encounters ecomemere pparitionscreatedbythegods, and in the most xaggerated ersion,theLalitavistava(literally "TheMinuteNarration f theGame"), he whole hingbecomesfantasticpageant. This poemremendouslynflates the componentsf thestory, surroundinghe Buddha n Heavenwith thousandsndthousandsfgodsandBoddhisattvas,whiletheBuddhareveals the text of thework othegods." "In this strangepoem,"notesBorges,"the Buddha irects eachstage of his destiny;he causes thedivinities to project the foursymbolicfiguresand,while he interrogates he chariotdriver, he clearly knows hothey re and what heymean"l, p. 207). Thus the wholethingbecomesgame f the heavenly uddha, dream. Just n case ourwesternmindsmaybeginto feel detached romuch oriental fantasies, Borgesreminds hereaderof a similar situation between hrist the Son upon he cross andhis Father. With weryuccinctremarkorgestranslates the wholethingintoJungianerms as he remarks, ithinparenthesis: "(With nothermy-thology r vocabulary, urcenturypeaksof the unconscious)" J, p. 207).Thus in one stroke Borges stablishes the recurrence f the theme ndgives to all a literaryconnotation.This, however,s not the endof Borges' essay. He carries the impli-cations of the dreamo its farthest imits withinBuddhist octrines.This is a dreamhatnobodyreams,Borgesremarks:

becausefor theNorthernchool of Buddhism,he worldandthe proselytes nd Nirvana nd thewheelof transmi-grationsand the Buddhare equally unreal. No one isextinguishedn Nirvana,weread in a famousreatise,becausethe extinctionof incommeasurableeings n Nirvana


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-26-is like thedisappearance f a fantasmagoria.. andelsewheret is written hat everythings mere mpti-ness, merename,ncluding he bookthat declares itand themanwho eads it (01, p. 208).

Theobservation, f werecall, takes us back to the literarygamesmen-tionedbefore, n which he reader s facedwiththe possibility of his ownunreality.Paradoxically,Borgesnotes, the numerical xcesses of the poemub-tract, ratherthanadd, reality:

Thevast forms ndthe vast numbers . . are monstruousbubbles,emphasis f Nothingness.And o, the unrealhas continuallymade nroads n the story: first itgavea fantastic character o the figures, thento theprince,and with the prince, to all generations nd tothe Universe


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-27-comments:Theoccidentalenjoymentf the personality s palpitating inthosewordswhichMacaulayudgedto be themostnoble words ver written"{PB9p. 34). This distinction of the twoperspectives s importantounderstandndevaluateBorges1 iterature because, in distilling theessenceof Buddhist eaching o a negation f the individualpersonality,Borges lso reveals the vision of literature and ethics which istinguishesthe West rom uddhism, distinction which lso touches he essence ofBorges iterarycreed. This distinction is mademore ramatic ycontrast-ingthe style of authors dmired yBorges:

LonBloyandFrancisThompsonouldhave been forthe Buddha rime xamples f men hat are lost andmistaken,notonlybecauseof the belief that theydeserveddivineattention,butbecause of their effort to elaborate,withina commonanguage, small andvain dialect, It is notnecessary o be a Buddhist o understandhis; all of usfeel that the style of Bloy, in which ach phraseseeksan astonishment,s morally nferior to that of Gide,whichis, or pretends o be, generic.

From haucer o MarcelProust,the subjectmatter fthe novel is the non-repeatable,ingulartaste of theindividualsouls; forBuddhismhere s no sucha tasteor it is one of themanyanities of the cosmicdeception(PS, p. 34).In Borges1 iterature, wemay dd (as in Bernard haw),there is nosuchtaste either, and it is in this sense thatBuddhism,venmore hanBerkeley's dealism, is at the root andcenterof Borges reations. Butperhaps he same ould be said of the Kabbalah, f Transcendentalism,fSufism r of Schopenhauer'sdealism.

NOTES1. John turrock, aper Tigers (Oxford: TheClarendon ress, 1977), p. 13.2. My tatement hould not be contrived s demeaninghe value ofSturrock' reading f Borges,whichhas indelibly tinted all ourfurther eadings f Borges,whether e like it or not, just asreadingBorgeshas tintedourviewof theworld.3. RonaldChrist,TheNarrow ct: Borges'Artof Allusion (New ork:New orkUniversity ress, 1969), pp. 33-34.4. Ananda . Coomaraswamy,induismnd BuddhismWestport, onn.:Wisdomress, 1971), p. 45 (first printed n 1943). See also SirCharlesEliot, Hinduismnd BuddhismNewYork: Barnes ndNoble,1954), I, xi.5. Trans, from La personalidady el Buda,"Sur, XIX,192-194 Oct. Dec,

1950), 33. (The"soul," here, is to be understoods in the popularChristianbelief in an individualpersonalessence.)6. Trans,from tras nquisiciones (BuenosAires: Emece, 960), pp. 200-221. Further eferences o this workwill be indicatedin the text


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-28-bythe initials 01 followedbypagenumbers.Englishtranslationofthis works Othernquisitions (Austin: Universityf TexasPress,1965).

7. Coomaraswamy,. 4.8. "La encrucijadade Berkeley,"nquisiciones (BuenosAires: EditorialProa, 1925), pp. 109-119. First published n Nosotros,XII, No. 164,Vol. 43 (January923), 359-365.9. Trans,fromLa naderia de la personalidad," nquisiciones p. 84.Further eferences o Inquisicioneswill be given n the text bytheinitial I followedbypagenumbers.

10. Christ, pp. 14-15.11. Trans,froma Opinin, August , 1977. Thefollowing tatementyBorges,translatedbySturrock rom eande Milleret, Entretiens vecJorge uis Borges, (Paris: 1967), p. 72, could as well be extended oincludeBuddhism:I thoughtboveall of the literarypossibilities ofIdealist philosophy,et's say, ratherthan ts intrinsicmerits sonbien- ond) This does not mean ecessarilythat I believe in the philosophyf Berkeley rSchopenhauer.. I believe I wasthinking atherof thealchemyr unrealityof the materialworld s subjectsusable by iterature (Sturrock,p. 22).

To this, wecould add the following ommentsromhe same nterview,in whichBorgesrefersdirectlyto his approach o Buddhism:Therewasa timewhen studiedquite a bit aboutBuddhism.Alicia Jurado nd I hadbegun o writeabook boutit, but we could not reachan agreementbecausewhat he wantedwas to convert eopletoBuddhism.Thus, f I found nypicturesque haracter-istics she would ay that that wouldputpeopleoff.Shewanted o discard anythinghat there s of fan-tastic, forus westerners,n Buddhism.Basically, shesought o write a sort of Buddhist atechism. And , onthecontrary,wanted o exhibitthat strangeworldwhichis theworld f Buddhism. o, afterwriting fewpages,we realized that we wantedo write twodifferent ooksandweabandonedhe project.I wanted o writean accountthat wouldbe entertain-ingfor the reader,becausetherewerethingsthat attractedmebytheir strangeness: Thewhole f Buddha's egend,theastronomy,he cosmologyf Buddhism.But she consideredall that fromn ethical pointof view,she consideredher-self a Buddhistnd wanted o convertpeople; thus it wasnecessary o excludeanything trange r surprising rom hebook.OnBuddhismtself, I had at home ome hirtyorfortyvolumesn French,German,ndEnglish. And bouttheKabbalah, think had abouta dozen,which


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-29-read and annotatedn reference o otherreadingsorstudies or to my wn eflections.Because becamenterested n Buddhismnd theKabbalah efore everdreamed f writing boutsuchtopics. Thatis, I have not read these books n orderto documentyself r to put together n article, onthecontrary, beganfromuriosityand interest, andonlyafterwards he idea came o meof usingthem lsofor literaryor philosophical purposes. (Trans,fromJeande Milleret, Entretiens,pp. 142-143)12. LabyrinthsNew ork: New irections, 1964), p. 27. Further efer-

ences to this workwill be givenin the text bythe initial L followedbypagenumbers.13. Trans, from istoria de la eternidad BuenosAires: Emece, 953),pp. 12-13. Further eferences o this workwill be givenin the textbythe initials HEfollowedby pagenumbers.14. Trans,fromLa personalidady el Buddha," . 34. Further eferencesto this workwill be given n the text bythe initials PB followedbypagenumbers.

borges' allusion

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