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Debate in Tibetan Buddhism

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Vajraprotector:
Buddhism is a "wisdom tradition," meaning that it is based on the realisations or insights of the historical Buddha and that it holds that all suffering and even the suffering of death are related to a failure of wisdom. One is freed only by wisdom, by seeing the nature of things.

In Tibetan monastic universities, a sophisticated and very dynamic method of philosophical debate is used by the monks and nuns to penetrate the meaning of Buddhas teachings about the nature of reality.
 
In the past during the time of the great pandits in India, debate was so valued that, if you lost a debate with an opponent, you would have to convert to the view of that opponent. If you cannot defeat a view, then you are compelled to accept it.
 
I know that the usual form is a debate between a Challenger, standing and asking questions, and a Defender, sitting and answering those questions. May be someone can shed a light about the process of debate, or the topic, or the format of the debate in the monastery?

bambi:
Its really interesting to watch the monks debate as it looks very exciting with the non stop gestures and debating. I had the chance to watch it 'live' when I was in India at the monastery. I heard that they do it everyday to sharpen their knowledge. How nice if we have it all around in the Dharma centres and have lay people like myself and others to try and learn the process.

Debates

      
Debating monks and gesturing.
Debates among monks on the Buddhist doctrines are integral to the learning process in the colleges in the Sera Monastery complex. This facilitates better comprehension of the Buddhist philosophy to attain higher levels of study. This exemplary debating tradition supplemented with gestures is said to be exclusive to this monastery, among the several other monasteries of Lhasa. Visitors also attend to witness these debates that are held as per a set schedule, every day in the 'Debating Courtyard' of the monastery.

Procedures and rules
The debate among monks unfolds in the presence of their teachers, with a very well set rules of procedure for the defender and the questioners. The tradition of such debates is traced to the ancient ‘Hindu Orthodoxy’ in India and this practice permeated into Buddhist orthodoxy in Tibet in the eighth century. Such debates usually take place within the monastery’s precincts. The defender has the onus to prove his point of view on the subject proposed for debate. The debate opens with an invocation to Manjushri recited in a loud and high pitched tone. The roles of the debater and the questioner are well defined; the questioner has to succinctly present his case (all on Buddhism related topics) and the defender has to answer within a fixed time frame. The finality of the debate is with specific answers like: “I accept (do), the reason is not established (ta madrup) or there is no pervasion (Kyappa majung)”. Many a time, the questions mooted are meant to mislead the defender. If the defender does not reply within a time frame, an expression of derision is witnessed. In the Tibetan debating sessions, there is no role for a witness and there is normally no adjudicator. This leads to “conflicting opinions of participants and listeners.” When there is direct contradiction on the defenders part, the outcome is, however, formally decided.

Physical gestures
Debates are punctuated with vigorous gestures which enliven the ambience of the occasion. Each gesture has a meaning. The debater presents his case with subtlety, robed in a formal monk’s attire. Some of the gestures (said to have symbolic value), made during the debates, generally subtle dramatic gestures are: clapping after each question; holding right hand and stretching left hand forward and striking the left palm with the right palm; clapping hands loudly to stress the power and decisiveness of the defender’s arguments denoting his self-assurance; in case of wrong answer presented by the defender, the opponent gestures three circles with his hand around the defenders head followed by loud screaming to unnerve the defender; opponent's mistake is demonstrated by wrapping his upper robe around his waist; loud clapping and intense verbal exchange is common; and the approach is to trap the defender into a wrong line of argument. Each time a new question is asked, the teacher strikes his outstretched left palm with his right palm. When a question is answered correctly, it is acknowledged by the teacher bringing the back of his right hand to his left palm. When the defender wins the debate he makes an allegorical dig at the questioner by questioning his basic wisdom as a Buddhist.

Schedule at Sera Monastery
The tradition of conducting debates in the Gelukpa tradition was set in many monasteries of the Gelukpa sect, namely the Ganden Monastery, the Sera Monastery, the Drepung Monastery and the JIC, not only in pre-modern Tibet but also in other similar monasteries established in exile, such as in Sera, India. At each location in Tibet, the debates are held under eight debating schedules in a year, depending on the rituals and festivals observed during the whole year. Each daily session is held between eight breaks when students debate on issues of Buddhist scriptures and related subjects. In the Sera monastery, the debate alternated by rituals has a daily schedule (with alterations to suit the climatic season) of the Morning debate (7 AM to 10 AM), Noon debate (11 AM to 1 PM), Afternoon debate (2 PM to 4 PM) and Night debate (8.30 PM to 9.30 PM).

bambi:
Dear vajra protector,

There is another site that has a lengthier explanation from Drepung Monastery which I believe will be too long to post here so please go read here

http://www.thlib.org/places/monasteries/drepung/essays/#!essay=/dreyfus/drepung/monasticed/s/b41

if you want more explanation.

Positive Change:
Below is an extract from an interesting paper written on precisely this topic. It is very concise and descriptive which I thought would be nice to share here. Though a little lengthy, it is amazingly clear how he explains in depth the topic at hand. Daniel Perdue is also the author of best selling book "Debate in Tibetan Buddhism" which is a clear and thorough exposition of the practice and theory of Buddhist logic and epistemology. I have highlighted certain pertinent aspects that I find most interesting:

A paper by Daniel Perdue
Virginia Commonwealth University

The Tibetans were converted to Buddhism beginning in about the seventh century of the Common Era. After their conversion to Buddhism, the kings sent young trainees to Buddhist India to learn Sanskrit, develop a written language for Tibetan, and translate the Buddhist literature of India into Tibetan. One of the approaches the Tibetans adopted from the Indian Buddhists is a tradition called “the path of reasoning” which employs philosophical debate. In India, the importance of debate was highly valued. Among Tibetan Buddhists, debate has the reputation of being the most effective way of learning the Buddhist doctrine, preparing one to understand clearly the assertions and be able to apply them in meditation to achieve the liberating wisdom.

For more than a millennium, the Tibetans preserved and practiced the Indian style of philosophical debate. The Tibetan argument forms were brought over with minor adaptations from the Indian logical forms. In this system of reasoning syllogisms, consisting of a thesis and a reason stated together in a single sentence, and consequences, an argument structurally similar to a syllogism but is merely a logical outflow of an opponent’s own assertions. This paper describes the structure of the Tibetan Buddhist syllogistic form and suggests that, from the point of view of Buddhist religious practice, the central point of Buddhist reasoning and debate is to guide the student to become capable of understanding the profound view leading to liberation.

The paper in full: http://www.chibs.edu.tw/ch_html/chbj/21/010_perdue_CHBJ_21.pdf
 
Here is a video clip of the going ons at a typical courtyard debate of a monastery:

http://youtu.be/s--f_Z3bSG4 Small | Large


This Asia Society video below (1 hr, 42 mins) begins with an introduction by Daniel Perdue, showcases four debating Tibetan monks, includes an excellent lecture by Geshe Thupten Jinpa (the star attraction), presents a sample debate between Perdue and Jinpa in English, and ends with an engaging Q&A. Here is Perdue's intro to the tradition:

Introduction

Since the time of the early Buddhist kings, Tibet has enjoyed a rich history of philosophical enquiry and carries this heritage forth today. Buddhism is a "wisdom tradition," meaning that it is based on the realizations or insights of the historical Buddha and that it holds that all suffering and even the suffering of death are related to a failure of wisdom. They hold that one is freed by wisdom, by seeing the nature of things. Philosophical debate is part of this effort. In India, debate was so valued that, if you lost a debate with an opponent, you would have to convert to the view of that opponent. If you cannot defeat a view, then you are compelled to accept it.

The central purposes of Tibetan monastic debate are to defeat misconceptions, to establish a defensible view, and to clear away objections to that view. Debate for the monks of Tibet is not mere academics, but a way of using direct implications from the obvious in order to generate an inference of the non-obvious state of phenomena. The debaters are seeking to understand the nature of reality through careful analysis of the state of existence of ordinary phenomena, the basis of reality. This is the essential purpose for religious debate.

In practice, the usual form is a debate between a Challenger, standing and asking questions, and a Defender, sitting and answering those questions. The attitude is as if the Challenger is respectfully approaching the Defender with a quandary. The dramatic clapping is done by the standing Challenger only, and is used to punctuate the end of the "question," which is an argument in response to the Defender's answer.

In their understanding of the gesture, the right hand represents method, meaning especially the practice of compassion, and the left hand represents wisdom. Bringing the two hands together represents the joining of wisdom and method. At the moment of the clap, you hear the left foot stomp down and that represents slamming shut the door to rebirth in the lower levels. After the simultaneous clap and stomp, the Challenger holds out the left arm of wisdom to keep shut the door to all rebirth. Also, in that gesture, the Challenger uses his right hand to raise up his prayer beads around his left arm. This represents the fulfilment of the efforts of compassion, in lifting up all suffering beings out of the round of rebirth.

The Argument Forms

The Tibetan argument forms were brought over with minor adaptations from the Indian logical forms. In this system of reasoning, two forms of argument are used to defeat wrong conceptions and to support a clear understanding. These are syllogisms, consisting of a thesis and a reason stated together in a single sentence, and consequences, an argument structurally similar to a syllogism but merely a logical outflow of an opponent's assertions. A valid argument may take theform of either a syllogism or a consequence. The form of a syllogism generally used in the Tibetan philosophical literature and in debate consists of a thesis and a reason, both what is to be proven and the proof, in one sentence:

The subject, sound, is an impermanent phenomenon because of being a product.

The minor premise is that sound is a product. The major premise, which is "suppressed," is that all products are impermanent phenomena. And, the thesis/conclusion is that sound is animpermanent phenomenon. When one states a syllogism, it is like a "promise," the person's best effort to speak a true argument.

However, what you generally hear in philosophical debate are consequences, which are not "promises" but are logical implications drawn from the Defender's statements. The Defender is limited to several answers to the Challenger's arguments. These answers include:

(1)"The reason is not established," which is the way of denying the minor premise;
(2) "There is no pervasion," which is the way of denying the major premise; and
(3) "I accept it," meaning that the Defender accepts the argument and the conclusion.

The goal for the Defender is to give a consistent set of responses to the Challenger's arguments without contradicting what he said earlier. When the Defender contradicts earlier claims, the Challenger will shout, "Tsa!" meaning "Finished!" Your earlier claim is finished! If the Defender contradicts the fundamental thesis put forth at the first, the Challenger shouts "Tsa!" three times.

The practice of reasoning and debate is a broad avenue for many. Whether or not the student is bright and rational, the study of reasoning and debate will help. In fact, whether or not one is even a Buddhist, the study of reasoning and debate will help. All of us want to be able to understand better, to assess better the words of others, and to express ourselves more clearly. These skills develop with the practice of debate. From its origins in India, Buddhism has had anappreciation for reasoning and debate skills. The profound purpose of Buddhist debate and reasoning is to clear away a wrong conception of our own natures and thereby to become free of suffering and even death. However, the vast majority of us cannot go directly to the point. So in the effort to get there, the Buddhists have tried to build up reliable tools and procedures.
Reliable tools and procedures are called "reliable" because they help us to understandwhat is factual and accurate, what is real and what is unreal. Thus, the tools used in Buddhist reasoning should apply not only to topics of Buddhist philosophy but also to anything we wish to look into. The actual tools and procedures are simple and elegant, so they are useful to many. The style of Buddhist reasoning and debate provides a useful way of organizing your own thought and words and for assessing the flood of information that is coming our way.


Most fascinating video:

http://asiasociety.org/video/countries/great-debates-tibetan-debate-complete
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=s--f_Z3bSG4

Poonlarp:
Debate is a very unique tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Mahayana and Hinayana do not use this way in the  learning part. Tibetan Buddhism is more into study and application of wisdom.

I was so lucky to witness a debate "live" in a monastery, at first I was a little surprise why they are so rude and speak so loud. After the explanation by the local monks, this is the way of debate and they don't feel offended. Indeed, they learned faster as they need to think and answer back.That was a new year celebration, and they were having the debate outdoor. I was also surprise that the villagers gather together and watch the debate, they even laugh at the defender when he didn't know how to answer.

Debate makes me think of HH Trijang Rinpoche, a great master who start debating since his young age. He was a learned scholar and master debator. In 1919, when he was only 18, he debated before the Geshes of the three major Gelugpa monasteries for his final examination. The 13th Dalai Lama awarded him third place, and he received the highest Geshe degree, the Lharampa; in the age of 18, wow!

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