The Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra from a logical perspective: negations, contradictions, and paradoxes in the diamond sutra

O Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra sob uma perspectiva lógica: negações, contradições e paradoxos no sutra do diamante

Resumo

This paper investigates the logical structure of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (Diamond Sutra), with particular attention to its recurrent “signature formula”: “X is non-X; therefore, it is called X”. Rather than advancing a doctrinal interpretation of the text, the study develops a logical-philosophical analysis of this formula by distinguishing its principal possible interpretations and reconstructing them within explicit formal frameworks. After examining the linguistic and textual evidence, including selected occurrences of the formula in the Sanskrit text and their English translations, the paper proposes an abstract structural schema that isolates the inferential pattern underlying these passages. This schema serves as the basis for a series of formal reconstructions, including a classical first-order theory, a paraconsistent reconstruction based on QmbC, and a further analysis inspired by Leśniewski’s treatment of copulative relations. The comparison of these frameworks shows that the apparent contradictions of the sutra admit substantially different logical treatments depending on the semantics attributed to negation, predication, and linguistic designation. The paper contributes a systematic logical framework for reconstructing and comparing alternative interpretations of a central Buddhist philosophical text without presupposing the correctness of any particular doctrinal reading. More generally, it illustrates how formal logic can clarify the inferential structure of religious discourse while preserving the distinction between logical reconstruction and philosophical interpretation.

Keywords: Diamond sutra; Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra; buddhist logic; logic of religion; paraconsistent logic; formal logic; negation; paradox.