Abstract:
This theoretical review argues that the western tourist gaze can be
deconstructed through the Buddhist ontology of avidyā and prajnā. If
Buddhism is about discovering the truth of ‘self’ (end of self and
everyday ego) in which emptiness in life is enveloped in a fictional
darkness of ignorance (avidyā), its ontology unfolds to overcome that
emptiness and to bring in awareness about the illusion that covers the
above truth (prajnā). When the ordinary consciousness is based on the
sensory perception of subject-object dichotomy, the foundation of the
western way of looking at a phenomenon becomes incomplete, since
such experience, according to Buddhist ontology, belongs to a cosmic
illusion that disturbs prajnā (true wisdom). ‘The knowing of notknowing’ (prajnā) and understanding the emptiness of ego are the true
Buddhist home grounds of ‘being’ rather than ‘becoming’. In this
context, with the philosophical insights advanced by the Kyoto School
of Thoughts, this paper articulates that the western gaze in the
discovery of the outer world can become meaningless. Hence, the
western tourist gaze that seeks pleasure or leisure or even newness
would be futile as it leads to avidya, the manifestation of the ego. The
conclusion is that ‘the union of the seer and the seen’ gets
deconstructed when the individual deeply realizes the fundamental
nothingness that creates the above subjective-objective illusion
(avidyā) - the foundation of the western tourist gaze. Reaching the
Buddhist metaphysical assumption of sûnyatâ (zero or permanent
void), where the ego is dissolved is only possible when one realizes that
nothingness is the thread that ties both subject (tourist) and object (site)
together.
