History , Tradition , And Truth

C. W. Huntington Jr.
HISTORY , TRADITION ,
AND TRUTH
ç
2007 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
0018-2710/2007/4603-0001$10.00
There are those two who misrepresent the Tath
a
gata. Which two?
He who represents a scripture of provisional meaning as a scripture
of definitive meaning, and he who represents a scripture of definite
meaning as a scripture of provisional meaning. (
A
“
guttara
Nik
a
ya
i.60)
Metamyths thus perform an important function in the self-justification
of any religious tradition, the essence of which is the perpetuation
of the myth that things have not changed when, in fact, they have.
(
Wendy Doniger
,
Other Peoples’ Myths
)
I
In recent years the importance of the stories we tell about ourselves has
received a good deal of attention. One result of this attention is that it can
now be said, without much controversy, that we literally create ourselves,
as individuals or as institutions, through the narration of convincing tales
that bring together the threads of an otherwise unintelligible past, weaving
I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Jacob Dalton, Karl Pohrt, and
Andrew Rotman, all of whom read and commented on earlier drafts of this article. Their
observations were enormously helpful. Needless to say, however, I assume responsibility for
both the views expressed here and any remaining errors. I would also like to thank Hartwick
College for a sabbatical grant that provided support for research and writing of this article.
History, Tradition, and Truth
188
them into a coherent self-image instilled with meaning and purpose.
Of course the image fostered through this process—not to mention the
meaning and purpose with which this image is invested—has everything
to do with the perspective from which our stories are told, and for this
reason we are forever revising and retelling the most important among
them in order to explore anew what we are about. The history of...