Class Notes: Philosophy 101

Buddhism

Wandering far,

going alone,

bodiless,

lying in a cave:

the mind.

Those who restrain it:

from Mara's bonds

they'll be freed.

-Dhammapada, 3, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Desires achieved increase thirst like salt water.

Milarepa, "Drinking the Mountain Stream"

All…phenomena are intrinsically void and yet this Mind with which they are

identical is no mere nothingness.

-Huang Po, “Zen Teaching of Huang Po”

Sakka asked: "What is the cause of self-interest?"

The Buddha answered: "It is perception of the world as one's object."

"How does one overcome this perception of the world as apart from oneself?"

"By acting for the increase of goodness and happiness. It is in this way

that the world ceases to be one's object."

-Digha Nikaya

Buddhism emerges in the 6th century BCE. Not exactly a religion, Buddhism consists of a rational critique of a religious ritualism that is not questioned. Buddha argues that one must think through the implications of one's life for one's self. Simply engaging in rituals encourages a thoughtlessness that Buddha rejects.

Buddha argues that the end result of thinking through one's life leads to an insight that reorients all of one's thinking. Unreflective persons are ego-oriented; they act as if they are a real self with an actual existence. But an individual's seeming individuality, her or his self, is not real in any fixed manner. One's self is actually a succession of instants of consciousness. The self is a compound, an agglomeration of parts with no fixed essence. For example, a car. What part of the car is actually the essence of the car? None.

Just as in the case of the car, human beings have many different parts none of which gives a fixed and enduring essence of who we are. Buddhists call these parts of the human "skandhas." There are five skandhas or parts to the human being: body, sensations, perceptions, mental formulations, consciousness.

The first two noble truths: 1) Suffering is; 2) Suffering is caused by our self-centeredness. The basic state of unawakened or unenlightened consciousness is Tanha, i.e. thirst. The self desires or expects good or bad things. Either expectation (of what is good or bad) leads to frustration, anxiety, suffering, sorrow. This occurs because impermanence is a law of human existence. Even good things wither away leaving one in a state of mourning.

In order to escape suffering, one must release oneself from having, holding, possessing. This is the third noble truth. Even the desire to simply be is a thirst that enslaves us. The task of letting oneself not desire is a subtle one--even holding on to the attempt of letting go of oneself is a form of thirst. To give up holding on can be yet another form of holding on.

The law of Karma: Insofar as we are involved in our desires, their effects rebound upon us. We find that we are tied to our desires, even imprisoned by them. Ultimately our rebirth occurs because we are attached to the illusion of a separate ego. The desire for rebirth is the greatest illusion of the unreflective self. In our non-enlightenment, we are addicted to appearances--what Buddha calls "samsara." In samsara, we are submitted to the chakra, the wheel, in which we return again and again to the same mistakes and sufferings. We are imprisoned in an endless cycle of existences. Karma involves the trauma of birth, the pathology of sickness, the morbidity of decrepitude, the phobia of death. These events fascinate and overcome us and we do not know how to loosen their hold upon us.

Only through the third noble truth, anatta (the principle of non-ego) can the cycle of rebirth and suffering be dissolved. In the fourth noble truth (the Eightfold Path), we are given the way in which one achieve anatta:

1) See clearly what is wrong

2) Decide to be cured

3) Act as to aim at being cured

4) Speak as to aim at being cured

5) One's livelihood should not conflict with one's therapy

6) A critical velocity must be attained

7) Think about your path incessantly

8) Contemplate with deep mind (i.e. with a mind released from ego-desires)

For Buddha, ignorance does not mean simply having the wrong knowledge. Metaphysical knowledge about the universe is not so helpful in seeking a release from suffering. Ignorance for Buddha involves a wrong point of view, a wrong orientation. In the eightfold path one strives for a new approach to one's self that sees it as a process in time and not as a single solid thing or fact. For this reason, Buddhism emphasizes the principle of wu wei (taken from Taoism) or of "no mind" or "mindful mind" or "inactive action." Buddhism is difficult to grasp for the Judeo-Christian tradition in which an emphasis is put upon the redemption of souls and their inherent individuality and dignity.

Nirvana: Ultimately Buddhists aim for an extinction of self-centered self-assertion. They practice wu wei in order to no longer desire to be a self. This extinction implies a boundless expansion of awareness. This boundless expansion is termed nirvana. Nirvana is not so much like "a drop of water which merges into the ocean as the ocean which enters into the drop. The ultimate state of existence is void--neither affirmation nor negation is practiced. In such a state, one is utterly open to a love or compassion for all the beings whose attachments insure their suffering. Since Karmic bondage means that all suffering is due to the way in which one is oriented to one's self (i.e. the way in which one desires or thirsts), the compassionate Buddha would encourage all other souls to find their way beyond their self-destructive thirsts.