Buddhism: Buddhism “What are you?” “I am awake.”


Buddha (-563 - -483): Buddha (-563 - -483)


Four Passing Sights: Four Passing Sights Old age Disease Death Monk


Quest for fulfillment: Quest for fulfillment Self-indulgence (path of desire) Asceticism (path of renunciation)


No Self: No Self There is no self to fulfill No-self (anatman, anatta): there is no self Idea of self —> desire —> suffering


Absent self: Absent self Introspect: what do you see? Thoughts, feelings, perceptions. . . . You don’t find anything else You don’t find yourself There is no self or soul A person is just a bundle of thoughts. . . .


Absent Self: Absent Self Self-knowledge? Knowledge of others? No self: no essence within me to know The best I can do is understand patterns in bundle of thoughts


Buddhaghosa (-400): Buddhaghosa (-400) There are 89 kinds of consciousness Nothing unifies them There are only streams of consciousness Nothing unites past, present, and future


Buddhaghosa: Buddhaghosa A living being lasts only as long as one thought People, minds, objects are only ways of speaking


People and passengers: People and passengers Jane flies from Austin to Houston and back She is one person She is two passengers ‘Passenger’ is just a way of counting Buddhaghosa: every noun is like ‘passenger’


Questions to King Milinda: Questions to King Milinda “there is no ego here to be found” “there is no chariot here to be found” No one element is the whole The combination isn’t the whole; parts could change while object remains the same


Reincarnation?: Reincarnation? There is no soul to occupy a different mind or body But there is a cycle of birth and death


Reincarnation?: Reincarnation? There are connections between lives through cause and effect, similarity, etc. We construct people (like “passengers”)— we can do so across bounds of death


Buddhist self: Buddhist self


Consciousness-only: Consciousness-only Vasubandhu’s idealism —> Dharmapala —> Xuanzong (596-664) Idealism: Everything depends on mind No-self: There is no mind


Xuanzong’s mind: Xuanzong’s mind Five senses Sight Hearing Touch Taste Smell Sense-center consciousness Thought-center consciousness Storehouse consciousness


Arguments vs. unified self: Arguments vs. unified self Universal, “extensive as empty space” Perception: How can it be happy or suffer? Mental causation: How can it cause the body to act? Individuation: How can you and I differ?


Arguments vs. unified self: Arguments vs. unified self Coextensive with the body If I gain weight, does my soul expand? If I cut my hair, do I lose part of my self? Inside the body Then the self is neither one nor eternal


Arguments vs. aggregate self: Arguments vs. aggregate self The self is neither one nor eternal An aggregate of what? Thoughts, feelings, etc.? But these can change while I remain myself Matter? But thoughts are intentional: they are about things. Matter isn’t about anything. So, thoughts aren’t matter.


David Hume (1711-1776): David Hume (1711-1776)


Hume’s Argument vs. Self: Hume’s Argument vs. Self Source of idea of self? We do not find it in experience All identity through change is imposed by us, not there in the world


Heraclitus: Heraclitus Example: Heraclitus: can’t step in same river twice Example: ship of Theseus


Imposed identity: Imposed identity Mental states link to other mental states: memory, intention, desire, similarities We construct the idea of self


Self as Commonwealth: Self as Commonwealth Self is not a unified thing— best compared to a commonwealth Questions about identity aren’t about the world, but about language


Buddhist ethics: Buddhist ethics


Four noble truths: 1: Four noble truths: 1 Life is painful (dukkha) “Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of pain: birth is painful, old age is painful, sickness is painful, death is painful, sorrow, lamentation, dejection, and despair are painful. Contact with unpleasant things is painful, not getting what one wishes is painful. In short the five khandhas of grasping are painful.”


Four Noble Truths: 2: Four Noble Truths: 2 Desire (tanha) causes pain “Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of the cause of pain: that craving which leads to rebirth, combined with pleasure and lust, finding pleasure here and there, namely, the craving for passion, the craving for existence, the craving for non-existence.”


Four Noble Truths: 3: Four Noble Truths: 3 Eliminating desire can eliminate pain “Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of pain: the cessation without a remainder of that craving, abandonment, forsaking, release, nonattachment.”


Four Noble Truths: 4: Four Noble Truths: 4 The Eightfold Noble Path (the Middle Way) eliminates desire: Right Thought Intention Speech Conduct Livelihood Effort Concentration Meditation


Right Thought, Intention: Right Thought, Intention Right Thought: Dhammapada: “Everything you are is the result of what you have thought.” You must know the Four Noble Truths You must avoid harmful thoughts Right Intention: You must try to eliminate selfish desire


Right Speech, Conduct: Right Speech, Conduct Right Speech Avoid saying harmful things Right Conduct Avoid harming others Obey the five restraints


Ethical restraints: Ethical restraints Do not kill Do not steal Do not lie Do not be unchaste Do not ingest intoxicants


Right Livelihood, Effort : Right Livelihood, Effort Right Livelihood You must enter the right career Avoid what requires you, or even tempts you, to harm others Right Effort You must work constantly to avoid selfish desire


Right Concentration, Meditation: Right Concentration, Meditation Right Concentration You must develop mental powers to avoid desire “binding mind to a single spot”, as in Hindu meditation Right Meditation Like Hindu meditation cessation of fluctuations illumination of object as object, empty of what it is


Two kinds of Buddhism: Two kinds of Buddhism Theravada Buddhism Southern Canon, early writings Southeast Asia Ideal: arhat


Mahayana Buddhism: Mahayana Buddhism Northern Canon, later writings China, Korea, Japan Ideal: bodhisattva


Two ideals: Two ideals Arhat: saint who attains enlightenment, experiences nirvana. Chief virtue: wisdom


Mahayana Ideal: Mahayana Ideal Bodhisattva: one who postpones his/her own enlightenment to promote the enlightenment of others. Chief virtue: compassion


Six perfections of the bodhisattva: Six perfections of the bodhisattva Charity Good moral character (concern for others) Patience Energy Deep concentration Wisdom


Arguments for the arhat ideal: Arguments for the arhat ideal The goal is to eliminate suffering; the means, enlightenment If bodhisattvas help others to enlightenment, they help them become arhats If it is good to help others to enlightenment, it is because enlightenment is the goal


Theravada Temple, Laos: Theravada Temple, Laos


Theravada temple, Burma: Theravada temple, Burma


Theravada temple, Mandalay: Theravada temple, Mandalay


Temples, Bagan, Burma: Temples, Bagan, Burma


Theravada temple, Thailand: Theravada temple, Thailand


Arguments for the bodhisattva ideal: Arguments for the bodhisattva ideal If your ideal is the arhat, you seek your own enlightenment That is a selfish desire; it leads to suffering Concern for self presupposes that you have a separate self Only bodhisattva ideal leads you beyond yourself


Mahayana temples: Mahayana temples


Mahayana Temples: Mahayana Temples