Buddhist Perspectives

1. Buddhist Perspectives Buddhist Philosophy Dialogue Education THIS CD HAS BEEN PRODUCED FOR TEACHERS TO USE IN THE CLASSROOM. IT IS A CONDITION OF THE USE OF THIS CD THAT IT BE USED ONLY BY THE PEOPLE FROM SCHOOLS THAT HAVE PURCHASED THE CD ROM FROM DIALOGUE EDUCATION. (THIS DOES NOT PROHIBIT ITS USE ON A SCHOOL’S INTRANET).

2. You Tube Video- Light at the Edge of the World: Science of the Mind(40 minutes) Click on the image to the left. You will need to be connected to the internet to view this presentation. Enlarge to full screen.

3. Teacher Invader • Click on the image above for a game of “Teacher invader”. Try playing the game with your students at the start and the end of the unit. Make sure you have started the slide show and are connected to the internet.

4. Buddhist Philosophy Buddhist philosophy deals extensively with problems in metaphysics, phenomenology, ethics, and epistemology.

5. Some scholars assert that early Buddhist philosophy did not engage in ontological or metaphysical speculation, but was based instead on empirical evidence gained by the sense organs (ayatana). Buddhist Philosophy

6. Particular points of Buddhist philosophy have often been the subject of disputes between different schools of Buddhism. Buddhist Philosophy

7. Historical context The historical Buddha lived during a time of spiritual and philosophical revival in Northern India when the established mythologies and cosmological explanations of the vedas came under rational scrutiny. Buddhist Philosophy

8. Historical context The Buddha's method of enquiry in disputation with others was like the Socratic method. Buddhist Philosophy

9. Historical context The Buddha's teaching is rationalistic, scientific and empirical. Buddhist Philosophy

10. Buddhist Philosophy Epistemology Decisive in distinguishing Buddhism from what is commonly called Hinduism is the issue of epistemological justification.

11. Epistemology In Hindu Philosophy truth claims that could not be substantiated by appeal to the textual canon would be considered as ridiculous. Buddhist Philosophy

12. Buddhist Philosophy Epistemology Some schools of Buddhism rejected an inflexible reverence of accepted doctrine.

13. Buddhist Philosophy Epistemology Early Buddhist philosophers, the Sarvāstivādins, believed that events can be broken down into smaller and smaller perceptual or perceptual units called "dharmas".

14. Epistemology One of the most influential Buddhist thinkers, the Mahāyānist Nāgārjuna, promoted classical Buddhist emphasis on phenomena and attacked this position in his magnum opus, The Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way. Buddhist Philosophy

15. Buddhist Philosophy According to the scriptures, during his lifetime the Buddha remained silent when asked several metaphysical questions.

16. Buddhist Philosophy Thus, the Buddha's silence does not indicate disdain for philosophy.

17. Buddhist Philosophy The Buddha in the earliest Buddhists texts describes Dharma as "beyond reasoning" or "transcending logic“.

18. Most Buddhists agree that, to a greater or lesser extent, words are inadequate to describe the goal of the Buddhist path. Buddhist Philosophy

19. In the Mahayana sacred texts, the Buddha insists that while pondering upon Dharma is vital, one must then relinquish fixation on words and letters, as these are utterly divorced from liberation and the Buddha-nature. Buddhist Philosophy

20. Professor C. D. Sebastian describes the nature of enlightenment according to one Mahayana text: “Bodhi is immaculate and non-conceptual, and it, being not an outer object, cannot be understood by discursive thought. It has neither beginning, nor middle nor end and it is indivisbile….” Buddhist Philosophy

21. Buddhist Philosophy The early texts contain explicit repudiations of attributing omniscience to the Buddha.

22. Mahayana often adopts a pragmatic concept of truth: doctrines are "true" in the sense of being spiritually beneficial. Buddhist Philosophy

23. Theravada promotes the idea that insight must come from the experience, critical investigation, and reasoning instead of by blind faith. Buddhist Philosophy

24. A Buddhist contribution to the field of metaphysics is dependent origination which posits that events are not predetermined, nor are they random It rejects notions of direct causation. Buddhist Philosophy

25. Buddhist Philosophy Dependent origination goes on to posit that certain specific events, concepts, or realities are always dependent on other specific things.

26. Buddhist Philosophy Some asserted a direct connection between dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda), selflessness (anatta), and emptiness (śūnyatā).

27. The doctrine of "interpenetration" or "coalescence" comes from the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, a Mahāyāna scripture, and its associated schools. Buddhist Philosophy

28. It holds that all phenomena (Sanskrit: dharmas) are intimately connected (and mutually arising). Buddhist Philosophy

29. Although there are many ethical tenets in Buddhism that differ depending on whether one is a monk or a layman, and depending on individual schools, the Buddhist system of ethics can be summed up in the eightfold path. Buddhist Philosophy

30. The purpose of living an ethical life is to escape the suffering inherent in samsara. Buddhist Philosophy

31. You Tube Video- The Teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti (9 hours) Click on the image to the left. You will need to be connected to the internet to view this presentation. Enlarge to full screen.

32. Bibliography • * Elías Capriles. The Four Schools of Buddhist Philosophy: Clear Discrimination of Views Pointing at the Definitive Meaning. The Four Philosophical Schools of the Sutrayana Traditionally Taught in Tibet with Reference to the Dzogchen Teachings. Available at: http://webdelprofesor.ula.ve/humanidades/elicap/en/uploads/Biblioteca/philosophical_schools.pdf • David Kalupahana, Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism. The University Press of Hawaii, 1975 • * William Edelglass and Jay Garfield, Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings, New York: Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 0195328175. • * Daniel Perdue: Debate in Tibetan Buddhism, Publisher : Snow Lion Publications, 1992, ISBN 0-937938-76-9, EAN 9780937938768 • Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change. Harvard University Press, 2000 • Wikipedia Buddhist Philosophy- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_Philosophy