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Questions tagged [buddhism]

a religion of eastern and central Asia that is based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha

a religion of eastern and central Asia that is based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha

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To what extent can the invention of zero in India as a number be tied to Buddhist philosophy, if at all?

The Wikipedia entry on zero suggests that the ancient Greeks were unsure about the ontological status of zero. They asked themselves, 'How can nothing be something?' whereas in Buddhism, Sunyata or void appears to have positive value (not in an…
Mozibur Ullah
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Is Nothing actually imaginable?

It's possible to imagine something, for example a table, we see one everyday and can bring it in front of our minds eye (although it's a moot point whether we can see it - I certainly don't). But of course this is a real object so we have a…
Mozibur Ullah
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Is Logic Empirical?

We use the logical system that we know from observations (empirical data) holds true in the world we live in (please correct me if I am wrong). Hence the axioms of logic we choose are themselves dependent on our observations. Does this mean that…
Suraj Jain
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How valid is Nietzsche's critique of Buddhism?

According to a paper titled Nietzsche's Reception of Buddhist Psychology With Constant Reference to Christianity by McDonald (2012), given at a conference in Copenhagen, Nietzsche's work contains 158 references to Buddhismus and its cognates within…
Dr Sister
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Resisting a classic Buddhist Argument for Mereological Nihilism

I’ve been getting into mereology and this a classic Buddhist puzzle that he recommended. How can these premises be resisted? A. If wholes exist, then either wholes are identical with their parts or distinct from them. B. Wholes and their parts have…
Craigory
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Is "opacity of mind" specifically a Nyingma position within Buddhism?

In various Nyingma Buddhist groups in Nepal there is a local theory of mind that, most basically, holds that you can not ever know what another person is thinking. This is a phenomenon that I have come across in relation to both the Sherpa and Yolmo…
LaurenG
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The non-existence of Gettier problems in Indo-Tibetan epistemology

Reading the paper Gettier and Factivity in Indo‐Tibetan Epistemology the author claims at some point early in the paper that There are two initial problems which make it difficult to compare factive assessment with true belief and the Gettier…
Gabriel
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Was Aristotle aware of Buddha's teachings?

Are there any references in Corpus Aristotelicum to suggest whether Aristotle was aware of Buddhist teachings or Eastern philosophy? Aristotle travelled to Asia Minor at one stage of life, left a voluminious treatise, yet it is interesting there is…
user1207
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Is life the root cause of all suffering?

According to Buddhism, "There is suffering in this world; suffering has a cause; and the cause is desire." So, the desire to stay alive, forces us to work which causes suffering in the form of depression. Does this mean that life is the root cause…
Agnibho Dutta
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How might studying philosophy impact your mental health?

According to wikipedia on Pessimism and Pragmatic Criticism ...Al-Ghazali and William James rejected their pessimism after suffering psychological, or even psychosomatic illness... Other authors such as Socrates, Diogenes, David Hume, William…
user22051
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Are there any differences between the Eastern and Western philosophical traditions on what constitutes rationality?

I am aware of the way Western philosophers define rationality but I do not know whether Eastern philosophers define it. Are there any differences between the Eastern and Western philosophical traditions on what constitutes rationality? And if…
Elizabeth
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Whats the earliest documented instance of Buddhist Philosophy on European thought?

Whats the earliest recorded instance of Buddhist thought in a European context - say a translation. I know that Schopenhauer (1788-1860) read the Bhagavad Gita - but this is a Hindu text and not a Buddhist one. However we also have, In Understanding…
Mozibur Ullah
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Are there any Western philosophies that present views similar to the No-self view of Buddhism?

Can similarities be found in western philosophy with the eastern concept of self (no-self) in Buddhism? In Buddhism the no-self is called anatman. Buddha spoke about the emptiness of the form, in the sense that the form is the physical body, and the…
Di Ana
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Buddhism in Phaedo

At the end of Phaedo, Socrates proves, in his own manner, that the soul is immortal and goes through an endless cycle of metempsychosis and, "if deemed to have lived an extremely pious life are freed and released from the regions of the earth as…
Kandrax
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Wholesome Actions in Buddhist Philosophy

I was thinking about whether the goal of a wholesome action in Buddhist philosophy is to reduce suffering (dukkha) or to "shrink" the roots of suffering, namely craving, desire or aversion (the three poisons). In fact, there are actions that…
JoJo
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