SW of Buddhism
In this section we are going to consider a fascinating world of an
extremely reach and colourful tradition called Buddhism.
Besides the intellectual appeal and aesthetic beauty inherent to this culture, one more reason we are
particularly interested in this tradition is the multiverse underpinning of the corresponding teaching.
Brahmin tradition
The origin of Buddhism, I believe, is best understood against the contextual background furnished by the household
tradition of Brahmins. Below I will give a very brief outline of the key points of the Brahmin tradition followed by,
again necessarily short, outline of the Buddhism itself.
Unless otherwise specified, quoted text in this section is based on (Williams et al., 2012).
Beware, the original text was written in "MS Word" with all quotes using italised shrift. Later this text has
been copy-pasted to html, and the distinction between normal amd italised shrift has been lost. I have fixed
some of the quotes but never bothered to check if all of them were recovered. If you find text in this manuscript
to be quoted, pleasure let me know.
Ontology/ Vocabulary.
According to Brahmins there is a true Self of each person called Atman, and there is an essence of
the Universe called Brahman. “That which is the very core of the universe, that which is unchanging even when all things
change, is Brahman (in origin, the ‘priestly power’), the Universal Essence. That which is the true, unchanging, core of
oneself, that constant which is always being referred to when one says ‘I’, that which lies beyond all bodily and mental
changes, is the Self, the atman, the Personal Essence.”
There is also an infinite cycle of rebirth and redeath, called samsara. Your fate in the next cycle of life depends on
what you have done in this and previous lives (karma).
Cosmology.
According to Vedas, we live in a multiverse of many different worlds. There are several planes of the reality
including those of insects, people, and Gods. People accumulate karma through their life cycles and those with good
karma go to better worlds. The cycle of the rebirth is eternal.
Dharma is an objective order of the universe. It has also the flavour of righteousness and duty. There are the facets of
“is” and “ought” present in this definition, that is, the conception of how things actually are and how things ought to
be. (NM compare with McIntyre’s discussion of “is” and “ought”)
Metaphysics.
I think, in the Brahmanic tradition the world (i.e. multiverse) is postulated without further questioning
its origins.
Identity.
A true Self for each person (Atman), in some mysterious way is identical to the essence of the Universe
(Brahman). “And (clearly the secret of secrets in the older prose Upanishads) atman is actually identical with Brahman –
the Personal Essence and the Universal Essence. The search for the underlying nature of the universe reached an early
apogee in India in the turn inwards. Early cosmology and physics converges with psychology. Magical identification
begins its long road in India to spiritual idealism and the overwhelming primacy of personal experience. … By knowing
oneself, by thereby controlling oneself, one knows and controls all.”
There are four classes of people in Vedic society: Brahmins, warriors, wealth makers, and outcasts (sudras). The
Brahmins formed the ideologically dominant group. They were and still are hereditary elite - one is born a Brahmin, one
cannot become one. Vedic literature was composed almost entirely by Brahmins, and Brahmins were essential to the
performance of the sacrifices. What makes a Brahmin a Brahmin is birth, but what makes this birth significant is the
relative ritual purity of a Brahmin. Brahmins are ritually pure and this purity makes them best suited to approach the
gods through sacrifice on behalf of the sacrificer. Whether or not they actually practice as professional
sacrifice-priests, Brahmins must not be polluted, and tasks which might involve impurity and thus be polluting (such as
the disposal of rubbish, or dead bodies) must be performed by others, specialists in the removal of impurity.
Practice.
When one behaves as one should behave (as laid down in accordance with his class and stage of life) whether
student, house-holder, forest-dweller, or wandering ascetic renouncer, this behaviour brings conduct in line with the
objective order of things. The result is happiness, all one could wish for in this life and the next. “to act in a way
that is at variance with the objective order of things is to cause a monstrosity”. (NM note the analogy with stoicism)
Values.
Why would you follow the order? You stick to rules for pragmatic reasons - to earn good karma and better life in the next
cycle of samsara. Besides that there is also an ethical dimension. As mentioned earlier, to act in a way that is at
variance with the objective order of things is to cause a monstrosity.
Buddha’s key points
Buddhism builds on and transforms tradition of Brahmins by adding two fundamentally new dimensions to this doctrine.
- First, to the mechanistic cycling of samsara fuelled by karman (action) where any future state is conditioned on
present and past actions, Buddha adds a mental dimension. He integrates cosmology and psychology and claims that the
future state is now a function of not only the action per se but also of mental states and specifically it depends on
person’s knowledge, intentions and some psychological states arising through the meditation practices (NM note analogy
with the transition from the Old to New Testament also highlighting the significance of mental states).
- Second, Buddha brings the concept of nirvana which breaks the claustrophobic infinite cycle of samsara. Instead of
being reborn and re-dead for infinite number of times, one now has a choice to break this cycle and enter nirvana.
According to (Williams et al., 2012), nirvana is often translated as letting go, or extinguishing a flame of desire. It
comes from the awareness of the emptiness of the world and the detachment from any cravings. Closely related to the
concept of nirvana is that of the dependent origination. According to the dependent origination, everything in this
world is locked into the deterministic chains of the cause and effect relations. There is no contingency, no freedom, no
free will. All future events are programmed by the past and the present. There is no point to worry about the future
because the future is already predefined and beyond your powers to control. Once you have a non-conceptual immediate
awareness of the dependent origination, you step aside the cycles of samsara and enter the timeless domain of nirvana.
You become an observer who watches himself and others in the river of cause and effect relations, but has no any
cravings and attachments to what happens in that river. You can do nothing to it, it can do nothing to you; the river is
empty, it does not exist. Nirvana sometimes is also translated as emptiness.
At least three major divisions of Buddhism have evolved since the time of Buddha: Theravada, Mahayana, and Varjuna
(Tantric) Buddhism. The storied-world presented below follows largely the Mahayana teaching. According to Mahayana
Buddhism, Buddha is God and lives forever; moreover, there are other Buddhas. The Mahayanist holds that there are
certain great people (called bodhisattva) who have reached enlightenment but have chosen to postpone nirvana to help out
others, people of lower attainments. The description in this section is fairly general, with no reference to particular
schools within the Mahayana division and, again, it draws heavily on one source (Williams et al., 2012) which may result
in an opiniated interpretation.
Ontology
The key thesis underpinning the teaching of Buddha is about the emptiness of the universe “… absolutely everything is
like ‘a magical illusion’. … absolutely all things have the same status as persons, tables, and forests. They are all
conceptual constructs and therefore cannot be vested with own-existence. … All things are empty. “ This thesis is
foundational for the whole teaching and without it the body of this doctrine losses its logical cohesion and integrity.
In an empty world there is no human nature (no Self) and the whole idea of accumulating good karma makes no sense. The
infinite cycle of reincarnations, indeed becomes a prison, and nirvana offers escape from that prison. The whole story
makes sense.
The universe of Buddha is empty and yet, according to Buddhist texts it is filled with quite a few entities. Perhaps,
these entities do not count as being really real but they still exist. This “empty” universe accommodates, for example,
multiple ‘bodies’ of Buddha. A Buddha is said to have three types of body - the real body, the ‘body of communal
enjoyment’ and the ‘body of magical transformation’. “The real body is either his teachings, that remain and lead to
enlightenment, or the qualities the possession of which in their fullest degree made him a Buddha and that can still be
attained by his followers. The body of communal enjoyment is Buddha in Pure Land (heaven) where he appears seated on a
lotus throne and teaching the Doctrine to an assembly made up mainly or entirely of advanced bodhisattvas. There is, of
course, an infinite number of bodies of communal enjoyment, since in infinite time infinite number of
beings have become Buddha.
... To have direct access to the body of communal enjoyment, it is necessary to have spiritual attainments that will
allow one, either in this life or another, to reach the relevant Pure Land. A Buddha, however, wishes to help everyone.
To benefit even those of lowly attainments, or the wicked, Buddhas emanate the body of magical transformation, which is
Buddha in the world. Buddha in the world is frequently described on the model of Sakyamuni Buddha and the great deeds of
his life. Later sources make it clear, however, that a body of magical transformation can appear in any form that will
benefit others “.
With regard to the structure of the universe, the doctrinal framework here is that of the “threefold world” which
divides into (i) the desire realm (ii) the form realm, and (iii) the formless realm. The desire realm consists of all
the realms of rebirth populated by animals, ghosts and humans, plus one specific group of Gods called ‘desire gods’.
They are the gods who are closest to humans. It is appropriate to pray to these gods for rewards, provided one is aware
that they are all part of samsara. They are thus subject to greed, hatred, and delusion and their derivatives (such as
pride, anger, and lust), and are very definitely unenlightened. The desire gods are thought to occupy one or other of
six ‘heavens’, each in certain way better than the last. If we take all these six heavens together, they constitute the
‘world of the gods’, although there are many, many gods on higher planes still beyond this sensual ‘world of the gods’.
The common feature of beings in the desire realm is that they have the five physical senses plus consciousness.
Cosmologically these planes where beings have all five senses as well as consciousness form ‘world-spheres’. There is an
infinite number of world-spheres and there is no final God who rules over all the world spheres.
The next level realms comprise the form and formless planes. Technically the gods of the form and formless planes are
known not as gods but as “Brahmas”. Brahmas within the form realm are said to have only two senses, sight and hearing.
The Brahmas within the formless realm have only consciousness, and they enjoy uninterruptedly the appropriate meditative
attainment. In total there are thirty-one different types of beings, or possible states, within samsara. Outside all of
this is nirvana. The Buddhist tradition holds that nirvana can be obtained only from the human realm, or a God realm
above the human.
Cosmology
The “threefold world” is fuelled at lower levels with the endless cycle of birth, rebirth and redeath of various
creatures, including animal, ghosts, humans and gods. The rebirth cycle is called samsara. “One can be reborn in hell
(sometimes translated as purgatory, to stress its impermanent purifying nature), as an animal, a ghost, a human, or a
god. … other Buddhist texts speak of six ‘destines’ adding that of the asuras, jealous anti-gods who are said to be
constantly at war with gods. … Rebirth in a hell, as an animal, or as a ghost is referred to as a bad ‘destiny’, while
rebirth as a human or a god is a god ’destiny’. ‘Bad destinies’ are so defined due to preponderance of pain there.”
The whole universe is seen as “evolving from a state of what we might call ‘implosion’ to manifestation. It then remains
for a long time. Eventually the universe implodes again. It remains for a further long period in imploded state before
evolving once more. And so on throughout all eternity. When the universe implodes it implodes from the lower realms
upward. Thus the hells implode first of all. Sometimes the implosion is through fire, and this implosion stretches as
far as the third of the god-planes of the form realm, thereby taking in all up to and including the plane corresponding
to the first dhyana (NM a wholesome state of mind occurring in meditation). The rest remains. Implosion through the fire
is the most frequent sort of implosion. At other time there is a wind implosion, which includes all that included in the
fire implosion and also the plane corresponding to the third dhyana. But implosion can stretch no further. Being reborn
on the plane corresponding to the forth dhyana (and above, for that matter) cannot be affected by any of this. When
implosion occurs, beings that perish are reborn somewhere else that still remains, perfectly in accordance with their
karman”.
Metaphysics
The form and formless realms in Buddhist texts are referred to as stages of meditative absorption. What does that mean?
Are these places of rebirth, or they just represent an ‘inner state’ of the meditator? According to Williams (2012) “the
key to understanding what is going on here is the principle of the equivalence of cosmology and psychology. Someone’s
rebirth in (for instance) formless realm is casually dependent on his (her) meditative attainment in a life prior to
that rebirth. … Mental intentions (karman) which are wholesome, animated by the three basic virtuous states of mind,
non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion, give rise to appropriate acts and favorable rebirth. Unwholesome intentions
animated by greed, hatred, and delusion produce unfavorable rebirth. The favorable rebirths here are rebirths as a
human (possibly as asura) and as a god of the desire realm. .. Thus favorable and unfavorable rebirths spring from
states of mind. And there are some specific wholesome states of mind in addition to these that as a matter of fact occur
only in meditation (dhyanas).”
Given that rebirth accords with mental events, the reference to higher planes as corresponding to meditative states
implies the sort of mental events required to attain rebirth on these planes. When the meditator in this life attains to
certain positive meditative experience, s/he is undergoing temporarily the experience of one reborn as a God on that
particular plane of the form realm. On the other hand, if one is overwhelmed with greed, hatred, or delusion, one is in
the state of the one born as a ghost, in hell, or an animal respectively. “As one’s mind is, so one actually becomes.”
The ultimate goal of the meditative practices in nirvana, which is the fundamental religious experience and the only
concern of the Theravadan school. Mahayana Buddhism emphasises also a middle stage – a religious experience of heavenly
Buddha or Bodhisattva in Pure Land. “The earliest Pure Land Buddha cult was centred on the Buddha Aksobhya. …The Pure
Land of Aksobhya is modelled rather on a heavenly realm. It is the ideal realm, the world as it ought to be, a world in
which the ‘Devil’ does not interfere, a world without mountains, a world of flowers, gentle breezes, and music. There is
no ugliness, no menstruation, no gross physical sexuality, and gestation and birth is gentle and pleasant. All is clean,
and all are interested in practising the Doctrine. This Pure Land is so wonderful as a direct result of the merit
deriving from great vows of morality made by Aksobhya when engaged in the bodhisattva path. Rebirth in this wonderful
Pure Land comes from following oneself the bodhisattva path and vowing to be reborn in Aksobhya’s Pure Land (Abhirati).
One should also dedicate all merit to being reborn there in order to become fully enlightened in the presence of
Aksobhya, and visualise the Pure Land with Aksobhya within it teaching the Doctrine, while wishing to be like him. … It
should be remembered however, that Pure Land in only intermediate goal; the ultimate goal for the Mahayana Buddhist
remains nirvana.”
Note that Pure Land cult and elaborated cosmology of a multiverse populated with Gods and Buddhas has been developed and
added to Buddhism at later stages (Williams, 2012). The Buddha himself intentionally or by implication
instead of talking about God would discuss casual dependence. God has no place in a seamless world of natural
contingency, where each contingent thing can be explained as a casual result of another contingent thing ad infinitum.
Identity
According to Buddha, there is no such thing as a Self. A person is just a bundle of certain qualities which disintegrate
after death. And yet there is samsara, the cycle of reincarnations where the life in the next life is conditioned on
your mental states and deeds in this life. What is the connection between a person in this life and the same person but
reincarnated in the next life into new form? According to (Williams et al., 2012), the only connections between these
two is just a cause and effect connection in a sense that the death of person A causes birth of person B which also
inherits karma accumulated by person A. That is all. There is no continuous flow of consciousness that would connect A
to B. From this perspective the journey to the nirvana, comprising large number of reincarnations, is not exactly my
personal journey, since I’m travelling only short distance and then hand over my luggage (karma) to someone else who may
or may not succeed in achieving this goal.
Note that from the Buddha’s perspective, there is no Self and the future cycles of samsara indeed have no value to
practitioners. What is the point for me to go through all these cycles if there is no identity connection between
different reincarnations. If I’m lucky I’ll achieve nirvana during my life-time. If I’m not, someone else will rip the
benefits. The situation is very different in Brahmin tradition, where my Self (Atman) is carried through from one
incarnation to another, and where I care about my next life because it is indeed my life.
Practice
The roadmap to nirvana, called the eightfold path to perfection, comprises three major classes of perfection: (a) wisdom
(knowledge), (b) ethical conduct, and (c) meditation.
(a) Wisdom includes the right knowledge, which is the knowledge of four noble truths:
- There is suffering.
- The cause of suffering is craving (desire, wrong attachments).
- The suffering could be eliminated by eliminating its cause (i.e. craving).
- The redemption is achieved through the eightfold path.
The right knowledge is also the knowledge of emptiness which states that there is no Self and there is no world, and all
is just an illusion, maya. Buddha illustrates this point by eliminating potential candidates for being Self. For
example, Self is not Brahman because when we burn wood we do not feel like burning ourselves etc. The link between 4
noble truths and the truth of emptiness becomes clear once we realise that if there is nothing in this world then it
makes no sense to be attached to anything.
(b) Ethical conduct is about the right speech, the right action and the right livelihood.
(c) And, finally, meditation is about opening a door to another dimension. Through the meditation the practitioner
establishes a link between himself and another realm where he can experience, for example, the life of the God who lives
in that realm (NM: note the analogy with the function of some Christian services which are meant to deliver the link
between an individual and heavens, e.g. the Holy Communion service which brings experience of the life in the Kingdom of
God). Which world you will be reborn in the next cycle of samsara depends on what mediative experiences you have had
during this life time.
Values
According to Buddha, salvation from the death and suffering comes through nirvana. The omniscient and omnipotent God
does not exist and no agreements (covenants) have been made between man and God, so no obligation to do the right
things. The universe is driven by impersonal principle, dharma, which is an order of the universe. In Brahmanism this
dharma comprises the existential as well as moral dimensions, acting against the order of the universe is to cause
monstrosity. In Buddhism the foundational point of the teaching is that of emptiness, nirvana, and it is not obvious how
to sustain moral principles on such vacuous grounds.
And yet, despite universal nihilism permeating the body of the Buddhist teachings, ethical principles are integral to
Buddhism. The Buddhist path is the path of overcoming of greed, hatred, and delusion through the cultivation of their
opposites, nonattachment, loving kindness, and wisdom or insight. To become a Buddha, is to become a good man. Having
said this, we must acknowledge also the diversity of interpretations present in the Buddhist culture. Since there is no
distinction between good and evil in the world which does not even exist, then why bother with morals. Tantric Buddhism,
for example, exploits this line of reasoning to justify abnormal behaviours during some of its ritual ceremonies
(Williams et al., 2012).
Meta-narrative
There are many different narratives which emanate from the storied world of Buddhism. We have already mentioned three
main divisions of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana, and Tantric Buddhism). There are many schools, with their own
interpretations of the teaching, within each of these divisions.
Contradictions
The key premise of the Buddhism, which states that the world is an illusion, and there is nothing in it, is pregnant
with a contradiction. It is not obvious that the world is empty, and there are arguments for and against this statement.
If we agree that there is no such thing as a human nature and there is no Self, then it is not obvious why one would
care about his future reincarnations. The idea of Pure Land or nirvana as a distant goal of numerous reincarnations and
accumulation of good karma makes no sense. Same comment goes for the cult of bodhisattvas, why would they bother about
others if nothing is real.
According to Zen Buddhism, to arrive at higher truth, or enlightenment, it is necessary to bypass constraints imposed on
our thoughts by logic. It is impossible to achieve nirvana through the process of logical inference. For that reason,
Zen adopts methods which attempt to break away from the bonds of the logical thought.
There are quite a few contradictions between different schools of Buddhism. In Theravada Buiddhism “one is a lamp to
himself” and cares just about achieving nirvana for himself. In Mahayana Buddhism the goal is to achieve nirvana for all
people. Buddha is just a man teaching Dharma, according to Theravada. Buddha is a God in Mahayana. Ethical norms are
integral to Theravada and Mahayana schools (as well as to the life of an ordinary men), while in tantric Buddhism the
enlightened being lives in the world beyond dualities of good and evil.
The picture of Buddhist mutiverse contradicts the mainstream science. Even though the ideas of the multiverse are
gaining momentum in modern physics, these universes are far from been the same species as that of
the Buddhist tradition. Further, I am not aware of strong evidence of the reincarnation. And of course all miracles
associated with Gods, including avatars (human incarnations of Gods) and communications and interactions between human
and divine (say through the meditation) are considered as not real phenomena in science.
SW of Taoism
Before we leave religious worlds and move on to a more secular grounds, it is worth mentioning briefly another venerated
eastern tradition permeated with contradictions - Taoism. Contradictions are at the heart of Taoism. The key concept of
this teaching is Dao - all permeating, a priory something, which cannot by grasped by logic and described by words.
Those who know it, does not know it, and those who does not know, know it. It is something which is impossible to
understand by definition. Yet the goal of the journey is to unite self with Dao. And this union is achieved at
transcendental, spiritual level rather than on the level of the rational thought. (REF)
Dao sometimes is translated as a way. Those who follow Dao do not act. They let themselves to be carried by the natural
development of events. The true ruler is the ruler who does not rule. Taoism is a call back to simplicity and purity of
the nature. Knowledge is not required. This philosophy is somewhat similar to stoicism, is a sense that the way of Dao
is to follow natural way of things. Do not struggle, lay back and enjoy your life, be happy to be whoever you are.
Someone has noted that the world is bitter for Buddha, sour for Confucius, and it is full of pleasure for Loa Tzi - the
founder of Taoism.
Storied-worlds of science and Buddhism are well defined and structured. They have more or less complete description of
the external universe underpinning the next level description of the human nature. All key elements of these worlds are
written up and made explicit and unequivocal. However, if we zoom-in on a human being, and acknowledge the fact that
this being is the key element of any storied-world and storied-worlds with no people, do not make sense, if we
acknowledge the central role people play in these constructs, we may not need to worry too much about the detailed
structure of the universe. We can pool out this central part, a human being, focus on him and leave aside the rest of
the universe. We can build this world on a psychology rather than a cosmology. This is a feature characteristic
of the storied-world to be considered next – the storied-world of stoics.