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Wk 06 Mon, Feb 8

Today Intro to Buddhism

– Khilnani, Sunil. 2016. "The Buddha: Waking IndiaUp." In Incarnations: A History of India in Fifty Lives,9

– Ch. 3 on Buddha’s Middle Way in Hamilton’s IP: VSI Asaf Federman, 2010. "What Kind of Free Will

Did the Buddha Teach?" Karin Meyers on “Free Persons, Empty Selves,”

Chapter 2, FWASIP, Dasti & Bryant, eds. 2014. Optional: Luis O. Gómez, 1975. "Some Aspects

of the Free-Will Question in the Nikāyas."

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Wednesday, Wk 06Further developments in Buddhism Jay L. Garfield ’s Ch. 7, “Just Another

Word for Nothing Left to Lose” in Dasti, Matthew and Edwin Bryant, eds. 2014.FWASIP

Ch. 6 on Things & No-things in Hamilton’s IP: VSI

WOTD• Dependent Origination Miles

• Fortuity Dhruv

• cetovasippatta, having mastery over his mind Dhandeep

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The Buddha ~450-370 BCE

– vs. 563-483 BCE Born in present-day

Nepal Language: precursor to

Magadhi → Pali Other Names

– Siddhārtha Gautama– Śākyamuni– Tathāgata

Cave Paintings @ Ajanta

Avalokiteśvara / Padmapāni, Bodhisattva of compassion.

Two women, Cave 2

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Ajanta, cont’d

Dancing girl in Ajanta fresco, a 2012 photograph (left), Robert Gill's copy 19th-century

Dhamma Chakka / Dharma Chakra

Worshipers under 24 spokes of the Buddhist Ashoka Chakra12 links of Dependent Origination, 12 links of the reverseAshokan pillar at Sanchi

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Śramaṇa-s, mendicantsPer Dīgha-Nikāya 2, reports of 6 heretic teachers, their doctrines:1. Pūrāṇa Kāśyapa, amoralism / antinomianism2. Maskarī Gośāliputra, fatalism - Ājivika3. Sañjayī Vairaṭṭīputra, agnosticism / skepticism4. Ajita Keśakambala, materialism5. Nirgrantha Jñātiputra, restraint / Jainism6. Kakuda Kātyāyana, eternalism / atomicism

The 3 Insights of the Buddha1. See his previous lives & their influence on

subsequent lives,2. See the consequences of past lives on current

life of others,3. How to eradicate factors that lead to continued

rebirth:• Appetitive desires• Desire for continued existence• Ignorance of true nature of reality• Holding of opinionated ‘views’ (Hamilton, 42-5)

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Four Noble TruthsRealized @ age 35 in Bodhgayā1. Life is dukkha, dissatisfaction / sorrow / suffering

2. Dukkha is caused by tanhā /tṛṣṇā, thirst / craving

3. Nirvāṇa, cessation of dukkha is possible4. Way to cessation = liberation is the Noble

Eightfold Path

Noble Eightfold Path = Middle Way

śila, ethical practices1. Right Speech2. Right Action3. Right Livingsamādhi, stages of meditation4. Right Effort5. Right Mindfulness6. Right Concentrationprajñā, knowledge & wisdom7. Right Views8. Right Resolve

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Central Concepts Everything is impermanent, anitya Everything has no self, anattā / anātmā Personality = 5 aggregates, skandha-s These constitute dukkha

1. Material quality, rūpa2. Feelings / sensations, vedanā3. Perceptions, saṃjñā4. Predispositions, saṃskāra5. Consciousness, vijñāna

Cessation of suffering = nirvāṇa

12-fold Dependent Origination,pratītya-samutpāda

Pāli: paṭiccasamuppanna1. ignorance → (causes)2. karma / saṃskāra →3. consciousness →4. name & form →5. 6 sense organs →6. contact (with objects) →7. sensation / feeling →8. desire / craving →9. attachment →10. existence →11. birth →12. old age, death, sorrow, misery, lamentation [… → ignorance]

passive, resulting from past karma

the cycle can be broken here

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Textual Sources Theravāda Pali canon, tri-piṭaka (3 baskets)

1. Vinaya, monastic rules2. Sūtra, discourses = Nikāyas / Āgamas

1. Dīgha, long2. Majjhima, middle-length3. Saṃyukta, connected4. Aṇguttara / Ekottara, numerical lists5. Kuddaka, 15 small texts including

– Dhammapada, Udāna, Sutta, Therigātha, Jātaka

3. Abhidharma, scholastic / philosophical

Some Early Schools“Hīnayāna, Lesser Vehicle”

Theravāda, Elders – Sri Lanka, SE Asia Mahāsaṅgika …. → Mahāyāna

– ~320 BCE– ~100 years after Buddha’s parinirvāṇa

Sarvāstivāda, ~250 BCE Sautrāntika … → Yogācāra / Vijñānavāda

– ~100 CE

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Asaf Federman on the Buddha & Free Will

Federman Soteriology? anattā + anitya = no agent ? Buddha’s teachings = Free Will?

– choice, responsibility – denial of Fatalism, Maskarī Gośāliputra

Dependent Origination = Determinism ?

Free Will + Determinism = Compatibilism

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p. 19, Thomas Pink. 2004. Free Will: A VSI. OUP.

FedermanTwo conflicting definitions of Free Will1. FW1 = a power that:

– belongs in the soul, – transcends the physical, – has ultimate control over the body

2. FW2 =– “agent's ability to control action in

conformity with will, when there are no constraints that limit performance (3).” Compatibilist definition?

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Federman Freedom = psychological

– mind free from what binds– awareness of one’s desires & wishes (10)

Causality governs– physical, organic, psychological, karmic, and

spiritual spheres (12)– Karma not sole cause, ≠ hard determinism

Determinism ≠ inevitability “unavoidable (13)”– agent can be one of the causes

Karin Meyers on “Free Persons, Empty Selves”

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Two Truths, A1. Conventional, saṃvṛti-satya

– Ordinary / relative – Language-based

2. Ultimate, paramārtha-satya– Nirvāṇa

Meyers cetanā = will, volition, intention

– = mental action, karma– not always conscious / voluntary / deliberate (46) needs other factors such as mindfulness, clear

awareness (59)– conditioned by self-grasping ← autonomy– necessary but not sufficient condition for moral

responsibility

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Varieties of Free Will, review Causal Determinism: prior events → exactly one

metaphysically possible future (48)

Can Determinism coexist with Free Will? If Yes, Compatibilism

– Agent has control over actions If No, Incompatibilism

– If no free will, Hard Determinism Fatalism

– Extreme response to Hard Determinism– Our efforts don’t affect the future

– If free will exists, Determinism impossible Libertarianism

Meyers Buddhism subscribes to Compatibilism

– Neutral on Determinism (57) Presumes choice over action

– We have freedom to choose to work for liberation Cultivation of self-control prescribed through

development of the five Spiritual Faculties, bala– faith śraddhā, energy vīrya, mindfulness smṛti,

concentration samādhi, discernment prajñā (51) “Greater freedom and self-control through

recognition of non-self (51)”– Undermines sense of agency / autonomy / responsibility?

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Meyers: Two Truths, B1. Conventional truth, saṃvṛti-satya

– Agents, agency, free will– Mental construct, no independent reality– Personal– Autonomy is a necessary delusion, distortion (61)

2. Ultimate truth, paramārtha-satya– Only dharma-s, factors– Irreducible, independent– Impersonal: no agent, no free will

Delusion of Autonomy From the Ultimate perspective, actions

afflicted by self-grasping are– less than fully rational– not self-controlled– functionally insane (60)

Yet, shame hrī & apprehension apatrāpya– basis for virtue– foundation of path to liberation– attract wholesome qualities that ultimately

destroy the delusion (63)

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Ultimately No persons, no free will

– just a flow of dharmas