Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

  Post 118.  November 01, 2021

   Buddhist Metaphysics

   Atheistic Spirituality?  

Brian Morris is a professor of Anthropology in London. So presumably, he brings a hands-on scientific methodology to the philosophical topic of the non-physical aspects of the world. Hence, it’s not surprising that he emphasizes the more prag-matic, and reality-based, forms of the traditional Oriental religion. He observes that Buddhism has been described as an “atheistic spirituality”. And that seems to be what eased the way for its acceptance in the “spiritual-but-not-religious” segments of modern Occidental culture. I just noticed today, that a VA Hospital now has special clinics for Yoga and Meditation. However, he also notes that Buddhism has been described as “the philosophy of the middle way1”. Which is similar to the “moderation in all things” principle of Aristotle, who is often compared to the Buddha. Although mainstream Buddhism is a “form of mystical idealism”,  the author says that it’s actually “a heady mixture of four quite distinct and contrasting metaphysical systems” : Common-sense Realism ; Theistic Spirituality ; Phenomenalism2 ; and Mystical Idealism.

That broad range of worldviews may have contributed to the spread of the Buddha’s philosophy to the pragmatic ethics of Confucian China, as well as to the more spiritual, theistic, and mystical regions of the Orient. Morris says that “people every-where are fully aware that all material things are transient”, and that most are also “empirical naturalists” in practice. Those common people don’t think of themselves as “a disembodied ego . . . But a real organic being, and embodied self with moral agency”. On the other hand, societies with professional priests and theologians, tend to preach & teach a Theistic Spirituality, often with hierarchies of spirit beings and human souls. Yet, “some early Buddhists came out as phenomenalists”, who combined notions of transcendental realms and common-sense realism. But, they explain that “all material things are in this way mind-dependent” constructs. Meanwhile, other interpreters of the Buddha’s teachings took his references to “illusions” literally, and constructed stories to illustrate their “mystical or absolute idealism”. Consequently, Buddhism, like Christianity has some features that can appeal to differing personal worldviews.

In any case, the Buddha’s primary concern, like that of Confucius, was this-worldly ethics. So, Morris concludes that “Enlightenment as awareness suggests a common-sense realism”. Which is contrary to the interpretation of some modern practitioners, that “enlightenment as nibbana3 or emptiness implies a quite different worldview — that of mystical idealism”. Yet, Morris notes that “concepts of ‘no-self’ and the ‘unconditioned’ were for the Buddha ethical concepts rather than metaphysical ones. They implied a rejection of egoism, not of the embodied self”. Again, his teachings were intended to have practical applications to alleviate suffering in the real world, not to suffer meekly while waiting for Nirvana or Heaven. Also, like Aristotle, he pointed to untamed egocentric passions as a two-way door to both happiness and distress. And the solution to that inherent human problem is Virtue, which teaches self-ego-control, and allows us to discriminate between causes of good & evil consequences. 

                               End of Post 118

1. Middle Way :
The expression “middle way” refers to the Buddhist understanding of practical life, avoiding the extremes of self-denial and self-indulgence, as well as the view of reality that avoids the extreme positions of eternalism and annihilationism.
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-94-024-0852-2_280

2. Phenomenalism :
a philosophical theory of perception and the external world. Its essential tenet is that propositions about material objects are reducible to propositions about actual and possible sensations, or sense data, or appearances. ... So long as the material object is unobserved, none of them is actualized.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/phenomenalism

3. Nibbana :
Nirvana.  A state of ultimate wisdom and blessedness. 2. A state of release from the cycle of reincarnation and absorption into the universal reality.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Nibbana

Buddhist Philosophy

The Buddhist path combines both philosophical reasoning and meditation. The Buddhist traditions present a multitude of Buddhist paths to liberation, and Buddhist thinkers in India and subsequently in East Asia have covered topics as varied as phenomenology, ethics, ontology, epistemology, logic and philosophy of time in their analysis of these paths.

Early Buddhism was based on empirical evidence gained by the sense organs and the Buddha seems to have retained a skeptical distance from certain metaphysical questions, refusing to answer them because they were not conducive to liberation but led instead to further speculation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_philosophy

Buddha & Aristotle

In spite of their different social and cultural contexts there are many formal parallels between the ideal of human perfection conceived by the Buddha and that envisaged by Aristotle. Both regard human nature as a complex of intellectual and emotional factors and consider that the final good for man lies in the full development of his potential in these two dimensions. For both, again, this is a gradual, cumulative process. The state of perfection finally reached — nirvana for Buddhism and eudaemonia for Aristotle — is characterised by happiness and is the final goal of human endeavour.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-22092-2_8

Buddhist
Metaphysics  

Brian Morris
Philosophy Now
Magazine

November 2021

“Buddhism is often described as the philosophy of the ‘middle way’”  

ENFORMATIONISM

Note the incongruous halo
for an atheist
hero