Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Free Will and Buddhism

     Many of us start to wonder about free will, especially on hearing about the suicides of fine people like Robin Williams and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
     But the central message of the Buddha's teaching is that there is an end to suffering, and that the power to end suffering is in our own hands, in this lifetime (not by suicide).
     We ourselves can, with intelligence, kindness, energy & perseverance, create the causes & conditions, to progressively improve our quality of life, right here, right now. We are BOTH the carrot AND the nurturing gardener; BOTH the grandchild AND the wise, loving grandparent.

       Sayadaw U Pandita. "In This Very Life. The Liberation Teachings of the Buddha." Wisdom Publications, Boston, MA, 1992.

Sunrise at Vic's Point

2 comments:

  1. While the inquiry of free will does not figure as unmistakably in Buddhist writings as it does in western philosophy,philosophy,and brain science,it is a subject that was tended to in the soonest Buddhist writings.As per these records, for practical and ethical reasons,the Buddha rejected both determinism and indeterminism as comprehended around then.Instead of soliciting the metaphysical inquiry from whether as of now people have free will,Buddhist convention takes a more even minded approach,investigating courses in which we can get more noteworthy freedom to settle on astute decisions that are really helpful for our own particular and others' authentic prosperity.One key to accomplishing such freedom is the development of attentional aptitudes with the goal that one can deliberately center one's consideration with coherence and clarity on one's picked object.A second theme is the development of understanding into the way in which our demeanor shape experience,considering the likelihood of adjusting not just the way we encounter occasions in the present,additionally how we are affected by our memories of the past.Thank you.

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  2. I think I agree with you Kirpal, the Buddha was very pragmatic & was not interested in metaphysics or other speculations. He taught that each person should best spend his time putting an end to their own suffering and thus cause less suffering for others. He showed people how they were able to do, for themselves, exactly what he had done - become Enlightened.

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