Editing Buddhist philosophy

{{Short description|Buddhist philosophical tradition}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
[[File:Nalanda_university.jpg|thumb|The Buddhist [[Nalanda mahavihara|Nalanda ''mahāvihāra'']] (great monastery) was a [[Ancient higher-learning institutions|major institution of higher-learning]] in [[ancient India]] from the 5th century CE until the 12th century.<ref name="Scharfe 2002">{{cite book |author-last=Scharfe |author-first=Hartmut |year=2002 |chapter=From Monasteries to Universities |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GMyiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA144 |title=Education in Ancient India |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Brill’s Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 2: South Asia |volume=16 |pages=144–145 |doi=10.1163/9789047401476_010 |isbn=978-90-474-0147-6 |lccn=2002018456 |issn=0169-9377}}</ref>]]
{{Buddhism}}
{{Buddhist Philosophy sidebar}}
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'''Buddhist philosophy''' is the [[ancient India]]n [[Indian philosophy|philosophical system]] that developed within the religio-philosophical tradition of [[Buddhism]].<ref name="Powers 2021">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Powers |author-first=John |date=18 August 2021 |title=Classical Indian Buddhist Philosophy |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0051.xml |url-status=live |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Bibliographies Online]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/obo/9780195393521-0051 |isbn=978-0-19-539352-1 |oclc=871820156 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240320184206/https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0051.xml |archive-date=20 March 2024 |access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="Bartley 2015">{{cite book |author-last=Bartley |author-first=Christopher |year=2015 |chapter=Part I: Buddhist Traditions – Chapter 2: The Buddhist Ethos |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c3D5CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 |title=An Introduction to Indian Philosophy: Hindu and Buddhist Ideas from Original Sources |location=[[London]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |edition=2nd |pages=23–41 |doi=10.5040/9781474243063.0009 |isbn=978-1-4742-4306-3}}</ref> It comprises all the [[Philosophy|philosophical investigations]] and [[Buddhist logico-epistemology|systems of rational inquiry]] that developed among various [[schools of Buddhism]] in [[ancient India]] following the ''[[Parinirvana|parinirvāṇa]]'' of [[Gautama Buddha]] (c. 5th century BCE), as well as the further developments which followed the [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|spread of Buddhism throughout Asia]].<ref name="Bartley 2015"/><ref name="Acri 2018">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Acri |author-first=Andrea |date=20 December 2018 |title=Maritime Buddhism |url=https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-638 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.638 |isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 |doi-access=free |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219153342/https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-638 |archive-date=19 February 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref><ref name="Donnelly 2017">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Donnelly |author-first=Paul B. |date=25 January 2017 |title=Madhyamaka |url=https://oxfordre.com/religion/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-191 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.191 |url-access=subscription |isbn=978-0-19-934037-8}}</ref>

Buddhism combines both philosophical reasoning and the [[Buddhist meditation|practice of meditation]].<ref name="Siderits, Mark 2007, page 6">Siderits, Mark. Buddhism as philosophy, 2007, p. 6</ref> The Buddhist religion presents a multitude of [[Buddhist paths to liberation]]; with the expansion of early Buddhism from ancient India to [[Sri Lanka]] and subsequently to [[East Asia]] and [[Southeast Asia]],<ref name="Acri 2018"/><ref name="Donnelly 2017"/> Buddhist thinkers have covered topics as varied as [[cosmology]], [[ethics]], [[epistemology]], [[logic]], [[metaphysics]], [[ontology]], [[Phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenology]], the [[philosophy of mind]], the [[philosophy of time]], and [[soteriology]] in their analysis of these paths.<ref name="Bartley 2015"/>

[[Pre-sectarian Buddhism]] was based on [[empirical evidence]] gained by the [[Āyatana|sense organs]] (including the [[Chitta (Buddhism)|mind]]), and the Buddha seems to have retained a [[Philosophical skepticism|skeptical]] distance from [[The unanswered questions|certain metaphysical questions]], refusing to answer them because they were not conducive to liberation but led instead to further speculation.<ref name="Bartley 2015"/><ref>David Kalupahana, ''Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism''. The University Press of Hawaii, 1975, p. 70.</ref> However he also affirmed theories with metaphysical implications, such as [[Pratītyasamutpāda|dependent arising]], [[Karma in Buddhism|karma]], and [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]].<ref name="Powers 2021"/>

Particular points of Buddhist philosophy have often been the subject of disputes between different schools of Buddhism,<ref name="Powers 2021"/> as well as between representative thinkers of Buddhist schools and [[Hindu philosophy|Hindu]] or [[Jain philosophy|Jaina]] philosophers.<ref name="Bartley 2015"/> These elaborations and disputes gave rise to various [[early Buddhist schools]] of [[Abhidharma]], the [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna movement]], and scholastic traditions such as [[Prajnaparamita|Prajñāpāramitā]], [[Sarvastivada|Sarvāstivāda]], [[Madhyamaka|Mādhyamaka]], [[Sautrāntika]], [[Vaibhāṣika]], [[Buddha-nature]], [[Yogacara|Yogācāra]], and more.<ref name="Powers 2021"/><ref name="Bartley 2015"/><ref name="Donnelly 2017"/> One recurrent theme in Buddhist philosophy has been the desire to find a [[Middle Way]] between philosophical views seen as extreme.{{sfn|Kalupahana|1994}}<ref>David Kalupahana, ''Mulamadhyamakakarika of Nagarjuna''. Motilal Banarsidass, 2006, p. 1.</ref>

==Historical phases of Buddhist philosophy==
{{Main|Gandharan Buddhism|History of Buddhism in India}}
{{Further|History of Indian influence on Southeast Asia|Silk Road transmission of Buddhism}}

[[Edward Conze]] splits the development of Indian Buddhist philosophy into three phases:<ref>Conze, Edward. Buddhist thought in India: Three phases of Buddhist philosophy. Vol. 4. Routledge, 2013.</ref>

# The phase of the [[Pre-sectarian Buddhism|pre-sectarian Buddhist doctrines]] derived from oral traditions that originated during the life of [[Gautama Buddha]], and are common to all later [[schools of Buddhism]].
# The second phase concerns non-[[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]] "scholastic" Buddhism, as evident in the [[Abhidharma]] texts beginning in the 3rd century BCE, that feature scholastic reworking and schematic classification of material in the [[early Buddhist texts]].<ref name="Powers 2021"/> The [[Theravāda Abhidhamma|Abhidhamma philosophy of the Theravāda school]] belongs to this phase.
# The third phase concerns [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna Buddhism]], beginning in the late first century CE. This movement emphasizes the path of a [[bodhisattva]] and includes various schools of thought, such as [[Prajnaparamita|Prajñāpāramitā]], [[Madhyamaka|Mādhyamaka]], [[Sautrāntika]], [[Buddha-nature]], and [[Yogacara|Yogācāra]].<ref name="Bartley 2015"/><ref name="Donnelly 2017"/>

Various elements of these three phases are incorporated and/or further developed in the philosophy and worldview of the various sects of Buddhism that then emerged.

==Philosophical orientation==
{{Main|Āstika and nāstika}}
{{Further|Dhyana in Buddhism|Metaphysics#History|Seven Factors of Awakening}}

[[Buddhism]] is an [[Indian religion]]{{sfn|Lopez Jr.|2007|pp=4–12}} and ''[[Dharma|dhārma]]'' that encompasses a variety of [[tradition]]s, [[belief]]s, and [[spiritual practice]]s based on [[Original Teachings of the Buddha|teachings]] attributed to [[Gautama Buddha]] (5th century BCE), but diversified since then in a [[Schools of Buddhism|wide variety of schools and traditions]].{{sfn|Lopez Jr.|2007|pp=4–12}} Buddhism originated in [[ancient India]],{{sfn|Lopez Jr.|2007|pp=4–12}} from where [[Spread of Buddhism|the ''Buddhadhārma'' spread]] from the [[Northeastern Indian subcontinent|northeastern region]] of the [[Indian subcontinent]] throughout [[Central Asia]], [[East Asia]], [[Mainland Southeast Asia]], and [[Maritime Southeast Asia]].<ref name="Acri 2018"/> [[Indian philosophy|Philosophy in ancient India]] was aimed primarily at [[Moksha|spiritual liberation]] and had [[Soteriology|soteriological goals]].{{sfn|Lopez Jr.|2007|pp=4–12}} In his study of the [[Madhyamaka|Mādhyamaka]] and [[Sautrāntika]] schools of Buddhist philosophy in ancient India, Peter Deller Santina writes:<ref>Santina, Peter Della. ''Madhyamaka Schools in India: A Study of the Madhyamaka Philosophy and of the Division of the System into the Prasangika and Svatantrika Schools.'' 2008. p. 31</ref>

{{blockquote|Attention must first of all be drawn to the fact that [[Indian philosophy|philosophical systems in India]] were seldom, if ever, purely speculative or descriptive. Virtually all the great philosophical systems of India: [[Samkhya|Sāṃkhya]], [[Advaita Vedanta|Advaita Vedānta]], [[Madhyamaka|Mādhyamaka]] and so forth, were preeminently concerned with providing a means to liberation or salvation. It was a tacit assumption with these systems that if their philosophy were correctly understood and assimilated, an [[Nirvana|unconditioned state]] free of suffering and limitation could be achieved. [...] If this fact is overlooked, as often happens as a result of the propensity engendered by formal [[Western philosophy|Occidental philosophy]] to consider the philosophical enterprise as a purely descriptive one, the real significance of Indian and Buddhist philosophy will be missed.}}

For the Indian Buddhist philosophers, the teachings of [[Gautama Buddha]] were not meant to be taken on faith alone, but to be confirmed by [[Pramana|logical analysis and inquiry]] (''pramāṇa'') of the world.<ref name="Siderits, Mark 2007, page 6"/> The early Buddhist texts mention that a person becomes a follower of the Buddha's teachings after having pondered them over with [[Dhyana in Buddhism|wisdom]] (''jñana'') and the gradual training also requires that a disciple "investigate" (''upaparikkhati'') and "scrutinize" (''tuleti'') the teachings.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Douglas |last2=Whitaker |first2=Justin |title=Reading the Buddha as a philosopher |journal=Philosophy East and West |volume=66 |date=April 2016 |issue=2 |pages=515–538 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |doi=10.1353/pew.2016.0026 |url=http://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/phil551854.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919160302/http://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/phil551854.pdf |archive-date=2016-09-19}}</ref> The Buddha also expected his disciples to approach him as a teacher in a critical fashion and scrutinize his actions and words, as shown in the ''[[Vīmaṃsaka Sutta]]''.<ref name="Bartley 2015"/>

Some Buddhist thinkers even argued that [[Buddhist logico-epistemology|systems of rational reflection and philosophical analysis]] were a central practice which was necessary for the attainment of insight during [[Buddhist meditation|meditation]]. Thus, [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna philosophers]] like [[Prajñakaragupta]] argue that one is not a [[yogi]] "merely because of meditation"; rather, one must meditate, listen to the teachings, and understand them by "reflecting through rational inquiry" (''yukti-cintāmaya''). Only through this method, which combined [[Rationality|rational reflection]] and the practice of meditation, will the [[Dhyana in Buddhism|wisdom]] that leads to [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|enlightenment]] arise.<ref>Shinya Moriyama. "Prajñākaragupta on Yogic Perception and the Buddha's Omniscience A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation of the Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkāra ad Pramāṇavārttika III 281-286, 2023", Journal of Prajnakaragupta Studies 3.</ref>

==The Buddha and early Buddhism==
{{Main|Pre-sectarian Buddhism}}
{{EarlyBuddhism}}

[[Buddhism]] is devoted primarily to [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|awakening or enlightenment]] (''bodhi''), ''[[Nirvana (Buddhism)|Nirvāṇa]]'' ("blowing out"), and [[Moksha|liberation]] (''vimokṣa'') from [[Duḥkha|all causes of suffering]] (''duḥkha'')  due to the existence of [[Sentient beings (Buddhism)|sentient beings]] in ''[[Saṃsāra (Buddhism)|saṃsāra]]'' (the cycle of compulsory [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|birth, death, and rebirth]]) through the [[Threefold Training|threefold trainings]] ([[Buddhist ethics|ethical conduct]], [[Samadhi|meditative absorption]], and [[Prajñā (Buddhism)|wisdom]]). [[History of Buddhism in India|Classical Indian Buddhism]] emphasized the importance of the individual's [[Bhavana|self-cultivation]] (through numerous spiritual practices like keeping [[Five precepts|ethical precepts]], [[Buddhist meditation]], and [[Pūjā (Buddhism)|worship]]) in the process of liberation from the [[Kleshas (Buddhism)|defilements]] which keep us bound to the cycle of rebirth. According to the [[Abhidharma|standard Buddhist scholastic understanding]], liberation arises when the proper [[Phenomenon|elements]] (''dhārmata'') are cultivated and when the mind has been purified of its [[Upādāna|attachment]] to [[Fetter (Buddhism)|fetters]] and [[Five hindrances|hindrances]] that produce unwholesome mental factors (various called [[Kleshas (Buddhism)|defilements]], [[Three poisons|poisons]], or [[Asava|fluxes]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Brunnhölzl |first=Karl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jP6PEAAAQBAJ |title=The Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madhyamaka in the Kagyü Tradition |publisher=Snow Lion |year=2004 |isbn=978-1559392181 |series=[[Nitartha Institute]] Series |page=131}}</ref>

===The Buddha===
{{Main|Noble Eightfold Path}}
{{Further|Relation between Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism}}
[[File:Bodleian MS. Burm. a. 12 Life of the Buddha 13-14.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[Gautama Buddha]] surrounded by his followers. Illustration from an 18th-century [[Art of Myanmar|Burmese watercolour]], [[Bodleian Library]].]]

Scholarly opinion varies as to whether [[Gautama Buddha]] himself was engaged in philosophical inquiry.<ref>Smith, Douglass, and Justin Whitaker. "Reading the Buddha as a Philosopher." Philosophy East and West 66, no. 2 (2016): pp. 515–538.</ref> Siddartha Gautama (c. 5th century BCE) was a north Indian ''[[Śramaṇa]]'' (wandering ascetic), whose teachings are preserved in the [[Pali language|Pāli]] [[Nikayas]] and in the [[Āgama (Buddhism)|Āgamas]] as well as in other surviving fragmentary textual collections, collectively known as the [[early Buddhist texts]]. Dating these texts is difficult, and there is disagreement on how much of this material goes back to a single religious founder. While the focus of the Buddha's teachings is about attaining the highest good of ''[[Nirvana (Buddhism)|nirvāṇa]]'', they also contain an analysis of the [[Duḥkha|source of human suffering]] (''duḥkha''), the nature of [[Ātman (Buddhism)|personal identity]] (''ātman''), and the process of acquiring [[Dhyana in Buddhism|knowledge]] (''[[Prajñā (Buddhism)|prajña]]'') about the world.<ref name="Bartley 2015"/>

===The Middle Way===
{{Main|Middle Way}}

The Buddha defined his teaching as "[[Middle Way|the Middle Way]]" ([[Pali language|Pāli]]: ''majjhimāpaṭipadā''). In the ''[[Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta|Dharmacakrapravartana Sūtra]]'', this is used to refer to the fact that his teachings steer a middle course between the extremes of [[asceticism]] and bodily denial (as practiced by the [[Jains]] and other Indian ascetic groups) and sensual [[hedonism]] or indulgence. Many ''[[Śramaṇa]]'' ascetics of the Buddha's time placed much emphasis on a denial of the body, using practices such as [[fasting]], to liberate the mind from the body. [[Gautama Buddha]], however, realized that the mind was embodied and causally dependent on the body, and therefore that a malnourished body did not allow the mind to be trained and developed.<ref>Panjvani, Cyrus; Buddhism: A Philosophical Approach (2013), [https://archive.org/details/buddhismphilosophicalapproachcyruspanjvani_997_M/page/n45/mode/2up p. 29]</ref> Thus, Buddhism's main concern is not with luxury or poverty, but instead with the human response to circumstances.<ref>Swearer, Donald K. Ethics, wealth, and salvation: A study in Buddhist social ethics. Edited by Russell F. Sizemore. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1990. (from the introduction)</ref>

Another related teaching of the historical Buddha is "the teaching through the middle" (''majjhena dhammaṃ desana''), which claims to be a metaphysical middle path between the extremes of [[Sassatavada|eternalism]] and [[Eternal oblivion|annihilationism]], as well as the extremes of existence and non-existence.<ref name=":02">Wallis, Glenn (2007) ''Basic Teachings of the Buddha: A New Translation and Compilation, With a Guide to Reading the Texts,'' p. 114.</ref><ref name=":2">See: ''[[Kaccānagotta Sutta]]'' SN 12.15 (SN ii 16), translated by [[Bhikkhu Sujato]]</ref> This idea would become central to later Buddhist metaphysics, as all Buddhist philosophies would claim to steer a metaphysical middle course.

===Basic teachings===
{{Main|Pre-sectarian Buddhism}}
{{Further|Early Buddhist schools|Early Buddhist texts}}

Apart from the middle way, certain basic teachings appear in many places throughout these [[early Buddhist texts]], so older studies by various scholars conclude that the Buddha must at least have taught some of these key teachings:<ref>Mitchell, ''Buddhism'', Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 34 and table of contents</ref>
* The [[Four Noble Truths]], which provide an analysis of [[Duḥkha|the cause of suffering]] (''duḥkha'')
* The [[Noble Eightfold Path]], which illustrate the path to [[Moksha|spiritual liberation]] (''mokṣa'')
* The four ''[[Dhyāna in Buddhism|dhyānas]]'' (meditations)
* The [[three marks of existence]], three characteristics which apply to all phenomena and which are: [[Duḥkha|suffering]] (''duḥkha''), [[Impermanence#Buddhism|impermanence]] (''anicca''), and [[Anattā|non-self]] (''anattā'')
* The [[Skandha|five aggregates of clinging]] (''skandhā''), which provide an analysis of personal identity and physical existence
* [[Pratītyasamutpāda|Dependent origination]] (''pratītyasamutpāda''), a complex doctrine which analyzes the how [[Sentient beings (Buddhism)|living beings]] come to be and how they are conditioned by various psycho-physical processes
* ''[[Karma in Buddhism|Karma]]'' and [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]], actions which lead to a new existence after death, in an [[Saṃsāra (Buddhism)|endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth]] (''saṃsāra'')
* ''[[Nirvana (Buddhism)|Nirvāṇa]]'', the ultimate soteriological goal which leads to the cessation of all suffering

According to N. Ross Reat, all of these doctrines are shared by the [[Pāli Canon]] of [[Theravada|Theravāda Buddhism]] and the ''[[Salistamba Sutra|Śālistamba Sūtra]]'' belonging to the [[Mahāsāṃghika]] school.<ref>Reat, Noble Ross. ''"The Historical Buddha and his Teachings"''. In: Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophy. Ed. by Potter, Karl H. Vol. VII: Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 AD. Motilal Banarsidass, 1996, pp. 28, 33, 37, 41, 43, 48.</ref> A recent study by Bhikkhu Analayo concludes that the Theravādin ''[[Majjhima Nikāya]]'' and the Sarvāstivādin ''[[Madhyama Agama|Madhyama Āgama]]'' contain mostly the same major Buddhist doctrines.<ref>Analayo (2011). ''A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya.'' Dharma Drum Academic Publisher. p. 891.</ref> [[Richard G. Salomon (professor of Asian studies)|Richard G. Salomon]], in his study of the [[Gandhāran Buddhist texts]] (which are the earliest manuscripts containing discourses attributed to Gautama Buddha), has confirmed that their teachings are "consistent with non-Mahayana Buddhism, which survives today in the Theravada school of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, but which in ancient times was represented by eighteen separate schools."<ref>Salomon, Richard (20 January 2020). "How the Gandharan Manuscripts Change Buddhist History". lionsroar.com. Retrieved 21 January 2020.</ref>

However, some scholars such as [[Lambert Schmithausen|Schmithausen]], [[Tilmann|Vetter]], and [[Johannes Bronkhorst|Bronkhorst]] argue that critical analysis reveals discrepancies among these various doctrines. They present alternative possibilities for what was taught in [[Pre-sectarian Buddhism|earliest Buddhism]] and question the authenticity of certain teachings and doctrines. For example, some scholars think that the doctrine of ''[[Karma in Buddhism|karma]]'' was not central to the teachings of the historical Buddha, while others disagree with this position.<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Bronkhorst
| first = Johannes
| date = 1998
| title = Did the Buddha Believe in Karma and Rebirth?
| url = https://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Did_the_Buddha_Believe_in_Karma.pdf
| journal = Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies
| volume = 21
| issue = 1
| pages = 1-19
}}
</ref> Likewise, there is scholarly disagreement on whether [[Prajña|insight into the true nature of reality]] (''prajña'') was seen as liberating in earliest Buddhism or whether it was a later addition. according to Vetter and Bronkhorst, ''dhyāna'' constituted the original "liberating practice", while discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|liberation]] was a later development.{{sfn|Vetter|1988|pp=xxi–xxii}}{{sfn|Bronkhorst|1993}} Scholars such as Bronkhorst and Carol Anderson also think that the [[Four Noble Truths]] may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism but as Anderson writes "emerged as a central teaching in a slightly later period that still preceded the final redactions of the various Buddhist canons."{{sfn|Bronkhorst|1993|p=107}}{{sfn|Anderson|1999|p=21}}

According to some scholars, the philosophical outlook of earliest Buddhism was primarily negative, in the sense that it focused on what doctrines to ''reject'' and let go of more than on what doctrines to ''accept''.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|See for example Thanissaro Bhikkhu's commentary on the Mulapariyaya Sutta, [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.001.than.html].}} [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|Only knowledge that is useful in attaining liberation]] is valued. According to this theory, the cycle of philosophical upheavals that in part drove the diversification of Buddhism into its many schools and sects only began once Buddhists began attempting to make explicit the implicit philosophy of the Buddha and the early texts.

===The Four Noble Truths and dependent causation===
{{Main|Four Noble Truths}}
{{Further|Pratītyasamutpāda|Three marks of existence}}

The [[Four Noble Truths]] or "Truths of the Noble One" are a central feature to the teachings of the historical Buddha and are put forth in the ''[[Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta|Dharmacakrapravartana Sūtra]]''. The first truth of ''[[duḥkha]]'', often translated as "suffering", is the inherent and eternal unsatisfactoriness of life. This unpleasantness is said to be not just physical pain and psychological distress, but also a kind of existential unease caused by the inevitable facts of our mortality and ultimately by the [[Impermanence#Buddhism|impermanence of all beings and phenomena]].<ref>Siderits, Mark. Buddhism as philosophy, 2007, p. 21</ref>

Suffering also arises because of contact with unpleasant events, and due to not getting what one desires. The second truth is that this unease arises out of conditions, mainly [[Taṇhā|craving]] (''taṇhā'') and [[Avidyā (Buddhism)|ignorance]] (''avidyā''). The third truth is then the fact that whenever [[Sentient beings (Buddhism)|sentient beings]] let go of craving and remove ignorance through insight and knowledge, [[Nirodha|suffering ceases]] (''nirodhā''). The fourth truth is the [[Noble Eightfold Path]], which consists of eight practices that end suffering. They are: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right [[mindfulness]], and right ''[[Samadhi#Buddhism|samādhi]]'' (concentration, mental unification, meditation). The highest good and ultimate goal taught by the historical Buddha, which is the attainment of ''[[Nirvana (Buddhism)|nirvāṇa]]'', literally means "extinguishing" and signified "the complete extinguishing of greed, hatred, and delusion (i.e. [[Avidyā (Buddhism)|ignorance]]), the forces which power ''[[saṃsāra]]''".<ref name="Williams, Paul 2011, page 48">Williams, Paul; Tribe, Anthony; Wynne, Alexander; Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition, 2011, p. 48.</ref>

''[[Nirvana (Buddhism)|Nirvāṇa]]'' also means that after an [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|enlightened being]]'s death, there is no further rebirth. In [[Pre-sectarian Buddhism|earliest Buddhism]], the concept of [[Pratītyasamutpāda|dependent origination]] (''pratītya-samutpāda'') was most likely limited to processes of mental conditioning and not to all physical phenomena.<ref>Shulman, Eviatar. "Early meanings of dependent-origination." Journal of Indian Philosophy 36, no. 2 (2008): pp. 297–317.</ref> Gautama Buddha understood the world in procedural terms, not in terms of things or substances.<ref>Gunnar Skirbekk, Nils Gilje, ''A history of Western thought: from ancient Greece to the twentieth century.'' 7th edition published by Routledge, 2001, p. 26.</ref> His theory posits a flux of events arising under certain conditions which are interconnected and dependent, such that the processes in question at no time are considered to be static or independent. [[Taṇhā|Craving]] (''taṇhā''), for example, is always dependent on, and caused by sensations gained by the [[Āyatana|sense organs]] (''āyatana''). Sensations are always dependent on contact with our surroundings. Buddha's causal theory is simply descriptive: "This existing, that exists; this arising, that arises; this not existing, that does not exist; this ceasing, that ceases." This understanding of causation as "impersonal lawlike causal ordering" is important because it shows how the processes that give rise to suffering work, and also how they can be reversed.<ref name="Williams, Paul 2011, page 48" />

The removal of suffering that stemmed from [[Avidyā (Buddhism)|ignorance]] (''avidyā''), then, requires a [[Prajña|deep understanding of the nature of reality]] (''prajña''). While philosophical analysis of arguments and concepts is clearly necessary to develop this understanding, it is not enough to remove our unskillful mental habits and deeply ingrained prejudices, which require [[Buddhist meditation|meditation]], paired with understanding.<ref>Siderits, Mark. Buddhism as philosophy, 2007, p. 25</ref> According to the Buddha's teachings as recorded in the [[Gandhāran Buddhist texts]], we need to train the mind in meditation to be able to truly comprehend the nature of reality, which is said to have the [[Three marks of existence]]: suffering, impermanence, and [[Anattā|non-self]] (''anātman''). Understanding and meditation are said to work together to [[Vipassana|clearly see]] (''vipassanā'') the nature of human experience and this is said to lead to liberation.

===Non-self===
{{PancaKhandha}}
{{main|Anattā}}
{{further|Self-concept}}

[[Gautama Buddha]] argued that [[Anattā|compounded entities]] and [[Sentient beings (Buddhism)|sentient beings]] lacked essence, correspondingly [[Self-concept|the self]] is without essence (''anātman'').<ref name="Siderits 2015">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Siderits |first=Mark |date=Spring 2015 |title=Buddha: Non-Self |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2015/entries/buddha/ |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |editor-link=Edward N. Zalta |encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |publisher=The Metaphysics Research Lab, [[Center for the Study of Language and Information]], [[Stanford University]] |issn=1095-5054 |oclc=643092515 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427183712/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2015/entries/buddha/ |archive-date=27 April 2023 |access-date=24 June 2023 |quote=The [[Middle Way|Buddha's "middle path" strategy]] can be seen as one of first arguing that there is nothing that the word "[[Self-concept|I]]" genuinely denotes, and then explaining that our erroneous sense of an "I" stems from our employment of the useful fiction represented by the concept of the person. While the second part of this strategy only receives its full articulation in the later development of the [[Two truths doctrine|theory of two truths]], the first part can be found in the Buddha's own teachings, in the form of several [[Anattā|philosophical arguments for non-self]]. Best known among these is the [[Impermanence#Buddhism|argument from impermanence]] (S III.66–8) [...].<br /> It is the fact that this argument does not contain a premise explicitly asserting that the [[Skandha|five ''skandhas'']] (classes of psychophysical element) are exhaustive of the constituents of persons, plus the fact that these are all said to be empirically observable, that leads some to claim that the Buddha did not intend to deny the existence of a self ''tout court''. There is, however, evidence that the Buddha was generally hostile toward attempts to establish the existence of unobservable entities. In the ''[[Dīgha Nikāya|Poṭṭhapāda Sutta]]'' (D I.178–203), for instance, the Buddha compares someone who posits an unseen seer in order to explain our introspective awareness of cognitions, to a man who has conceived a longing for the most beautiful woman in the world based solely on the thought that such a woman must surely exist. And in the ''[[Dīgha Nikāya|Tevijja Sutta]]'' (D I.235–52), the Buddha rejects the claim of certain [[Brahmins]] to know the path to oneness with [[Brahman]], on the grounds that no one has actually observed this Brahman. This makes more plausible the assumption that the argument has as an implicit premise the claim that there is no more to the person than the five ''skandhas''.}}</ref> This means there is no part of a person which is unchanging and essential for continuity, and it means that there is no individual "part of the person that accounts for the identity of that person over time".<ref name="Siderits, Mark 2007, page 33">Siderits, Mark. Buddhism as philosophy, 2007, p. 33</ref> This is in opposition to the [[Upanishads|Upanishadic concept]] of an unchanging [[Ātman (Hinduism)|ultimate self]] (''ātman'') and any view of an eternal [[soul]]. The Buddha held that attachment to the appearance of a permanent self in this world of change is [[Duḥkha|the cause of suffering]] (''duḥkha''), and the main obstacle to the attainment of [[Moksha|spiritual liberation]] (''mokṣa'').

The most widely used argument that the Buddha employed against the idea of an unchanging ego is an [[Empiricism|empiricist]] one, based on the observation of the [[Skandha|five aggregates of existence]] (''skandhā'') that constitute a sentient being, and the fact that these are always changing.<ref name="Siderits 2015"/> This argument can be put in this way:<ref name="Siderits 2015"/>

# All [[Skandha|psycho-physical processes]] (''skandhā'') are impermanent.
# If there were a self it would be permanent.
::IP [There is no more to the person than the [[Skandha|five aggregates of existence]].] 
::∴ There is [[Anattā|no self]].<ref name="Siderits 2015"/>

This argument requires the implied premise that the five aggregates are an exhaustive account of what makes up a person, or else the self could exist outside of these aggregates.<ref name="Siderits, Mark 2007, page 33"/> This premise is affirmed in other [[Buddhist texts]], such as ''[[Saṃyutta Nikāya]]'' 22.47, which states: "whatever ascetics and brahmins regard various kinds of things as self, all regard the five grasping aggregates, or one of them."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://suttacentral.net/sn22.47/en/sujato|title=SN 22.47 – SuttaCentral|last=Bhikku|first=Sujato|year=2018|website=SuttaCentral|access-date=10 February 2019}}</ref>

This argument is famously expounded in the ''[[Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta|Anātmalakṣaṇa Sūtra]]''. According to this text, the apparently fixed self is merely the result of identification with the [[Skandhas|temporary aggregates of existence]] (''skandhā''), the changing processes making up an individual human being. In this view, a 'person' is only a convenient nominal designation on a certain grouping of processes and characteristics, and an 'individual' is a conceptual construction overlaid upon a stream of experiences, just like a [[chariot]] is merely a conventional designation for the parts of a chariot and how they are put together. The foundation of this argument is purely [[Empiricism|empiricist]], for it is based on the fact that all we observe is subject to change, especially everything observed when looking inwardly in meditation.<ref>Panjvani, Cyrus; Buddhism: A Philosophical Approach (2013), p. 131.</ref>

Another argument supporting the doctrine of [[Anattā|non-self]], the "argument from lack of control",<ref>Cyrus Panjvani, Buddhism: A Philosophical Approach, p. 123.</ref> is based on the fact that we often seek to change certain parts of ourselves, that the "executive function" of the mind is that which finds certain things unsatisfactory and attempts to alter them. Furthermore, it is also based on the "anti-reflexivity principle" of [[Indian philosophy]], which states an entity cannot operate on or control itself (a knife can cut other things but not itself, a finger can point at other things but not at itself, etc.). This means then, that the self could never desire to change itself and could not do so; another reason for this is that, besides Buddhism, in the [[Āstika and nāstika|orthodox schools]] of [[Hindu philosophy]] the unchanging [[Ātman (Hinduism)|ultimate self]] (''ātman'') is perfectly blissful and does not suffer.<ref name="Leeming 2014">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Leeming |first=David A. |author-link=David Adams Leeming |year=2014 |title=Brahman |editor-last=Leeming |editor-first=David A. |editor-link=David Adams Leeming |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion |page=197 |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Springer Verlag]] |location=[[Boston]] |doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_9052 |isbn=978-1-4614-6087-9 |quote=For [[Hindus]], especially those in the [[Advaita Vedanta]] tradition, [[Brahman]] is the undifferentiated reality underlying all existence. Brahman is the eternal first cause present everywhere and nowhere, beyond time and space, the indefinable [[Absolute (philosophy)|Absolute]]. The gods are incarnations of Brahman. It can be said that everything that is Brahman. And it can be argued that Brahman is a [[Monotheism|monotheistic concept]] or at least a [[Monism|monistic]] one, since all gods – presumably of any tradition – are manifestations of Brahman, real only because Brahman exists.}}</ref><ref name="Dissanayake 1993">{{cite book |author-last=Dissanayake |author-first=Wimal |year=1993 |chapter=The Body in Indian Theory and Practice |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lBYz5jgA4-8C&pg=PA39 |editor1-last=Kasulis |editor1-first=Thomas P. |editor2-last=Ames |editor2-first=Roger T. |editor3-last=Dissanayake |editor3-first=Wimal |title=Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice |location=[[Albany, New York]] |publisher=[[SUNY Press]] |series=SUNY Series: The Body in Culture, History, and Religion |page=39 |isbn=0-7914-1079-X |oclc=24174772 |quote=The [[Upanishads]] form the foundations of [[Hindu philosophy|Hindu philosophical thought]], and the central theme of the Upanishads is the identity of [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Atman]] and [[Brahman]], or the inner self and the cosmic self. [...] If we adhere to the thought that the Brahman is the cosmic principle governing the universe and Atman as its physical correlate, the essence of Upanishadic thought can be succinctly stated in the formula Brahman = Atman.}}</ref> The historical Buddha used this idea to attack the concept of self. This argument could be structured thus:<ref name="Siderits 2015"/>

# If the self existed it would be the part of the person that performs the executive function, the "controller."
# The self could never desire that it be changed (anti-reflexivity principle).
# Each of the five kinds of [[Skandha|psycho-physical processes]] (''skandhā'') is such that one can desire that it be changed.
::IP [There is no more to the person than the [[Skandha|five aggregates of existence]].]
::∴ There is [[Anattā|no self]].<ref name="Siderits 2015"/>

This argument then denies that there is one permanent "controller" in the person. Instead, it views the person as a set of [[Three marks of existence|constantly changing processes which include volitional events]] seeking change and an awareness of that desire for change. According to Mark Siderits:

{{blockquote|text=What the Buddhist has in mind is that on one occasion one part of the person might perform the executive function, on another occasion another part might do so. This would make it possible for every part to be subject to control without there being any part that always fills the role of the controller (and so is the self). On some occasions, a given part might fall on the controller side, while on other occasions it might fall on the side of the controlled. This would explain how it's possible for us to seek to change any of the skandhas while there is nothing more to us than just those skandhas.<ref>Siderits, Mark. Buddhism as philosophy, 2007, p. 48.</ref>}}

As noted by K.R. Norman and Richard Gombrich, the Buddha extended his [[Anattā|non-self]] critique to the Brahmanical belief expounded in the ''[[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]'' that the unchanging [[Ātman (Hinduism)|ultimate self]] (''ātman'') was indeed the whole world, or identical with [[Brahman]].<ref name="Leeming 2014"/><ref name="Dissanayake 1993"/><ref name="ReferenceC">Gombrich; Recovering the Buddha's Message © The Buddhist Forum, Vol I, Seminar Papers 1987–1988</ref><ref>Norman, KR; A note on Attā in the Alagaddupama Sutta – 1981</ref> This concept is illustrated in the ''Alagaddupama Sūtra'', where the Buddha argues that an individual cannot experience the suffering of the entire world. He used the example of someone carrying off and burning grass and sticks from the Jeta grove and how a monk would not sense or consider themselves harmed by that action. In this example, the Buddha is arguing that we do not have direct experience of the entire world, and hence the self cannot be the whole world.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|MN 22, Alagaddupama Sutta, "Bhikkhus, what do you think? If people carried off the grass, sticks, branches, and leaves in this Jeta Grove, or burned them, or did what they liked with them, would you think: 'People are carrying us off or burning us or doing what they like with us'?"{{snd}}"No, venerable sir. Why not? Because that is neither our self nor what belongs to our self." [https://suttacentral.net/en/mn22/69-70].}} In this Buddhist text, as well as in the ''Soattā Sūtra'', the Buddha outlines [[View (Buddhism)|six wrong views]] about self:

{{blockquote|text=There are six wrong views: An unwise, untrained person may think of the body, 'This is mine, this is me, this is my self'; he may think that of feelings; of perceptions; of volitions; or of what has been seen, heard, thought, cognized, reached, sought or considered by the mind. The sixth is to identify the world and self, to believe: 'At death, I shall become permanent, eternal, unchanging, and so remain forever the same; and that is mine, that is me, that is my self.' A wise and well-trained person sees that all these positions are wrong, and so he is not worried about something that does not exist.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>}}

Furthermore, Gautama Buddha argued that the world can be observed to be a cause of suffering ([[Brahman]] was held to be ultimately blissful in the [[Āstika and nāstika|orthodox schools]] of [[Hindu philosophy]]) and that since we cannot control the world as we wish, the world cannot be the self. The idea that "this cosmos is the self" is one of the [[View (Buddhism)|six wrong views]] rejected by the historical Buddha,<ref>Thanissaro Bhikkhu [trans], MN 22 PTS: M i 130 Alagaddupama Sutta: The Water-Snake Simile, 2004, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.022.than.html</ref> along with the related [[Monism|monistic]] [[God in Hinduism|Hindu theology]] which held that "everything is a Oneness" (SN 12.48 ''Lokayatika Sutta'').<ref name="Leeming 2014"/><ref name="Dissanayake 1993"/><ref>Thanissaro Bhikkhu [trans], SN 12.48 PTS: S ii 77 CDB i 584 Lokayatika Sutta: The Cosmologist, 1999; http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.048.than.html</ref> The historical Buddha also held that understanding and seeing the truth of non-self led to un-attachment, and hence to the cessation of suffering, while [[Avidyā (Buddhism)|ignorance]] (''avidyā'') about the [[Prajña|true nature of personality]] (''prajña'') led to further suffering and attachment.

===Epistemology===
{{main|Buddhist logico-epistemology}}

All schools of [[Indian philosophy]] recognize [[Pramana|various sets of valid justifications for knowledge]] (''pramāṇa'') and many see the [[Vedas]] as providing access to truth. The historical Buddha [[Āstika and nāstika|denied the authority of the Vedas]], though, like his contemporaries, he affirmed the soteriological importance of holding the [[Noble Eightfold Path#Right view|right view]]; that is, having a proper understanding of reality.<ref>Bodhi; The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, p. 117; AN 1.307 "Bhikkhus, I do not see even a single thing on account of which unarisen wholesome qualities arise and arisen wholesome qualities increase and expand so much as right view."</ref> However, this understanding was not conceived primarily as metaphysical and cosmological knowledge, but as a piece of knowledge into the arising and cessation of suffering in human experience.<ref>Emmanuel, Steven M (editor); A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, 2013, p. 223.</ref> Therefore, the Buddha's epistemic project is different from that of [[modern philosophy]]; it is primarily a solution to the fundamental human spiritual/existential problem.

[[Gautama Buddha]]'s [[Buddhist logico-epistemology|logico-epistemology]] has been compared to [[empiricism]], in the sense that it was based on the experience of the world through [[the senses]].<ref>{{Cite book
| editor-last = Emmanuel
| editor-first = Steven M.
| title = A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy
| year = 2013
| pages = 224
| publisher = Wiley-Blackwell
| isbn = 978-0-470-65877-2
| series = Blackwell Companions to Philosophy
| url = https://www.wiley.com/en-us/A%2BCompanion%2Bto%2BBuddhist%2BPhilosophy-p-9780470658772
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
| last = Jayatilleke
| first = K. N.
| title = Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge
| year = 1963
| publisher = George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
| url = https://archive.org/download/EarlyBuddhistTheoryOfKnowledge/Early%20Buddhist%20Theory%20of%20Knowledge.pdf
}}</ref> The Buddha taught that [[Āyatana|empirical observation through the six sense fields]] (''āyatanā'') was the proper way of verifying any knowledge claims. Some [[Buddhist texts]] go further, stating that "the All", or everything that exists (''sabbam''), are these six sense spheres (SN 35.23, ''Sabba Sutta'')<ref>D. J. Kalupahana, A Buddhist tract on empiricism, https://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/kk3n/80-300/kalupahana1969.pdf</ref> and that anyone who attempts to describe another "All" will be unable to do so because "it lies beyond range".<ref>SN 35.23 PTS: S iv 15 CDB ii 1140 Sabba Sutta: The All, translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu © 2001, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn35/sn35.023.than.html</ref> This text seems to indicate that for the Buddha, things in themselves or [[noumena]] are beyond our epistemological reach (''avisaya'').<ref>Hamilton, Sue. 2000. Early Buddhism: a New Approach: the I of the Beholder. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon</ref>{{opinion|date=January 2019}}

Furthermore, in the ''[[Kesamutti Sutta|Kālāma Sutta]]'' the Buddha tells a group of confused villagers that the only proper reason for one's beliefs is verification in one's own personal experience (and the experience of the wise) and denies any verification which stems from a personal authority, sacred tradition (''anussava''), or any kind of [[rationalism]] which constructs metaphysical theories (''takka'').<ref>Jayatilleke, K. N.; Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, pp. 177, 206.</ref> In the ''[[Buddhist paths to liberation#Tevijja Sutta|Tevijja Sutta]]'' (DN 13), the Buddha rejects the personal authority of [[Brahmins]] because none of them can prove they have had personal experience of [[Brahman]], nor could any of them prove its existence.<ref name="Siderits 2015"/> The Buddha also stressed that experience is the only criterion for verification of the truth in this passage from the ''[[Majjhima Nikāya]]'' (MN.I.265):

::"Monks, do you only speak that which is known by yourselves seen by yourselves, found by yourselves?" 
::"Yes, we do, sir." 
::"Good, monks, That is how you have been instructed by me in this timeless doctrine which can be realized and verified, that leads to the goal and can be understood by those who are intelligent."

Furthermore, the Buddha's standard for personal verification was a [[Pragmatism|pragmatic]] and [[Buddhist soteriology|salvific]] one, for the Buddha a belief counts as truth only if it leads to successful Buddhist practice (and hence, to the destruction of craving). In the "Discourse to Prince Abhaya" (MN.I.392–4) the Buddha states this pragmatic maxim by saying that a belief should only be accepted if it leads to wholesome consequences.<ref>Emmanuel, Steven M (editor); A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, 2013, p. 228.</ref> This tendency of the Buddha to see what is true as what was useful or "what works" has been called by Western scholars such as [[Caroline Augusta Foley Rhys Davids|Mrs Rhys Davids]] and [[Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin|Vallée-Poussin]] a form of [[pragmatism]].<ref>Jayatilleke, K. N.; Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, p. 356.</ref><ref>Poussin; Bouddhisme, Third Edition, Paris, 1925, p. 129</ref> However, [[K. N. Jayatilleke]] argues the Buddha's epistemology can also be taken to be a form of [[correspondence theory]] (as per the ''Apannaka Sutta'') with elements of [[coherentism]],<ref>Jayatilleke, K. N.; Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, pp. 352–353.</ref> and that for the Buddha it is causally impossible for something which is false to lead to cessation of suffering and evil.

[[Gautama Buddha]] discouraged [[List of Buddhists#Buddha's disciples and early Buddhists|his disciples and early followers of Buddhism]] from indulging in intellectual disputation for its own sake, which is fruitless, and distracts one from the ultimate goals of [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|awakening]] (''bodhi'') and [[Moksha|liberation]] (''mokṣa''). Only philosophy and discussion which has pragmatic value for liberation from suffering is seen as important. According to the [[Pāli Canon]], during his lifetime the Buddha remained silent when asked several [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]] [[The unanswerable questions|questions]] which he regarded as the basis for "unwise reflection". These "unanswered questions" (''avyākṛta'') regarded issues such as [[Cosmology|whether the universe is eternal or non-eternal]] (or whether it is finite or infinite), the unity or separation of the body and [[Atman (Buddhism)|the self]] (''ātman''), the complete inexistence of a person after death and ''[[Nirvana (Buddhism)|nirvāṇa]]'', and others. In the ''[[Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta]]'', the historical Buddha stated that thinking about these imponderable issues led to "a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views".

One explanation for this pragmatic suspension of judgment or epistemic [[Epoché]] is that such questions contribute nothing to the practical methods of realizing [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|awakeness]] during one's lifetime<ref>[[Majjhima Nikaya|MN]] 72 [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.072.than.html (Thanissaro, 1997)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206153554/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.072.than.html|date=6 February 2015}}. For further discussion of the context in which these statements were made, see [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn44/sn44.intro.than.html Thanissaro (2004)].</ref> and bring about the danger of substituting the experience of liberation by a conceptual understanding of the doctrine or by religious faith. According to the Buddha, the ''[[Dharma]]'' is not an ultimate end in itself or an explanation of all metaphysical reality, but a pragmatic set of teachings. The Buddha used two parables to clarify this point, the 'Parable of the raft' and the [[Parable of the Poisoned Arrow]].<ref>Jayatilleke, K. N.; Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, p. 357.</ref> The ''Dharma'' is like a raft in the sense that it is only a pragmatic tool for attaining nirvana ("for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of holding onto", MN 22); once one has done this, one can discard the raft. It is also like medicine, in that the particulars of how one was [[Parable of the Poisoned Arrow|injured by a poisoned arrow]] (i.e. metaphysics, etc.) do not matter in the act of removing and curing the arrow wound itself (removing suffering). In this sense, the Buddha was often called "the great physician" because his goal was to cure the human condition of suffering first and foremost, not to speculate about metaphysics.<ref>Williams, Paul; Tribe, Anthony; Wynne, Alexander; Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition, 2011, p. 36.</ref>

Having said this, it is still clear that resisting and even refuting a false or slanted doctrine can be useful to extricate the interlocutor, or oneself, from error; hence, to advance in the way of liberation. Witness the Buddha's confutation of several doctrines by Nigantha Nataputta and other purported sages which sometimes had large followings (e.g., Kula Sutta, Sankha Sutta, Brahmana Sutta). This shows that a virtuous and appropriate use of dialectics can take place. By implication, reasoning and argument shouldn't be disparaged by Buddhists.

After the Buddha's death, some Buddhists such as [[Dharmakirti]] went on to use the sayings of the Buddha as sound evidence equal to perception and inference.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|The [[Theravada|Theravāda]] commentary, ascribed to [[Dhammapala]], on the ''[[Nettipakarana|Nettipakaraṇa]]'', says (Pāli ''pamāṇa'' is equivalent to Sanskrit ''pramāṇa''): "''na hi pāḷito aññaṃ pamāṇataraṃ atthi'' (quoted in [[Pāli Text Society]] edition of the Nettipakaraṇa, 1902, p. xi) which Nanamoli translates as: "for there is no other criterion beyond a text" (''The Guide'', Pāli Text Society, 1962, p. xi).}}

===Transcendence===
Another possible reason why the Buddha refused to engage in [[metaphysics]] is that he saw ultimate reality and nirvana as devoid of sensory mediation and conception and therefore language itself is ''[[A priori and a posteriori|a priori]]'' inadequate to explain it.<ref name="Nagao">Gadjin M. Nagao, ''Madhyamika and Yogacara''. Leslie S. Kawamura, translator, SUNY Press, Albany 1991, pp. 40–41.</ref> Thus, the Buddha's silence does not indicate [[misology]] or disdain for philosophy. Rather, it indicates that he viewed the answers to these questions as not understandable by the unenlightened.<ref name="Nagao"/> [[Pratītyasamutpāda|Dependent arising]] provides a framework for analysis of reality that is not based on metaphysical assumptions regarding existence or non-existence, but instead on direct cognition of phenomena as they are presented to the mind in meditation.

The Buddha of the earliest Buddhists texts describes Dharma (in the sense of "truth") as "beyond reasoning" or "transcending logic", in the sense that reasoning is a subjectively introduced aspect of the way unenlightened humans perceive things, and the conceptual framework which underpins their cognitive process, rather than a feature of things as they really are. Going "beyond reasoning" means in this context penetrating the nature of reasoning from the inside, and removing the causes for experiencing any future stress as a result of it, rather than functioning outside the system as a whole.<ref>Sue Hamilton, ''Early Buddhism''. Routledge, 2000, p. 135.</ref>

===Meta-ethics===
{{main|Buddhist ethics}}

The Buddha's ethics are based on the [[soteriological]] need to eliminate suffering and on the premise of the law of [[karma]]. Buddhist ethics have been termed eudaimonic (with their goal being well-being) and also compared to [[virtue ethics]] (this approach began with Damien Keown).<ref>Damien Keown, The Nature of Buddhist Ethics, 1992.</ref> Keown writes that Buddhist [[Nirvana]] is analogous to the Aristotelian [[Eudaimonia]], and that Buddhist moral acts and virtues derive their value from how they lead us to or act as an aspect of the nirvanic life.

The Buddha outlined [[five precepts]] (no killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, or drinking alcohol) which were to be followed by his disciples, lay and monastic. There are various reasons the Buddha gave as to why someone should be ethical.

First, the universe is structured in such a way that if someone intentionally commits a misdeed, a bad karmic fruit will be the result. Hence, from a pragmatic point of view, it is best to abstain from these negative actions which bring forth negative results. However, the important word here is ''intentionally'': for the Buddha, karma is nothing else but intention/volition, and hence unintentionally harming someone does not create bad karmic results. Unlike the [[Jains]] who believed that karma was a quasi-physical element, for the Buddha karma was a volitional mental event, what Richard Gombrich calls "an ethicised consciousness".<ref>{{Cite book
| last1 = Williams
| first1 = Paul
| last2 = Tribe
| first2 = Anthony
| last3 = Wynne
| first3 = Alexander
| title = Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition
| year = 2011
| pages = 72–74
| publisher = Routledge
| isbn = 9780415571791
| edition = 2nd
| url = https://www.routledge.com/Buddhist-Thought-A-Complete-Introduction-to-the-Indian-Tradition/Williams-Tribe-Wynne/p/book/9780415571791
}}</ref>

This idea leads into the second moral justification of the Buddha: intentionally performing negative actions reinforces and propagates mental defilements which keep persons bound to the cycle of rebirth and interfere with the process of liberation, and hence intentionally performing good karmic actions is participating in mental purification which leads to [[Nirvana (Buddhism)|nirvana]], the highest happiness. This perspective sees immoral acts as unskillful (''akusala'') in our quest for happiness, and hence it is pragmatic to do good.<ref>Harvey, Peter. ''[https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/9281 An analysis of factors related to the kusala/akusala quality of actions in the Pāli tradition.]'' JIABS 33/1-2 2010[2011]

</ref>

The third meta-ethical consideration takes the view of not-self and our natural desire to end our suffering to its logical conclusion. Since there is no self, there is no reason to prefer our own welfare over that of others because there is no ultimate grounding for the differentiation of "my" suffering and someone else's. Instead, an enlightened person would just work to end suffering ''tout court'', without thinking of the conventional concept of persons.{{sfn|Siderits|2007|pp=82}} According to this argument, anyone who is selfish does so out of ignorance of the true nature of personal identity and irrationality.

==Buddhist schools and Abhidharma==
{{main|Abhidharma}}

The main Indian Buddhist philosophical schools practiced a form of analysis termed ''[[Abhidharma]]'' which sought to systematize the teachings of the early Buddhist discourses (sutras). Abhidharma analysis broke down human experience into momentary phenomenal events or occurrences called "''[[Abhidharma#Dharma theory|dharmas]]''". Dharmas are impermanent and dependent on other causal factors, they arise and pass as part of a web of other interconnected dharmas, and are never found alone. The Abhidharma schools held that the teachings of the Buddha in the sutras were merely conventional, while the Abhidharma analysis was ultimate truth (paramattha sacca), the way things really are when seen by an enlightened being. The Abhidharmic project has been likened as a form of [[Phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenology]] or [[process philosophy]].<ref name="Nyanaponika page 35">Nyanaponika, Abhidhamma studies, p. 35</ref><ref>Ronkin, Noa; Early Buddhist metaphysics</ref>

Abhidharma philosophers not only outlined what they believed to be an exhaustive listing of ''dharmas'' (Pali: dhammas), which are the ultimate phenomena, events or processes (and include physical and mental phenomena), but also the causal relations between them. In the Abhidharmic analysis, the only thing which is ultimately real is the interplay of dharmas in a causal stream; everything else is merely conceptual (''paññatti'') and nominal.<ref name=":1" />

This view has been termed "[[Mereology|mereological]] reductionism" by Mark Siderits because it holds that only impartite entities are real, not wholes.<ref>Siderits, Mark; Buddhism as philosophy, p. 105</ref> Abhidharmikas such as Vasubandhu argued that conventional things (tables, persons, etc.) "disappear under analysis" and that this analysis reveals only a causal stream of phenomenal events and their relations. The mainstream Abhidharmikas defended this view against their main Hindu rivals, the [[Nyaya]] school, who were [[Substance theory|substance]] theorists and posited the existence of [[Universal (metaphysics)|universals]].<ref name=":1">Siderits, Mark; Buddhism as philosophy, pp. 117-118</ref> Some Abhidharmikas such as the [[Prajñaptivāda]] were also strict [[nominalists]], and held that all things - even dharmas - were merely conceptual.

===The Abhidharma schools===
[[File:Nava Jetavana Temple - Shravasti - 014 King Asoka at the Third Council (9241725897).jpg|thumb|Indian Emperor [[Asoka|Aśoka]] and the elder [[Moggaliputta-Tissa]], who is seen as a key thinker of the [[Vibhajyavāda]] tradition (and thus, of [[Theravada]]).]]

An important Abhidhamma work from the [[Theravāda]] school is the ''[[Kathāvatthu]]'' ("Points of controversy"), attributed to the Indian scholar-monk [[Moggaliputta-Tissa]] ({{circa|327}}–247 BCE). This text is important because it attempts to refute several philosophical views which had developed after the death of the Buddha, especially the theory that 'all exists' (''sarvāstivāda''), the theory of momentariness (''khāṇavāda'') and the personalist view (''[[pudgalavada]]'').<ref name="Kalupahana, David page 128">Kalupahana, David; A history of Buddhist philosophy, continuities and discontinuities, p. 128.</ref> These were the major philosophical theories that divided the Buddhist Abhidharma schools in India.

After being brought to [[Sri Lanka]] in the first century BCE, the [[Pali|Pali language]] [[Theravāda Abhidhamma|Theravada Abhidhamma]] tradition was heavily influenced by the works of [[Buddhaghosa]] (4-5th century AD), the most important philosopher and commentator of the [[Theravada]] school. The Theravada philosophical enterprise was mostly carried out in the genre of [[Atthakatha]] (commentaries) as well as [[Subcommentaries, Theravada|sub-commentaries]] (tikas) on the classic Pali Abhidhamma texts. Abhidhamma study also included smaller doctrinal summaries and compendiums, like the ''[[Abhidhammattha-sangaha|Abhidhammattha-saṅgaha]]'' (The Compendium of Things contained in the Abhidhamma).

The [[Sarvastivada|Sarvāstivāda]]-Vaibhāṣika (sometimes just "[[Vaibhāṣika]]") was one of the major Buddhist philosophical schools in India, and they were so named because of their belief that dharmas exist in all three times: past, present and future. Though the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma system began as a mere categorization of mental events, their philosophers and exegetes such as [[Dharmatrāta|Dharmatrata]] and Katyāyāniputra, the compiler of the ''[[Mahavibhasa|Mahāvibhāṣa]]'' ("Great Commentary"), eventually refined this system into a robust [[Philosophical realism|realism]], which also included a type of [[essentialism]] or [[substance theory]]. This realism was based on the nature of dharmas, which was called [[svabhava]] ("self-nature" or "intrinsic existence").<ref name="Kalupahana, David page 128" /> Svabhava is a sort of [[essence]], though it is not a completely independent essence, since all dharmas were said to be causally dependent. The Sarvāstivāda system extended this realism across time, effectively positing a type of [[Eternalism (philosophy of time)|eternalism]] with regards to time; hence, the name of their school means "the view that everything exists".<ref name="Kalupahana, David page 128" /> Vaibhāṣika remained an influential school in North India during the medieval period. Perhaps the most influential figure in this tradition was the great scholar [[Saṃghabhadra]].<ref>KL Dhammajoti. ''The Contribution of Saṃghabhadra to Our Understanding of Abhidharma Doctrines,'' in Bart Dessein and Weijen Teng (ed) "Text, History, and Philosophy Abhidharma across Buddhist Scholastic Traditions."</ref> Another key figure was [[Śubhagupta]] (720–780), who was a Vaibhāṣika thinker within the epistemological (pramana) tradition.<ref name="Nakamura, Hajime 1987 pp. 298">Nakamura, Hajime (1987). Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 298–311.</ref>

Other Buddhist schools such as the [[Prajñaptivāda]] ("the nominalists"), as well as the [[Caitika]] Mahāsāṃghikas refused to accept the concept of [[svabhava]].<ref>Shì hùifēng, "Dependent Origination=Emptiness"—Nāgārjuna's Innovation? An Examination of the Early and Mainstream Sectarian Textual Sources</ref> Thus, not all Abhidharma sources defend svabhava. For example, the main topic of the ''[[Tattvasiddhi]] Śāstra'' by Harivarman (3-4th century CE), an influential Abhidharma text, is the emptiness ([[shunyata]]) of dharmas.<ref>Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. pp. 91-92</ref> Indeed, this anti-essentialist nominalism was widespread among the [[Mahāsāṃghika]] sects. Another important feature of the Mahāsāṃghika tradition was its unique theory of consciousness. Many of the Mahāsāṃghika sub-schools defended a theory of self-awareness (''[[svasaṃvedana]]'') which held that consciousness can be simultaneously aware of itself as well as its intentional object.<ref>Yao, Zhihua (2005). ''The Buddhist Theory of Self-Cognition,'' p. 15.</ref> Some of these schools also held that the mind's nature (''cittasvabhāva'') is fundamentally pure (''mulavisuddha''), but it can be contaminated by adventitious defilements.<ref name=":22">Skorupski, Tadeusz. “Consciousness and Luminosity in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism.” In ''Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation Practice: Academic Papers Presented at the 2nd IABU Conference Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Main Campus Wang Noi, Ayutthaya, Thailand, 31 May–2 June 2012'''''.'''</ref>

[[File:Buddhaghosa_with_three_copies_of_Visuddhimagga.jpg|thumbnail|[[Buddhaghosa]] (c. 5th century), the most important Abhidharma scholar of [[Theravāda]] Buddhism, presenting three copies of the [[Visuddhimagga]].<ref>Kalupahana, David; A history of Buddhist philosophy, continuities and discontinuities, p. 206.</ref>]]

The Theravādins and other schools, such as the [[Sautrantika|Sautrāntikas]] ("those who follow the [[sutra]]s"), often attacked the theories of the Sarvāstivādins, especially their theory of time. A major figure in this argument was the scholar [[Vasubandhu]], a Sarvāstivādin monk himself (who was also influenced by the critiques of the [[Sautrāntika|Sautrantika]] school), who critiqued the theory of all exists and argued for [[philosophical presentism]] in his comprehensive treatise, the ''[[Abhidharmakosa|Abhidharmakośa]].'' This work is the major Abhidharma text used in Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism today. The Theravāda also holds that dharmas only exist in the present, and are thus also [[Philosophical presentism|presentists]].<ref name="Williams, Paul 2011, page 124">Williams, Paul; Tribe, Anthony; Wynne, Alexander; Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition, 2011, p. 124.</ref>

The Theravāda presentation of Abhidharma is also not as concerned with [[ontology]] as the Sarvāstivāda view, but is more of a phenomenological schema.<ref name="Nyanaponika page 35" /> Hence the concept of svabhava (Pali: sabhava) for the Theravādins is more of a certain characteristic or dependent feature of a dharma, than any sort of essence or metaphysical grounding. As the Sinhalese scholar [[Y Karunadasa|Y. Karunadasa]] writes, the Pali tradition only postulates sabhava "for the sake of definition and description." However, ultimately each dhamma (particular phenomenon) is not a singular independent existence. Thus, Karunadasa rejects the view that Theravada Abhidhamma defends an [[Pluralism (philosophy)|ontological pluralism]] (but it is also not [[monism]] either, since there is no single underlying ground of all things or metaphysical substratum). Instead they are merely processes that happen "due to the interplay of a multitude of conditions."<ref>{{cite book |last=Karunadasa |first=Y. |title=The Dhamma Theory : philosophical cornerstone of the Abhidhamma |year=1996 |location=Kandy, Sri Lanka |publisher=Buddhist Publication Society |page=9}}</ref> Karunadasa also describes the Theravada system as a "critical realism" which sees the ultimate existents as the myriad irreducible dhammas, and which also accepts the existence of an external world with entities that truly exist independently of cognition (as opposed to Mahayana forms of idealism).<ref>{{cite book |last=Karunadasa |first=Y. |title=The Dhamma Theory : philosophical cornerstone of the Abhidhamma |year=1996 |location=Kandy, Sri Lanka |publisher=Buddhist Publication Society |pages=38–39}}</ref><ref>Y. Karunadasa, The Theravada Abhidhamma, 2016, pages 42, 49</ref>

Another important theory held by some Sarvāstivādins, Theravādins and Sautrāntikas was the theory of "momentariness" (Skt., kṣāṇavāda, Pali, khāṇavāda). This theory held that dhammas only last for a minute moment (''ksana'') after they arise. The Sarvāstivādins saw these 'moments' in an atomistic way, as the smallest length of time possible (they also developed a material atomism). Reconciling this theory with their eternalism regarding time was a major philosophical project of the [[Sarvāstivāda]].<ref>Ronkin, Noa, "Abhidharma", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL=<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2014/entries/abhidharma/>.</ref> The Theravādins initially rejected this theory, as evidenced by the Khaṇikakathā of the [[Kathavatthu]] which attempts to refute the doctrine that "all phenomena (dhamma) are as momentary as a single mental entity."<ref>Von Rospatt, Alexander; The Buddhist Doctrine of Momentariness: A Survey of the Origins and Early Phase of This Doctrine up to Vasubandhu, p. 18.</ref> However, momentariness with regards to mental dhammas (but not physical or [[rūpa]] dhammas) was later adopted by the Sri Lankan Theravādins, and it is possible that it was first introduced by the scholar [[Buddhagosa]].<ref>Von Rospatt, Alexander; The Buddhist Doctrine of Momentariness: A Survey of the Origins and Early Phase of This Doctrine up to Vasubandhu, p. 36.</ref>

All Abhidharma schools also developed complex theories of causation and conditionality to explain how dharmas interacted with each other. Another major philosophical project of the Abhidharma schools was the explanation of [[perception]]. Some schools such as the Sarvastivadins explained perception as a type of phenomenalist realism while others such as the Sautrantikas preferred [[representationalism]] and held that we only perceive objects indirectly.<ref>Ronkin, Noa, "Abhidharma", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL=<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2014/entries/abhidharma/></ref> The major argument used for this view by the Sautrāntikas was the "time-lag argument." According to Mark Siderits: "The basic idea behind the argument is that since there is always a tiny gap between when the sense comes in contact with the external object and when there is sensory awareness, what we are aware of can't be the external object that the senses were in contact with, since it no longer exists."<ref>{{cite book|last=Siderits|first= Mark|title= Buddhism As Philosophy|page= 132|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YzhCEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA132|publisher = Hackett Publishing|date= 2021|isbn = 9781624669835}}</ref> This is related to the theory of extreme momentariness.

One major philosophical view which was rejected by all the schools mentioned above was the view held by the [[Pudgalavadin]] or 'personalist' schools. They seemed to have held that there was a sort of 'personhood' in some ultimately real sense which was not reducible to the five aggregates.<ref name="Williams, Paul 2011, page 124"/> This controversial claim was in contrast to the other Buddhists of the time who held that a personality was a mere conceptual construction (prajñapti) and only conventionally real.

==Indian Mahāyāna philosophy==
{{main|Mahāyāna}}

From about the 1st century BCE, a new textual tradition began to arise in Indian Buddhist thought called [[Mahāyāna]] (Great Vehicle), which would slowly come to dominate Indian Buddhist philosophy. During the [[Medieval India|medieval period of Indian history]], Buddhist philosophy thrived in large monastery complexes such as [[Nalanda]], [[Vikramasila]], and [[Valabhi University|Vallabhi]]. These institutions became major centers of philosophical learning in North India (where both Buddhist and also non-Buddhist thought was studied and debated). Mahāyāna philosophers continued the philosophical projects of Abhidharma, while at the same time critiquing them and introducing many new concepts and ideas. Since the Mahāyāna held to the [[Pragmatism|pragmatic concept of truth]] which states that doctrines are regarded as conditionally "true" in the sense of being spiritually beneficial, these new theories and practices were seen as 'skillful means' ([[upaya]]).<ref>Williams, ''Mahayana Buddhism'', Routledge, 1989, p. 2</ref>

The Mahayana also promoted the [[bodhisattva]] ideal, which included an attitude of compassion for all sentient beings. The Bodhisattva is someone who chooses to remain in ''[[Saṃsāra|samsara]]'' (the cycle of birth and death) to benefit all other beings who are suffering.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gyatso |first1=Kelsang |title=The bodhisattva vow : a practical guide to helping others |url=https://archive.org/details/bodhisattvavowpr0000kels |website=Internet Archive |publisher=Glen Spey, NY : Tharpa Publications |access-date=August 13, 2024 |date=2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bodhisattvas |url=https://library.brown.edu/cds/BuddhistTempleArt/TibetanArt6.html#:~:text=A%20Bodhisattva%20is%20one%20who,all%20other%20beings%20achieve%20enlightenment. |website=Brown University Library |access-date=August 13, 2024}}</ref>

Major Mahayana philosophical schools and traditions include the [[Prajnaparamita|Prajñaparamita]], [[Madhyamaka]], [[Yogacara|Yogācāra]], [[Tathagatagarbha]], the epistemological school of Dignaga, and in China the [[Huayan school|Huayan]], [[Tiantai]] and [[Zen]] schools.

=== Prajñāpāramitā and Madhyamaka ===
{{main|Prajñāpāramitā|Madhyamaka}}
[[File:Diamond Sutra of 868 AD - The Diamond Sutra (868), frontispiece and text - BL Or. 8210-P.2.jpg|thumb|The world's earliest printed book is a Chinese translation of the ''Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra'' ([[Diamond Sutra|Vajra Cutter Sutra]]) from [[Dunhuang]] (circa 868 CE).]]

[[File:Nagardjuna.jpg|thumb|Nagarjuna, protected by the [[Nāga|Nagas]] snake spirits who are said to be the guardians of the Prajnaparamita sutras.]]

The earliest [[Prajnaparamita|Prajñāpāramitā-sutras]] ("perfection of insight" sutras) (circa 1st century BCE) emphasize the [[shunyata]] (emptiness) of ''all'' phenomena. It is thus a radical global [[nominalism]] and [[anti-essentialism]], which sees all things as illusions and all of reality as a dreamlike appearance without any fundamental essence.<ref name="Conze, Edward 1953 PP.117-129">Conze, Edward; The Ontology of the Prajnaparamita, Philosophy East and West Vol.3 (1953) PP.117-129, University of Hawaii Press</ref> The Prajñāpāramitā is said to be a transcendent spiritual [[knowledge]] of the nature of ultimate reality, which empty of any [[essence]] or foundation, like a universal [[mirage]].

Thus, the ''[[Diamond Sutra]]'' (''Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra'') states: 
{{blockquote|All conditioned phenomena<br/>
 Are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow,<br/>
 Like dew or a flash of lightning;<br/>
 Thus we shall perceive them".<ref name="chungtai">{{cite web|title=The Diamond of Perfect Wisdom Sutra|url=http://ctzen.org/sunnyvale/enUS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=141&Itemid=57|publisher=Chung Tai Translation Committee|access-date=16 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430223200/http://ctzen.org/sunnyvale/enUS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=141&Itemid=57|archive-date=30 April 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

The ''[[Heart Sutra]]'' famously affirms the emptiness (shunyata) of all phenomena:
<blockquote>Oh, Sariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, and emptiness does not differ from form.<br/>Form is emptiness and emptiness is form; the same is true for feelings, perceptions, volitions and consciousness.</blockquote>The Prajñāpāramitā sources also note that this applies to every single phenomenon, even [[Buddhahood]].<ref>Brunnholzl, Karl; Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras The Ornament Of Clear Realization And Its Commentaries In The Tibetan Kagyu Tradition (Tsadra) 2011, p. 28.</ref> The goal of the Buddhist aspirant in the Prajñāpāramitā texts is to awaken to the perfection of wisdom ("prajñāpāramitā"), a non-conceptual transcendent wisdom that knows the emptiness of all things while not being attached to anything (including the very idea of emptiness itself or perfect wisdom).<ref>Brunnholzl, Karl; Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras The Ornament Of Clear Realization And Its Commentaries In The Tibetan Kagyu Tradition (Tsadra) 2011, page 30.</ref><ref name="Conze, Edward 1953 PP.117-129"/>

The Prajñāpāramitā teachings are associated with the work of the Buddhist philosopher [[Nagarjuna|Nāgārjuna]] ({{circa|150}} – {{circa|250 CE}}) and the [[Madhyamaka]] (Middle way, or "Centrism") school. Nāgārjuna was one of the most influential Indian Mahayana thinkers. He gave the classical arguments for the empty nature of all dharmas and attacked the [[essences|essentialism]] found in various Abhidharma schools (and also in Hindu philosophy) in his magnum opus, ''[[Mulamadhyamakakarika|The Root Verses on the Middle Way]]'' (''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'').<ref>Randall Collins, ''The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change.'' Harvard University Press, 2000, pp. 221–222.</ref> In the ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'', Nagarjuna relies on [[reductio ad absurdum]] arguments to refute various theories which assume [[svabhava]] (an inherent [[essence]] or "own being"), [[dravya]] (substances) or any theory of existence ([[bhava]]). In this work, he covers topics such as [[Causation (law)|causation]], motion, and the sense faculties.<ref>Siderits, Mark; Buddhism as philosophy, p. 183</ref>

Nāgārjuna asserted a direct connection between, even identity of, dependent origination, non-self (''[[anatta]]''), and emptiness (''[[śūnyatā]]''). He pointed out that implicit in the early Buddhist concept of dependent origination is the lack of anatta (substantial being) underlying the participants in origination, so that they have no independent existence, a state identified as śūnyatā (i.e., emptiness of a nature or essence (''[[svabhāva]] sunyam'').

Later philosophers of the Madhyamaka school built upon Nāgārjuna's analysis and defended Madhyamaka against their opponents. These included [[Āryadeva]] (3rd century CE), Nāgārjuna's pupil; [[Candrakīrti]] (600–{{circa|650}}), who wrote an important commentary on the ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā''; and [[Shantideva]] (8th century), who is the key Mahayana ethicist.

The commentator [[Buddhapālita]] (c. 470–550) has been understood as the originator of the 'prāsaṅgika' approach which is based on critiquing essentialism ''only'' through reductio arguments. He was criticized by [[Bhāvaviveka]] ({{circa|500}} – {{circa|578}}), who argued for the use of properly logical [[syllogism]]s to positively argue for emptiness (instead of just refuting the theories of others). These two approaches were later termed the [[Svatantrika–Prasaṅgika distinction|prāsaṅgika and the svātantrika]] approaches to Madhyamaka by Tibetan philosophers and commentators.

Influenced by the work of [[Dignaga]], Bhāvaviveka's Madhyamika philosophy makes use of Buddhist epistemology. Candrakīrti, on the other hand, critiqued Bhāvaviveka's adoption of the epistemological (''[[pramana]]'') tradition on the grounds that it contained subtle essentialism. He quotes Nagarjuna's famous statement in the ''Vigrahavyavartani'' which says "I have no thesis" for his rejection of positive epistemic Madhyamaka statements.<ref>Garfield, Jay; Edelglass, William; The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy, p. 213</ref> Candrakīrti held that a true Madhyamika could only use "consequence" (''prasanga''), in which one points out the inconsistencies of their opponent's position without asserting an "autonomous inference" (''svatantra''), for no such inference can be ultimately true from the point of view of Madhyamaka.

In China, the Madhyamaka school (known as [[East Asian Mādhyamaka|Sānlùn]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Āryadeva |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0065.xml |website=Oxford Bibliographies |access-date=August 24, 2024 |date=April 24, 2012}}</ref> was founded by [[Kumārajīva]] (344–413 CE), who translated the works of Nagarjuna to Chinese. Other Chinese Madhymakas include [[Kumārajīva]] 's pupil [[Sengzhao]], [[Jizang]] (549–623), who wrote over 50 works on Madhyamaka, and [[Hyegwan]], a Korean monk who brought Madhyamaka teachings to Japan.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Green |first1=Ronald S. |last2=Mun |first2=Chanju |title=Korean Contributions to Japanese Buddhism |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004370456/B9789004370456_004.xml#:~:text=In%20625%2C%20Goguryeo%20monk%20Hyegwan,)%20from%20Jizang%20(549623). |website=Brill |access-date=August 24, 2024 |date=January 1, 2018|pages=36–52 |doi=10.1163/9789004370456_004 |isbn=978-90-04-37045-6 }}</ref><ref>Bunyiu Nanjio (1886). [https://archive.org/stream/shorthistoryoftw00nanjrich#page/46/mode/2up A short history of the twelve Japanese Buddhist sects], Tokyo: Bukkyo-sho-ei-yaku-shupan-sha;  p. 46</ref>

===Yogācāra===
{{main|Yogācāra}}
[[File:Seshin Vasubandhu Kofukuji.jpg|thumbnail|[[Vasubandhu]] wrote in defense of Vijñapti-matra (appearance only) as well as writing a massive work on [[Abhidharma]], the [[Abhidharmakosa]].]]

The [[Yogācāra|Yogācāra school]] (''Yoga practice'') was a Buddhist philosophical tradition which arose in between the 2nd century CE and the 4th century CE and is associated with the philosophers and brothers [[Asanga]] and [[Vasubandhu]] and with various sutras such as the ''[[Sandhinirmocana Sutra]]'' and the ''[[Lankavatara Sutra]]''.<ref name="Siderits, Mark pp 147">Siderits, Mark; Buddhism as philosophy, p. 147</ref> The central feature of Yogācāra thought is the concept of ''vijñapti-mātra'', often translated as "impressions only" or "appearance only". This has been interpreted as a form of [[Idealism]] or as a form of [[Phenomenology (philosophy)|Phenomenology]]. Other names for the Yogācāra school are 'vijñanavada' (the doctrine of consciousness) and 'cittamatra' (mind-only).<ref name="Siderits, Mark pp 147"/>

Yogācāra thinkers like Vasubandhu argued against the existence of external objects by pointing out that we only ever have access to our own mental impressions, and hence our inference of the existence of external objects is based on faulty logic. Vasubandhu's ''[[Triṃśikā-vijñaptimātratā]] (The Proof that There Are Only Impressions in Thirty Verses''), begins thus:
<blockquote>I. This [world] is nothing but impressions, since it manifests itself as an unreal object, 
Just like the case of those with cataracts seeing unreal hairs in the moon and the like.<ref name="Siderits, Mark pp 149">Siderits, Mark; Buddhism as philosophy, p. 149</ref></blockquote>

According to [[Vasubandhu]] then, all our experiences are like seeing hairs on the moon when we have cataracts, that is, we project our mental images into something "out there" when there are no such things. Vasubandhu then goes on to use the [[dream argument]] to argue that mental impressions do not require external objects to (1) seem to be spatio-temporally located, (2) to seem to have an inter-subjective quality, and (3) to seem to operate by causal laws.<ref name="Siderits, Mark pp 149"/> The fact that purely mental events can have causal efficacy and be [[Intersubjectivity|intersubjective]] is proved by the event of a [[wet dream]] and by the mass or shared [[hallucinations]] created by the karma of certain types of beings.<ref>Siderits, Mark; Buddhism as philosophy, p. 156</ref> After having argued that impressions-only is a theory that can explain our everyday experience, Vasubandhu then appeals to [[wikt:Parsimony|parsimony]] - since we do not need the concept of external objects to explain reality, then we can do away with those superfluous concepts altogether as they are most likely just mentally superimposed on our concepts of reality by the mind.<ref name="Siderits, Mark pp 158">Siderits, Mark; Buddhism as philosophy, p. 158</ref> Yogācārins like Vasubandhu also attacked the realist theories of [[Buddhist atomism]] and the Abhidharma theory of [[svabhava]]. He argued that atoms, as conceived by the atomists (un-divisible entities), would not be able to come together to form larger aggregate entities, and hence that they were illogical concepts.<ref name="Siderits, Mark pp 158" />

Inter-subjective reality for Vasubandhu is then the causal interaction between various [[Mindstream|mental streams]] and their [[karma]], and does not include any external physical objects. The soteriological importance of this theory is that, by removing the concept of an external world, it also weakens the 'internal' sense of self as an observer which is supposed to be separate from the external world. To dissolve the dualism of inner and outer is also to dissolve the sense of self and other. The later Yogacara commentator [[Sthiramati]] explains this thus:<blockquote>There is a grasper if there is something to be grasped, but not in the absence of what is to be grasped. Where there is nothing to be grasped, the absence of a grasper also follows, there is not just the absence of the thing to be grasped. Thus there arises the extra-mundane non-conceptual cognition that is alike without object and without cognizer.<ref>Siderits, Mark; Buddhism as philosophy, p. 176</ref></blockquote>

Apart from its defense of an idealistic metaphysics and its attacks on realism, Yogācāra sources also developed a new theory of mind, based on the [[Eight Consciousnesses]], which includes the innovative doctrine of the subliminal storehouse consciousness (Skt: ālayavijñāna).<ref>Williams, Paul (2008). ''Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations'', Routledge, p. 97.</ref>

Yogācāra thinkers also developed a positive account of ultimate reality based on three basic modes or "natures" (svabhāva). This metaphysical doctrine is central to their view of the ultimate and to their understanding of the doctrine of emptiness (śūnyatā).<ref>Siderits, Mark, ''Buddhism as philosophy'', 2017, p. 176.</ref>

=== The Dignāga-Dharmakīrti tradition ===
[[File:Dignaga.jpg|180x240px|thumbnail|Statue of Dignāga in formal debating stance]]
{{main|Buddhist_logico-epistemology#The_Dignāga-Dharmakīrti_tradition}}

[[Dignāga]] ({{circa|480}}–540) and [[Dharmakīrti]] (c. 6-7th century) were Buddhist philosophers who developed a system of epistemology ([[pramana]]) and [[Buddhist logic|logic]] in their debates with the Brahminical philosophers in order to defend Buddhist doctrine. This tradition is called "those who follow reasoning" ([[Tibetic languages|Tibetan]]: ''rigs pa rjes su 'brang ba''); in modern literature, it is sometimes known by the Sanskrit "''pramāṇavāda''", or "the Epistemological School."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tillemans |first1=Tom |date=19 August 2011 |title=Tillemans, Tom, "Dharmakīrti", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) |chapter=Dharmakīrti |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |chapter-url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/dharmakiirti/}}</ref> They were associated with the [[Yogacara]] and [[Sautrantika]] schools, and defended theories held by both of these schools.<ref>Siderits, Mark, Buddhism as philosophy, pp. 208-209</ref>

Dignāga's influence was profound and led to an "epistemological turn" among all Buddhists and also all Sanskrit language philosophers in India after his death. In the centuries following Dignāga's work, Sanskrit philosophers became much more focused on defending all of their propositions with fully developed [[theories of knowledge]].<ref>Lawrence J. McCrea, and Parimal G. Patil. Buddhist Philosophy of Language in India: Jnanasrimitra on Exclusion. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. p. 5.</ref>

The "School of Dignāga" includes later philosophers and commentators like Santabhadra, [[Dharmottara]] (8th century), [[Prajñakaragupta]] (740–800 C.E.), [[Jñanasrimitra]] (975–1025), [[Ratnakīrti]] (11th century) and [[Śaṅkaranandana]] (fl. c. 9th or 10th century).<ref>Tillemans, Tom J.F. (2011). "Buddhist Epistemology (pramāṇavāda)". In Edelglass, William; Garfield, Jay L. (eds.). Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy. pp. 233–44.</ref><ref name="Nakamura, Hajime 1987 pp. 298"/> The [[epistemology]] they developed defends the view that there are only two 'instruments of knowledge' or 'valid cognitions' (''pramana''): "perception" ([[Pramana#Hinduism|''pratyaksa'']]) and "inference" (''[[anumāṇa]]''). Perception is a non-conceptual awareness of particulars which is bound by causality, while inference is reasonable, linguistic and conceptual.<ref name="tillemanssep">Tom Tillemans (2011), [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dharmakiirti/ Dharmakirti], Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</ref>

These Buddhist philosophers argued in favor of the theory of momentariness, the Yogācāra "awareness only" view, the reality of particulars (''svalakṣaṇa''), [[atomism]], [[nominalism]] and the self-reflexive nature of consciousness (''[[svasaṃvedana]]''). They attacked [[Hindus|Hindu]] theories of God ([[Ishvara|Isvara]]), [[Universal (metaphysics)|universals]], the authority of the [[Vedas]], and the existence of a permanent soul (''atman'').

=== Later Yogācāra developments ===
After the time of Asanga and Vasubandhu, the Yogācāra school developed in different directions. One branch focused on epistemology (this would become the school of Dignaga). Another branch focused on expanding the Yogācāra's metaphysics and philosophy.<ref name=":3">Lusthaus, Dan (2018). ''[http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/articles/intro.html What is and isn't Yogacara.]''</ref> This latter tradition includes figures like [[Dharmapala of Nalanda]], [[Sthiramati]], [[Chandragomin]] (who was known to have debated the Madhyamaka thinker Candrakirti), and [[Śīlabhadra]] (a top scholar at [[Nalanda mahavihara|Nalanda]]). Yogācārins such as [[Paramartha]] and [[Guṇabhadra]] brought the school to China and translated Yogacara works there, where it is known as [[East Asian Yogācāra|Wéishí-zōng or Fǎxiàng-zōng]]. An important contribution to East Asian Yogācāra is [[Xuanzang]]'s ''[[Cheng Weishi Lun]]'', or "Discourse on the Establishment of Consciousness Only".

A later development is the rise of a [[Syncretism|syncretic tradition]] of Yogācāra-tathāgatagarbha thought. This group adopted the doctrine of ''tathāgatagarbha'' (the buddha-womb, buddha-source, or "buddha-within") found in various ''[[Tathāgatagarbha sūtras|tathāgatagarbha sutras]].''<ref name=":12">Lusthaus, Dan, What is and isn't Yogacara, http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/articles/intro.html</ref> This hybrid school eventually went on to equate the ''tathāgatagarbha'' with the pure aspect of the storehouse consciousness. Some key sources of this school are the ''[[Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra]]'', ''[[Ratnagotravibhāga]]'' (''Uttaratantra''), and in China, the influential ''[[Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana|Mahayana Awakening of Faith]] treatise.<ref name=":3" />'' One key figure of this tradition was [[Paramartha|Paramārtha]], an Indian monk who was an important translator in China. He promoted a new theory that said there was a "stainless consciousness" (''amala-vijñāna,'' a pure wisdom within all beings), which he equated with the buddha-nature (tathāgatagarbha).<ref>Lusthaus, Dan, ''Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogacara Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih Lun,'' Routledge, 2014, p. 274.</ref> This synthetic tradition also became important in later Indian Buddhism, where the ''[[Ratnagotravibhāga]]'' became the key text.<ref>Brunnholzl, Karl'', When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra,'' Shambhala Publications, 2015, p. 118.</ref>
[[File:Vikramashila_University.jpg|thumb|Site of Vikramaśīla university ([[Bhagalpur district]], [[Bihar]]), an important center for late Indian Yogacara. Great panditas like Jñānaśrīmitra and Ratnākaraśānti were 'gate-scholars' in this university.]]
Another later development was the synthesis of Yogācāra with Madhyamaka. [[Jñānagarbha]] (8th century) and his student [[Śāntarakṣita]] (725–788) brought together Yogacara, Madhyamaka and the Dignaga school of epistemology into a philosophical synthesis known as the ''Yogācāra-Svatantrika-Mādhyamika''. Śāntarakṣita was also instrumental in the introduction of Buddhism and the Sarvastivadin monastic ordination lineage to Tibet, which was conducted at Samye. [[Śāntarakṣita]]'s disciples included [[Haribhadra (Buddhist philosopher)|Haribhadra]] and [[Kamalaśīla]]. This philosophical tradition is influential in Tibetan Buddhist thought.

Perhaps the most important debate among late Yogācāra philosophers was the debate between alikākāravāda ([[Tibetic languages|Tib.]] ''rnam rdzun pa'', False Aspectarians, also known as Nirākāravāda) and Satyākāravāda (''rnam bden pa'', True Aspectarians, also known as sākāravāda). The crux of the debate was the question of whether mental appearances, images or “aspects” (''ākāra'') are true (''satya'') or false (''alika'').<ref>Komarovski, Yaroslav'', Visions of Unity: The Golden Paṇḍita Shakya Chokden’s New Interpretation of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka''. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2011, p. 8.</ref> The Satyākāravāda camp, defended by scholars like [[Prajñakaragupta]] (ca. 8th–9th century), and [[Jñanasrimitra|Jñānaśrīmitra]] (ca. 980–1040), held that images in consciousness have a real existence, since they arise from a real consciousness. Meanwhile, Alikākāravāda defenders like [[Sthiramati]] and [[Ratnākaraśānti]] (ca. 970–1045) argued that mental appearances do not really exist, and are false (alīka) or illusory. For these thinkers, the only thing which is real is a pure self-aware consciousness which is contentless (nirākāra, “without images”).<ref>Komarovski, Yaroslav'', Visions of Unity: The Golden Paṇḍita Shakya Chokden’s New Interpretation of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka''. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2011, p. 73-74.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tomlinson |first=Davey |date=2022 |title=Limiting the Scope of the Neither-One-Nor-Many Argument: The Nirākāravādin's Defense of Consciousness and Pleasure |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/5/article/854947 |journal=Philosophy East and West |volume=73 |issue=2 |pages=392–419 |doi=10.1353/pew.0.0235 |issn=1529-1898}}</ref>

=== Buddha-nature thought ===
{{Main|Tathagatagarbha}}
{{Further|Buddhahood|Enlightenment in Buddhism}}

The ''[[Tathagatagarbha|tathāgathagarbha sutras]]'', in a departure from mainstream Buddhist language, insist that there is a real potential for awakening is inherent to every sentient being. They marked a shift from a largely [[Apophatic theology|apophatic]] (negative) method within Buddhism to a decidedly more [[cataphatic]] (positive) mode. The main topic of this genre of literature is the ''tathāgata-garbha,'' which can mean the womb or embryo of a [[Tathāgata]] (i.e. a Buddha) and is what allows someone to become a Buddha.<ref>King, Sallie B. (1991), ''Buddha Nature'', p. 4. SUNY Press</ref> Another similar term used for this idea is ''buddhadhātu'' ([[buddha-nature]] or source of the Buddhas).

Prior to the period of these scriptures, Mahāyāna [[metaphysics]] had been dominated by teachings on [[emptiness]]. The language used by this approach is primarily negative, and the buddha-nature literature can be seen as an attempt to state orthodox Buddhist teachings of [[dependent origination]] using positive language instead, to prevent people from being turned away from Buddhism by a false impression of nihilism. In these sutras, the perfection of the wisdom of not-self is stated to be the true self ([[Ātman (Buddhism)|atman]]). The word "self" (''atman'') is used in a way idiosyncratic to these sutras; the "true self" is described as the perfection of the wisdom of [[anatta|not-self]] in the ''Buddha-Nature Treatise'' (''Fóxìng lùn'', 佛性論, T. 1610) of [[Paramartha|Paramārtha]], for example.<ref name="nanzan-u.ac.jp" /> The ultimate goal of the path is then characterized using a range of positive language that had been used previously in Indian philosophy by essentialist philosophers, but which was now adapted to describe the positive realities of Buddhahood.<ref name="nanzan-u.ac.jp" />

Perhaps the most influential source in the Indian tradition for this teaching is the ''[[Ratnagotravibhāga]]'' (5th century CE). This [[Shastra|śāstra]] brought together all the major themes of the tathāgatagārbha theory into a single treatise. The ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' sees the tathāgatagarbha as being an inherent nature in all things which is omnipresent, all-pervasive, non-conceptual, free of suffering and inherently blissful.<ref>Wayman, Alex; Wayman, Hideko (1990). ''The Lion's roar of Queen Srimala'', p. 46. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.</ref> It also describes buddha nature as “the intrinsically stainless nature of the mind” (''cittaprakṛtivaimalya'').<ref>Jones, C.V. (2020). ''The Buddhist Self: On Tathāgatagarbha and Ātman'', p. 162. University of Hawaii Press.</ref> Indeed, in many later Indian sources, the ''tathāgathagarbha'' teachings also come to be identified with the similar doctrine of the [[luminous mind]] (prabhasvara-citta). This ancient idea holds that the mind is inherently pure, and that defilements are only adventitious. In the ''[[Ratnagotravibhāga]]'', this originally pure (prakṛtipariśuddha) nature (i.e. the fully purified buddha-nature) is further described through numerous terms such as: unconditioned (asaṃskṛta), unborn (ajāta), unarisen ([[Anutpada|anutpanna]]), eternal (nitya), changeless (dhruva), and permanent (śāśvata).<ref name=":13">Michael Radich, "Tathāgatagarbha Scriptures." In ''Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Volume One: Literature and Languages'', edited by Jonathan Silk, Oskar von Hinüber, and Vincent Eltschinger, 261-273. Leiden: Brill, 2015.</ref>

According to some scholars, ''tathāgatagarbha'' does not represent a substantial self; rather, it is a positive language expression of [[sunyata|emptiness]] and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices. In this interpretation, the intention of the teaching of ''tathāgatagarbha'' is [[soteriology|soteriological]] rather than metaphysical.<ref name="nanzan-u.ac.jp">Sallie B. King (1997),[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927131119/http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/nlarc/pdf/Pruning%20the%20bodhi%20tree/Pruning%209.pdf ''The Doctrine of Buddha Nature is Impeccably Buddhist'']. In: Jamie Hubbard (ed.), Pruning the Bodhi Tree: The Storm Over Critical Buddhism, Univ of Hawaii Press 1997, pp. 174–192. {{ISBN|0-8248-1949-7}}</ref><ref>Heng-Ching Shih, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130807082256/http://budsas.org/ebud/ebdha191.htm The Significance Of 'Tathagatagarbha' -- A Positive Expression Of 'Sunyata']</ref>

==Vajrayāna Buddhism==
[[File:Abhaya_Kara_Gupta.jpg|thumb|335x335px|[[Abhayakaragupta|Abhayākaragupta]], one of "the last great masters" of Indian Buddhism (Kapstein).<ref>Kapstein, Matthew. ''Reason's Traces Identity and Interpretation in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Thought'', Wisdom Pubs. Boston, page 393</ref>]]
[[Vajrayana|Vajrayāna]] (also Mantrayāna, Sacret Mantra, Tantrayāna and Esoteric Buddhism) is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition associated with a group of texts known as the [[Buddhist Tantras]] which had developed into a major force in India by the eighth century. By this time Indian [[Tantra|Tantric]] scholars were developing philosophical defenses, [[hermeneutics]] and explanations of the Buddhist tantric systems, especially through commentaries on key tantras such as the ''[[Guhyasamāja Tantra]]'', ''[[Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sūtra|Mahavairocana sutra]]'', and the ''[[Guhyagarbha Tantra]]''.

While the view of the Vajrayāna was based on the earlier [[Madhyamaka]], [[Yogacara]] and [[Buddha-nature]] theories, it saw itself as being a faster vehicle to liberation containing many skillful methods (''[[upaya]]'') of tantric ritual. The need for an explication and defense of the Tantras arose out of the unusual nature of the rituals associated with them, which included the use of secret [[mantras]], [[Alcoholic drink|alcohol]], [[Karmamudrā|sexual yoga]], complex visualizations of [[mandalas]] filled with [[wrathful deities]] and other practices which were discordant with or at least novel in comparison to traditional Buddhist practice.<ref>Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism, 2013, p. 3.</ref><ref>Snellgrove, David. (1987) Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and their Tibetan successors. p. 125.</ref>

The ''Guhyasamāja Tantra'', for example, states: "you should kill living beings, speak lying words, take things that are not given and have sex with many women".<ref>Damien Keown, Charles S. Prebish (editors) Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Guhyasamaja tantra and Guhyagarbha tantra</ref> Other features of tantra included a focus on the physical body as the means to liberation, and a reaffirmation of [[Femininity|feminine]] elements, feminine deities and a positive view of [[Human sexuality|sexuality]].<ref>Bibhuti Baruah; Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism, pp. 154-162</ref>

The defense of these tantric practices is based on the theory of transformation which states that negative mental factors and physical actions can be cultivated and transformed in a ritual setting. The ''[[Hevajra tantra]]'' states:

<blockquote>Those things by which evil men are bound, others turn into means and gain thereby release from the bonds of existence. By passion the world is bound, by passion too it is released, but by heretical Buddhists, this practice of reversals is not known.<ref>Snellgrove, David. (1987) Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and their Tibetan successors. pp. 125–126.</ref></blockquote>

Another hermeneutic of Buddhist Tantric commentaries such as the ''[[Vimalaprabha]]'' (''Stainless Light'') of Pundarika (a commentary on the [[Kalachakra|''Kalacakra Tantra'']]) is one of interpreting [[taboo]] or unethical statements in the Tantras as [[metaphor]]ical statements about tantric practice and physiology. For example, in the ''Vimalaprabha'', "killing living beings" refers to stopping the [[prana]] at the top of the head. In the Tantric Candrakirti's ''Pradipoddyotana'', a commentary to the ''Guhyasamaja Tantra'', killing living beings is glossed as "making them void" by means of a "special [[samadhi]]" which according to [[Buton Rinchen Drub|Bus-ton]] is associated with [[completion stage]] tantric practice.<ref>Lopez, Donald (editor); Buddhist Hermeneutics, p. 92</ref>

[[Douglas Duckworth]] notes that Vajrayāna philosophical outlook is one of embodiment, which sees the physical and cosmological body as already containing wisdom and divinity. Liberation ([[nirvana]]) and [[Buddhahood]] are not seen as something outside the body, or an event in the future, but as imminently present and accessible right now through unique tantric practices like [[deity yoga]]. Hence, Vajrayāna is also called the "resultant vehicle", that is to say, it is the spiritual vehicle that relies on the immanent nature of the result of practice (liberation), which is already present in all beings.<ref>Duckworth, Douglas; Tibetan Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna in "A companion to Buddhist philosophy", p. 100.</ref> Duckworth names the philosophical view of Vajrayāna as a form of [[pantheism]], by which he means the belief that every existing entity is in some sense divine and that all things express some form of unity.<ref>Duckworth, Douglas; Tibetan Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna in "A companion to Buddhist philosophy", p. 106.</ref>

Major Indian Tantric Buddhist philosophers such as [[Buddhaguhya]], Padmavajra (author of the ''Guhyasiddhi'' commentary), Nagarjuna (the 7th-century disciple of [[Saraha]]), [[Indrabhuti]] (author of the ''Jñānasiddhi''), Anangavajra, Dombiheruka, Durjayacandra, [[Ratnākaraśānti]] and [[Abhayakaragupta]] wrote tantric texts and commentaries systematizing the tradition.<ref>Goodman (ed.), Davidson (ed.); Tibetan Buddhism: Reason and Revelation, p. 109.</ref><ref>Bhattacharyya, Benoytosh; An Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism, p. 66</ref>

Others such as [[Vajrabodhi]] and [[Śubhakarasiṃha]] brought tantra to [[Tang dynasty|Tang China]] (716 to 720), and tantric philosophy continued to be developed in Chinese and Japanese by thinkers such as [[Yi Xing]] (683–727) and [[Kūkai]] (774– 835).

In [[Tibet]], philosophers such as [[Sakya Pandita]] (1182-28–1251), [[Longchenpa]] (1308–1364) and [[Tsongkhapa]] (1357–1419) continued the tradition of Buddhist Tantric philosophy in [[Classical Tibetan]].

==Tibetan Buddhist philosophy==
{{Main|Tibetan Buddhism}}
{{Further|Tibetan Buddhist canon|Tibetan Buddhist practice}}
[[File:Samye Monastery, as viewed from the top of Samye Hepo-ri, a local holy mountain.jpg|thumb|[[Samye]] was the first Buddhist monastery built in [[Tibet]] (c. 775–779).]]

Tibetan Buddhist philosophy is mainly a continuation and refinement of the Indian Mahayana philosophical traditions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tibetan Philosophy |url=https://iep.utm.edu/tibetan/ |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=August 24, 2024}}</ref> The initial efforts of [[Śāntarakṣita]] and [[Kamalaśīla]] brought their eclectic scholarly tradition to Tibet.

The initial work of early Tibetan Buddhist philosophers was in the translation of classical Indian philosophical treatises and the writing of commentaries. This initial period is from the 8th to the 10th century. Early Tibetan commentator-philosophers were heavily influenced by the work of [[Dharmakirti]] and these include [[Ngok Loden Sherab]] (1059–1109) and Chaba Chökyi Senge (1182–1251). Their works are now lost.<ref>Dreyfus, Georges B. J. Recognizing Reality: Dharmakirti's Philosophy and Its Tibetan Interpretations (Suny Series in Buddhist Studies), 1997, p. 22.</ref>

The 12th and 13th centuries saw the translation of the works of [[Chandrakirti]], the promulgation of his views in Tibet by scholars such as [[Patsab Nyima Drakpa]], Kanakavarman and Jayananda (12th century) and the development of the Tibetan debate between the [[prasangika]] and [[svatantrika]] views which continues to this day among Tibetan Buddhist schools.<ref>Garfield, Jay; Edelglass, William (2011). ''The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy'', p. 215, Oxford University Press.</ref><ref>Lopez, Donald (1987). ''A study of Svātantrika'', p. 262</ref>  The main disagreement between these views is the use of reasoned argument. For Śāntarakṣita's school, [[reason]] is useful in establishing arguments that lead one to a correct understanding of emptiness. Then, through the use of meditation, one can reach non-conceptual [[gnosis]] that does not rely on reason. However, Chandrakirti rejects this idea, because meditation on emptiness cannot possibly involve any object. Reason's role for him is purely negative. Reason is used to negate any essentialist view, and then eventually reason must also negate itself, along with any [[conceptual proliferation]] (''prapañca'').<ref name="Garfield, Jay p. 217">Garfield, Jay; Edelglass, William; The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy, p. 217</ref>

Another very influential figure from this early period is [[Mabja Jangchub Tsöndrü]] (d. 1185), who wrote an important commentary on Nagarjuna's ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā''. Mabja was studied under the Dharmakirtian Chaba and also the Candrakirti scholar Patsab. His work shows an attempt to steer a middle course between their views, he affirms the conventional usefulness of pramāṇa epistemology, but also accepts Candrakirti's prasangika views.<ref name=":0"/> Mabja's Madhyamaka scholarship was very influential on later Tibetan Madhyamikas such as [[Longchenpa]], [[Je Tsongkhapa|Tsongkhapa]], [[Gorampa]], and [[Mikyö Dorje, 8th Karmapa Lama|Mikyö Dorje]].<ref name=":0">[http://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-OTHERS/others568019.pdf ''Reason and Experience in Tibetan Buddhism: Mabja Jangchub Tsöndrü and the Traditions of the Middle Way'' Reviewed by Adam C. Krug]. Journal of Buddhist Ethics {{ISSN|1076-9005}} [http://blogs.dickinson.edu/buddhistethics] Volume 22, 2015</ref>

There are various Tibetan Buddhist schools or monastic orders. According to [[Georges Dreyfus|Georges B.J. Dreyfus]], within Tibetan thought, the [[Sakya (Tibetan Buddhist school)|Sakya]] school holds a mostly [[anti-realist]] philosophical position (which sees [[Samvrti|''saṁvṛtisatya'']] / [[Two truths doctrine|conventional truth]] as an illusion), while the [[Gelug]] school tends to defend a form of [[Philosophical realism|realism]] (which accepts that conventional truth is in some sense real and true, yet dependently originated). The [[Kagyu]] and [[Nyingma]] schools also tend to follow Sakya anti-realism (with some differences).<ref name="Dreyfus, Georges B. J 1997, page 2">Dreyfus, Georges B. J. Recognizing Reality: Dharmakirti's Philosophy and Its Tibetan Interpretations (Suny Series in Buddhist Studies), 1997, p. 2.</ref>

===Shentong and Buddha nature===
The 14th century saw increasing interest in the Buddha nature texts and doctrines. This can be seen in the work of the third Kagyu Karmapa [[Rangjung Dorje]] (1284–1339), especially his treatise ''"Profound Inner Meaning"''.<ref name="Garfield, Jay p. 256">Garfield, Jay; Edelglass, William; The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy, p. 256</ref> This treatise describes ultimate nature or [[suchness]] as Buddha nature which is the basis for nirvana and samsara, radiant in nature and empty in essence, surpassing thought.<ref name="Garfield, Jay p. 256"/>

One of the most important theoriests of buddha-nature in Tibet was the scholar-yogi [[Dolpopa|Dölpopa Shérap Gyeltsen]] (c. 1292–1361). A figure of the [[Jonang]] school, Dölpopa developed a view called [[shentong]] (Wylie: gzhan {{nat|stong}}, 'other emptiness'), based on earlier [[Yogacara]] and Buddha-nature ideas present in Indian sources (including the buddha-nature literature, the ''[[Kalachakra|Kālacakratantra]]'' and the works of [[Ratnākaraśānti]]). The shentong view holds that [[Buddhahood]] is already immanent in all living beings as an eternal and all-pervaside non-dual wisdom he termed "all-basis wisdom" or "gnosis of the ground of all" (Tib. ''kun gzhi ye shes'', Skt. ālaya-jñāna).<ref>Stearns, Cyrus (2010). ''The Buddha from Dölpo: A Study of the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen'', pp. 48-50. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. {{ISBN|978-1-55939-343-0}}.</ref> This view holds that all relative phenomena are empty of inherent existence, but that the ultimate reality, the buddha-wisdom (''buddha [[Jñāna|jñana]]'') is ''not empty'' of its own inherent existence.<ref>Hookham, S. K. (1991). ''The Buddha Within: Tathagatagarbha doctrine according to the Shentong interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga'', p. 21. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7914-0358-7}}.</ref>

According to Dölpopa, all beings are said to have the Buddha nature, the non-dual wisdom which is real, unchanging, permanent, non-conditioned, eternal, blissful and compassionate. This ultimate buddha wisdom is "uncreated and indestructible, unconditioned and beyond the chain of [[Pratītyasamutpāda|dependent origination]]" and is the basis for both [[Saṃsāra|samsara]] and nirvana.<ref>Stearns, Cyrus (2010). ''The Buddha from Dölpo: A Study of the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen'', pp. 88-89. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. {{ISBN|978-1-55939-343-0}}.</ref> Dolpopa's shentong view also taught that ultimate reality was truly a "Great Self" or "Supreme Self" referring to works such as the ''[[Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra]]'', the ''[[Aṅgulimālīya Sūtra]]'' and the ''[[Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra]].''<ref>Hopkins, Jeffrey, ''Mountain Doctrine'', 2006 passim</ref>

The shentong view had an influence on philosophers of other schools, such as [[Nyingma]] and [[Kagyu]] thinkers, and was also widely criticized in some circles as being similar to the Hindu notions of [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Atman]].<ref>Garfield, Jay; Edelglass, William; The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy, p. 257</ref> The Shentong philosophy was also expounded in Tibet and Mongolia by the later Jonang scholar [[Tāranātha]] (1575–1634) and numerous later figures of the Jonang tradition. In the late 17th century, the Jonang order and its teachings came under attack by the [[5th Dalai Lama]], who converted the majority of their monasteries in [[Tibet]] to the [[Gelug]] order, although several survived in secret.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stearns|first1=Cyrus|title=The Buddha from Dolpo : a study of the life and thought of the Tibetan master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen|year=2002|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|location=Delhi|isbn=978-81-208-1833-0|page=73}}</ref>

===Gelug===
[[File:Tsongkapa, thangka from Tibet in the 15th-century, painting on cloth - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Tsongkapa, 15th-century painting, [[Rubin Museum of Art]]]]

[[Je Tsongkhapa]] (Dzong-ka-ba) (1357–1419) founded the [[Gelug]] school of Tibetan Buddhism, which came to dominate the country through the office of the [[Dalai Lama]] and is the major defender of the [[Prasaṅgika]] Madhyamaka view. His work is influenced by the philosophy of [[Candrakirti]] and [[Dharmakirti]]. Tsongkhapa's magnum opus is ''The Ocean of Reasoning'', a Commentary on Nagarjuna's ''[[Mulamadhyamakakarika]]''. Gelug philosophy is based upon the study of Madhyamaka texts and Tsongkhapa's works as well as formal debate (rtsod pa).<ref>{{cite web |title=Gelukpa [dge lugs pa] |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/gelukpa/ |website=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=August 24, 2024 |date=February 4, 2014}}</ref>

Tsongkhapa defended Prasangika [[Madhyamaka]] as the highest view and critiqued the [[svatantrika]] position. Tsongkhapa argued that, because svatantrika conventionally establishes things by their own characteristics, they fail to completely understand the [[Shunyata|emptiness]] of phenomena and hence do not achieve the same realization.<ref>Shantarakshita and Ju Mipham (2005) The Adornment of the Middle Way Padmakara Translation, pp. 21-24</ref> Drawing on Chandrakirti, Tsongkhapa rejected the Yogacara teachings, even as a provisional stepping point to the Madhyamaka view.<ref name="Garfield, Jay p. 217"/> Tsongkhapa was also critical of the Shengtong view of Dolpopa, which he saw as dangerously absolutist and hence outside the middle way. Tsongkhapa identified two major flaws in interpretations of Madhyamika, under-negation (of [[svabhava]] or own essence), which could lead to Absolutism, and over-negation, which could lead to Nihilism. Tsongkhapa's solution to this dilemma was the promotion of the use of inferential reasoning only within the conventional realm of the [[two truths]] framework, allowing for the use of reason for ethics, conventional monastic rules and promoting a conventional epistemic realism,<ref>Garfield, Jay; Edelglass, William; The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy, p. 220</ref> while holding that, from the view of ultimate truth (''paramarthika satya''), all things (including [[Buddha nature]] and [[Nirvana]]) are empty of inherent existence ([[svabhava]]), and that true liberation is this realization of emptiness.

Sakya scholars such as Rongtön and [[Gorampa]] disagreed with Tsongkhapa, and argued that the prasangika svatantrika distinction was merely pedagogical. Gorampa also critiqued Tsongkhapa's realism, arguing that the structures which allow an empty object to be presented as conventionally real eventually dissolve under analysis and are thus unstructured and non-conceptual (spros bral). Tsongkhapa's students Gyel-tsap, Kay-drup, and Ge-dun-drup set forth an epistemological realism against the Sakya scholars' anti-realism.

===Sakya===
[[Sakya Pandita]] (1182–1251) was a 13th-century head of the [[Sakya (Tibetan Buddhist school)|Sakya]] school and ruler of Tibet. He was also one of the most important Buddhist philosophers in the Tibetan tradition, writing works on logic and epistemology and promoting [[Dharmakirti]]'s ''[[Pramanavarttika]]'' (Commentary on Valid Cognition) as central to the scholastic study. Sakya Pandita's 'Treasury of Logic on Valid Cognition' (''Tshad ma rigs pa'i gter'') set forth the classic Sakya epistemic anti-realist position, arguing that concepts such as [[Universal (metaphysics)|universals]] are not known through valid cognition and hence are not real objects of knowledge.<ref name="Dreyfus, Georges B. J 1997, page 2"/> Sakya Pandita was also critical of theories of sudden awakening, which were held by some teachers of the "Chinese Great Perfection" in Tibet.
[[File:Gorampa_Sonam_Sengge.jpg|thumb|Gorampa Sonam Senge]]
Later Sakyas such as [[Gorampa]] (1429–1489) and [[Sakya Chokden]] (1428–1507) would develop and defend Sakya anti-realism, and they are seen as the major interpreters and critics of Sakya Pandita's philosophy. [[Sakya Chokden]] also critiqued Tsongkhapa's interpretation of Madhyamaka and Dolpopa's Shentong. In his ''Definite ascertainment of the middle way'', Chokden criticized Tsongkhapa's view as being too logo-centric and still caught up in conceptualization about the ultimate reality which is beyond language.<ref>Leaman, Oliver [ed.]; Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy; Sakya Chokden</ref> Sakya Chokden's philosophy attempted to reconcile the views of the Yogacara and Madhyamaka, seeing them both as valid and complementary perspectives on ultimate truth. Madhyamaka is seen by Chokden as removing the fault of taking the unreal as being real, and Yogacara removes the fault of the denial of Reality.<ref>Hookham, SK. The Buddha Within: Tathagatagarbha Doctrine According to the Shentong Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga, SUNY pres, p. 158</ref> Likewise, the Shentong and Rangtong views are seen as complementary by Sakya Chokden; Rangtong negation is effective in cutting through all clinging to wrong views and conceptual rectification, while Shentong is more amenable for describing and enhancing meditative experience and realization.<ref>Brunnholzl, Karl; Luminous Heart: The Third Karmapa on Consciousness, Wisdom, and Buddha Nature, p. 107.</ref> Therefore, for Sakya Chokden, the same realization of ultimate reality can be accessed and described in two different but compatible ways.

===Nyingma===
[[File:MiphamNew.jpg|thumb|Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso]]

The Nyingma school is strongly influenced by the view of [[Dzogchen]] (Great Perfection) and the Dzogchen Tantric literature. [[Longchenpa]] (1308–1364) was a major philosopher of the [[Nyingma]] school and wrote an extensive number of works on the Tibetan practice of [[Dzogchen]] and on Buddhist [[Tantra]]. These include the ''[[Seven Treasuries|Seven Treasures]]'', the ''[[Trilogy of Natural Ease]]'', and his ''[[Trilogy of Dispelling Darkness]]''. Longchenpa's works provide a philosophical understanding of Dzogchen, a defense of Dzogchen in light of the sutras, as well as practical instructions.<ref>D. Germano, The Tantric Philosophical Prose and Poetry of Longchenpa, Religion and the Literary in Tibet, AAR, 7 November 2012, https://tiblit.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/germano_aartiblit2012_combined.pdf</ref> For Longchenpa, the ground of reality is luminous emptiness, [[rigpa]] ("knowledge"), or buddha nature, and this ground is also the bridge between sutra and [[Buddhist tantric literature|tantra]].<ref>Duckworth, Douglas, Jamgon Mipam his life and teachings, p. 60.</ref> Longchenpa's philosophy sought to establish the positive aspects of Buddha nature thought against the totally negative theology of Madhyamika without straying into the absolutism of Dolpopa. For Longchenpa, the basis for Dzogchen and Tantric practice in Vajrayana is the [[Ground (Dzogchen)|"Ground" or "Basis" (''gzhi'')]], the immanent Buddha nature, "the primordially luminous reality that is unconditioned and spontaneously present" which is "free from all elaborated extremes".<ref>Garfield, Jay; Edelglass, William; The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy, pp. 256–257</ref>

=== Rimé movement ===
{{Main|Rimé movement}}

The 19th century saw the rise of the [[Rimé movement]] (non-sectarian, unbiased) which sought to push back against the politically dominant Gelug school's criticisms of the Sakya, Kagyu, Nyingma, and [[Bon]] philosophical views, and develop a more eclectic or universal system of textual study. [[Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo]] (1820–1892) and [[Jamgön Kongtrül]] (1813–1899) were the founders of Rimé. The Rimé movement came to prominence at a point in Tibetan history when the religious climate had become partisan.<ref name=GKLT-I>Callahan, Elizabeth (2007). ''The Treasury of Knowledge: Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy''. Introduction, p. 10</ref> The aim of the movement was "a push towards a middle ground where the various views and styles of the different traditions were appreciated for their individual contributions rather than being refuted, marginalized, or banned."<ref name=GKLT-I/>

Philosophically, [[Jamgön Kongtrül]] defended [[Shentong]] as being compatible with Madhyamaka while another Rimé scholar [[Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso]] (1846–1912) criticized Tsongkhapa from a [[Nyingma]] perspective. Mipham argued that the view of the middle way is Unity (zung 'jug), meaning that from the ultimate perspective the duality of sentient beings and Buddhas is also dissolved. Mipham also affirmed the view of ''rangtong'' (self emptiness).<ref>Emmanuel, Steven M. (Ed.); A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, p. 102.</ref>

The later Nyingma scholar Botrul (1894–1959) classified the major Tibetan Madhyamaka positions as shentong (other emptiness), Nyingma rangtong (self emptiness) and Gelug bdentong (emptiness of true existence). The main difference between them is their "object of negation"; shengtong states that inauthentic experience is empty, rangtong negates any conceptual reference and bdentong negates any true existence.<ref>Emmanuel, Steven M. (Ed.); A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, p. 103.</ref>

The [[14th Dalai Lama]] was also influenced by this non-sectarian approach. Having studied under teachers from all major Tibetan Buddhist schools, his philosophical position tends to be that the different perspectives on emptiness are complementary:

<blockquote>There is a tradition of making a distinction between two different perspectives on the nature of emptiness: one is when emptiness is presented within a philosophical analysis of the ultimate reality of things, in which case it ought to be understood in terms of a non-affirming negative phenomena. On the other hand, when it is discussed from the point of view of experience, it should be understood more in terms of an affirming negation – 14th Dalai Lama<ref>The 14th Dalai Lama, Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great Perfection, p. 166.</ref></blockquote>

==East Asian Buddhism==
[[File:Sramana Zhiyi.jpeg|thumb|right|upright|Painting of Śramaṇa [[Zhiyi]], the founding thinker of the [[Tiantai]] school.]]

===Tiantai===
{{Main|Tiantai}}
{{Further|Tendai}}

The schools of Buddhism that had existed in China prior to the emergence of the Tiantai are generally believed to represent direct transplantations from India, with little modification to their basic doctrines and methods. The Tiantai school, founded by [[Zhiyi]] (538–597), was the first truly unique Chinese Buddhist philosophical school.<ref name="ReferenceA">JeeLoo Liu, Tian-tai Metaphysics vs. Hua-yan Metaphysics A Comparative Study.</ref> Tiantai doctrine sought to bring together all Buddhist teachings into a comprehensive system based on the [[ekayana]] ("one vehicle") doctrine taught in the ''[[Lotus Sutra]]''.

Tiantai's metaphysics is an immanent [[holism]], which sees every phenomenon (dharma) as conditioned and manifested by the whole of reality (the totality of all other dharmas). Every instant of experience is a reflection of every other, and hence, suffering and nirvana, good and bad, Buddhahood and evildoing, are all "inherently entailed" within each other.<ref name="plato.stanford.edu">{{Cite journal |last=Ziporyn |first=Brook |journal=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |date=2014-11-19 |title=Tiantai Buddhism |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/buddhism-tiantai/}}</ref>

Tiantai metaphysics is entailed in their teaching of the "three truths", which is an extension of the Mādhyamaka [[two truths]] doctrine. The three truths are: the conventional truth of appearance, the truth of emptiness and the third truth of 'the exclusive Center' (但中 ''danzhong'') or middle way, which is beyond conventional truth and emptiness. This third truth is the [[Absolute (philosophy)|Absolute]] and expressed by the claim that nothing is "Neither-Same-Nor-Different" than anything else, but rather each 'thing' is the absolute totality of all things manifesting as a particular, everything is mutually contained within each thing. Everything is a reflection of "The Ultimate Reality of All Appearances" (諸法實相 ''zhufashixiang'') and each thought "contains three thousand worlds". This perspective allows the Tiantai school to state such seemingly paradoxical things as "evil is ineradicable from the highest good, [[Buddhahood]]."<ref name="plato.stanford.edu"/> Moreover, in Tiantai, nirvana and samsara are ultimately the same; as Zhiyi writes, "a single, unalloyed reality is all there is – no entities whatever exist outside of it."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

While Zhiyi did write "one thought contains three thousand worlds", this does not entail idealism. According to Zhiyi, "the objects of the [true] aspects of reality are not something produced by Buddhas, gods, or men. They exist inherently on their own and have no beginning" (''The Esoteric Meaning'', 210). This is then a form of realism, which sees the mind as real as the world, interconnected with and inseparable from it.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In Tiantai thought, ultimate reality is simply the very phenomenal world of interconnected events or dharmas.

Other key figures of Tiantai thought are [[Zhanran]] (711–782) and [[Siming Zhili]] (960–1028). Zhanran developed the idea that non-sentient beings have [[buddha nature]], since they are also a reflection of the Absolute. In Japan, this school was known as [[Tendai]] and was first brought to the island by [[Saicho]]. Tendai thought is more syncretic and draws on Huayan and [[Chinese Esoteric Buddhism|East Asian Esoteric Buddhism]].

===Huayan===
{{main|Huayan school}}
[[File:Fazang,_buddhist_Monk,_Japanese_print,_13th_century.jpg|thumb|A 13th century Japanese print of [[Fazang]], the most important philosopher of the Huayan school.]]

The [[Huayan school]] is the other native Chinese doctrinal system. Huayan is known for the doctrine of "interpenetration" (Sanskrit: ''yuganaddha''),<ref>Neville, Robert C. (1987).[http://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-JOCP/neville.htm New metaphysics for eternal experience], Journal of Chinese Philosophy 14, pp. 357-370</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/zung_'jug|title = Zung 'jug - Rangjung Yeshe Wiki - Dharma Dictionary}}</ref> based on the ''[[Avatamsaka Sutra|Avataṃsaka Sūtra]]'' (''Flower Garland Sutra''). Huayan holds that all phenomena (Sanskrit: ''[[dharmas]]'') are deeply interconnected, mutually arising and that every phenomenon contains all other phenomena. Various metaphors and images are used to illustrate this idea. The first is known as [[Indra's net]]. The net is set with jewels which have the extraordinary property that they reflect all of the other jewels, while the reflections also contain every other reflection, ad infinitum. The second image is that of the world text. This image portrays the world as consisting of an enormous text which is as large as the universe itself. The words of the text are composed of the phenomena that make up the world. However, every atom of the world contains the whole text within it. It is the work of a Buddha to let out the text so that beings can be liberated from suffering.

[[Fazang]] (Fa-tsang, 643–712), one of the most important Huayan thinkers, wrote 'Essay on the Golden Lion' and 'Treatise on the Five Teachings', which contain other metaphors for the interpenetration of reality. He also used the metaphor of a [[house of mirrors]]. Fazang introduced the distinction of "the Realm of Principle" and "the Realm of Things". This theory was further developed by [[Chengguan (monk)|Cheng-guan]] (738–839) into the major Huayan thesis of "the fourfold [[Dharmadhatu]]" (dharma realm): the Realm of Principle, the Realm of Things, the Realm of the Noninterference between Principle and Things, and the Realm of the Noninterference of All Things.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The first two are the universal and the particular, the third is the interpenetration of universal and particular, and the fourth is the interpenetration of all particulars. The third truth was explained by the metaphor of a golden lion: the gold is the universal and the particular is the shape and features of the lion.<ref name="Taigen Dan Leighton 2006">Taigen Dan Leighton, Huayan Buddhism and the Phenomenal Universe of the Flower Ornament Sutra, "Buddhadharma" magazine (2006)</ref> 
 
While both Tiantai and Huayan hold to the interpenetration and interconnection of all things, their metaphysics have some differences. Huayan metaphysics is influenced by Yogacara thought and is closer to [[idealism]]. The Avatamsaka sutra compares the phenomenal world to a dream, an illusion, and a magician's conjuring. The sutra states nothing has true reality, location, beginning and end, or substantial nature. The Avatamsaka also states that "The triple world is illusory – it is only made by one mind", and Fazang echoes this by writing, "outside of mind there is not a single thing that can be apprehended."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Furthermore, according to Huayan thought, each mind creates its own world "according to their mental patterns", and "these worlds are infinite in kind" and constantly arising and passing away.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> However, in Huayan, the mind is not real either, but also empty. The true reality in Huayan, the noumenon, or "Principle", is likened to a mirror, while phenomena are compared to reflections in the mirror. It is also compared to the ocean, and phenomena to waves.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In [[Korea]], this school was known as [[Hwaeom]] and is represented in the work of [[Wonhyo]] (617–686), who also wrote about the idea of [[Essence-Function|essence-function]], a central theme in Korean Buddhist thought. In [[Japan]], Huayan is known as [[Kegon]] and one of its major proponents was [[Myōe]], who also introduced Tantric practices.

===Chan and Japanese Buddhism===
{{Main|Chan Buddhism|Zen Buddhism}}
{{Further|Chinese philosophy|Japanese philosophy}}

The philosophy of Chinese [[Chan Buddhism]] and Japanese [[Zen]] is based on various sources; these include Chinese Madhyamaka (''[[East Asian Mādhyamaka|Sānlùn]]''), Yogacara (''[[East Asian Yogācāra|Wéishí]]''), the [[Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra]], and the [[Buddha-nature|Buddha nature]] texts. An important issue in Chan is that of [[subitism]] or "sudden awakening", the idea that insight happens all at once in a flash of insight. This view was promoted by [[Shenhui]] and is a central issue discussed in the [[Platform Sutra]], a key [[Zen scriptures|Chan scripture]] composed in China.

[[Huayan]] philosophy also had an influence on Chan. The theory of the Fourfold Dharmadhatu influenced the [[Five Ranks]] of [[Dongshan Liangjie]] (806–869), the founder of the [[Caodong]] Chan lineage.<ref name="Taigen Dan Leighton 2006"/> [[Guifeng Zongmi]], who was also a patriarch of Huayan Buddhism, wrote extensively on the philosophy of Chan and on the Avatamsaka sutra.

[[Buddhism in Japan|Japanese Buddhism]] during the 6th and 7th centuries saw an increase in the proliferation of new schools and forms of thought, a period known as the six schools of Nara (''[[Nanto Rokushū]]''). The [[Kamakura period|Kamakura Period]] (1185–1333) also saw another flurry of intellectual activity. During this period, the influential figure of [[Nichiren]] (1222–1282) made the practice and universal message of the [[Lotus Sutra]] more readily available to the population. He is of particular importance in the history of thought and religion, as his teachings constitute a separate sect of Buddhism, one of the only major sects to have originated in Japan<ref name="Yampolsky1990">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/selectedwritings00nich|title=Selected writings of Nichiren|year=1990|publisher=Columbia University Press|others=Yampolsky, Philip B. (Philip Boas), 1920–1996. Rogers D. Spotswood Collection.|isbn=0-231-07260-0|location=New York|chapter=Introduction|oclc=21035153|url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|xi}}

Also during the Kamakura period, the founder of [[Soto Zen]], [[Dogen]] (1200–1253), wrote many works on the philosophy of Zen, and the ''[[Shobogenzo]]'' is his magnum opus. In Korea, [[Chinul]] was an important exponent of [[Korean Seon|Seon Buddhism]] at around the same time.

===Esoteric Buddhism===
{{Main|Buddhist tantric literature}}
{{Further|Chinese Esoteric Buddhism|Shingon Buddhism|Vajrayana}}
[[File:Taizokai.jpg|thumb|right|228px|The ''[[Garbhadhatu]]'' [[mandala]]. The center square represents the young stage of [[Vairocana]] Buddha.]]

[[Tantric Buddhism]] arrived in China in the 7th century, during the [[Tang dynasty]]. In China, this form of Buddhism is known as Mìzōng (密宗), or "Esoteric School", and ''Zhenyan'' (true word, Sanskrit: [[Mantrayana]]). [[Kūkai]] (AD774–835) is a major Japanese Buddhist philosopher and the founder of the Tantric [[Shingon]] (true word) school in Japan. He wrote on a wide variety of topics such as public policy, language, the arts, literature, music and religion. After studying in China under [[Huiguo]], Kūkai brought together various elements into a cohesive philosophical system of Shingon.

Kūkai's philosophy is based on the [[Mahavairocana Tantra]] and the [[Vajrasekhara Sutra]] (both from the seventh century). His ''Benkenmitsu nikkyôron'' (Treatise on the Differences Between Esoteric and Exoteric Teachings) outlines the difference between exoteric, mainstream [[Mahayana Buddhism]] (kengyô) and esoteric [[Tantric Buddhism]] (mikkyô).<ref name="ReferenceB">Krummel, John, "Kûkai", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL=<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2014/entries/kukai/>.</ref> Kūkai provided the theoretical framework for the esoteric Buddhist practices of Mantrayana, bridging the gap between the doctrine of the sutras and tantric practices. At the foundation of Kūkai's thought is the [[Trikaya]] doctrine, which holds there are three "bodies of the Buddha".

According to Kūkai, esoteric Buddhism has the [[Dharmakaya]] (Jpn: ''hosshin'', embodiment of truth) as its source, which is associated with [[Vairocana]] Buddha (Dainichi). Hosshin is embodied absolute reality and truth. Hosshin is mostly ineffable but can be experienced through esoteric practices such as [[mudras]] and [[mantras]]. While Mahayana is taught by the historical Buddha ([[nirmāṇakāya]]), it does not have ultimate reality as its source or the practices to experience the esoteric truth. For Shingon, from an enlightened perspective, the whole phenomenal world itself is also the teaching of Vairocana.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> The body of the world, its sounds and movements, is the body of truth (dharma) and furthermore it is also identical with the personal body of the cosmic Buddha. For Kūkai, world, actions, persons and Buddhas are all part of the cosmic monologue of Vairocana, they are the truth being preached, to its own self manifestations. This is ''hosshin seppô'' (literally: "the dharmakâya's expounding of the Dharma") which can be accessed through mantra which is the cosmic language of Vairocana emanating through cosmic vibration concentrated in sound.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> In a broad sense, the universe itself is a huge text expressing ultimate truth (Dharma) which must be "read".

Dainichi means "Great Sun" and Kūkai uses this as a metaphor for the great primordial Buddha, whose teaching and presence illuminates and pervades all, like the light of the sun. This immanent presence also means that every being already has access to the liberated state ([[hongaku]]) and [[Buddha nature]], and that, because of this, there is the possibility of "becoming Buddha in this very embodied existence" (''sokushinjôbutsu'').<ref name="ReferenceB"/> This is achieved because of the [[non-dual]] relationship between the macrocosm of Hosshin and the microcosm of the Shingon practitioner.

Kūkai's exposition of what has been called Shingon's "metaphysics" is based on the three aspects of the cosmic truth or Hosshin – body, appearance and function.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> The body is the physical and mental elements, which are the body and mind of the cosmic Buddha and which is also empty ([[Shunyata]]). The physical universe for Shingon contains the interconnected mental and physical events. The appearance aspect is the form of the world, which appears as mandalas of interconnected realms and is depicted in mandala art such as the [[Womb Realm]] mandala. The function is the movement and change which happens in the world, which includes change in forms, sounds and thought. These forms, sounds and thoughts are expressed by the Shingon practitioner in various rituals and tantric practices which allow them to connect with and inter-resonate with Dainichi and hence attain liberation here and now.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

==Modern philosophy==
{{Main|Buddhist modernism|Engaged Buddhism}}
{{Further|Buddhism and environmentalism|Humanistic Buddhism|Secular Buddhism}}
[[File:Gendun Chophel.jpg|thumb|170px|A portrait of [[Gendün Chöphel]] in India, 1936.]]
[[File:Portrait-of-Kitaro-Nishida.png|thumb|170px|[[Kitaro Nishida|Kitarō Nishida]], professor of philosophy at [[Kyoto University]] and founder of the [[Kyoto School]].]]

In [[Sri Lanka]], Buddhist modernists such as [[Anagarika Dharmapala]] (1864–1933) and the American convert [[Henry Steel Olcott]] sought to show that Buddhism was rational and compatible with modern Scientific ideas such as the theory of evolution.<ref>McMahan, David L. 2008. The Making of Buddhist Modernism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 91-97.</ref> Dharmapala also argued that Buddhism included a strong social element, interpreting it as liberal, altruistic and democratic.

A later Sri Lankan philosopher, [[K. N. Jayatilleke]] (1920–1970), wrote the classic modern account of Buddhist epistemology (''Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge'', 1963). His student [[David Kalupahana]] wrote on the history of Buddhist thought and psychology. Other important Sri Lankan Buddhist thinkers include [[Katukurunde Nanananda Thera|Ven Ñāṇananda]] (''Concept and Reality''), [[Walpola Rahula]], [[Hammalawa Saddhatissa]] (''Buddhist Ethics'', 1987), Gunapala Dharmasiri (''A Buddhist critique of the Christian concept of God'', 1988), [[P. D. Premasiri]] and [[R. G. de S. Wettimuny]].<ref>Frank J. Hoffman, Contemporary Buddhist philosophy: A biographical essay, Asian Philosophy, Vol. 2 No. 1 1992, pp. 79-100, http://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-ADM/hoffman.htm</ref>

In 20th-century China, the modernist [[Taixu]] (1890–1947) advocated a reform and revival of Buddhism. He promoted an idea of a Buddhist [[Pure Land]], not as a metaphysical place in Buddhist cosmology but as something possible to create here and now in this very world, which could be achieved through a "Buddhism for Human Life" ({{zh|links=no|c=人生佛教|p=rénshēng fójiào}}) which was free of supernatural beliefs.<ref name=Bingenheimer>{{cite book|last=Bingenheimer|first=Marcus|editor1-last=Hsu|editor1-first=Mutsu|editor2-last=Chen|editor2-first=Jinhua|editor3-last=Meeks|editor3-first=Lori|title=Development and Practice of Humanitarian Buddhism: Interdisciplinary Perspectives|year=2007|publisher=Tzuchi University Press|location=Hua-lien (Taiwan)|isbn=978-986-7625-08-3|pages=141–61|chapter=Some Remarks on the Usage of Renjian Fojiao 人間佛教 and the Contribution of Venerable Yinshun to Chinese Buddhist Modernism|url=http://mbingenheimer.net/publications/bingenheimer.yinshunRenjianFojiao.2007.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://mbingenheimer.net/publications/bingenheimer.yinshunRenjianFojiao.2007.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> Taixu also wrote on the connections between modern science and Buddhism, ultimately holding that "scientific methods can only corroborate the Buddhist doctrine, they can never advance beyond it".<ref>McMahan, David L. 2008. The Making of Buddhist Modernism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 75.</ref> Like Taixu, [[Yin Shun]] (1906–2005) advocated a form of [[Humanistic Buddhism]] grounded in concern for humanitarian issues, and his students and followers have been influential in promoting [[Humanistic Buddhism]] in [[Taiwan]]. This period also saw a revival of the study of Weishi ([[Yogachara]]), by [[Yang Rensan]] (1837–1911), [[Ouyang Jinwu]] (1871–1943) and [[Liang Shuming]] (1893–1988).<ref>Yih-Hsien Yu, Modern Chinese Philosophy, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</ref>

One of Tibetan Buddhism's most influential modernist thinkers is [[Gendün Chöphel]] (1903–1951), who, according to [[Donald S. Lopez Jr.]], "was arguably the most important Tibetan intellectual of the twentieth century."<ref>Holmgren, Felix [reviewer], "The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendün Chöpel by Donald S. Lopez Jr.", https://www.lionsroar.com/a-modern-man-in-old-tibet/</ref> Gendün Chöphel travelled throughout India with the Indian Buddhist [[Rahul Sankrityayan]] and wrote a wide variety of material, including works promoting the importance of modern science to his Tibetan countrymen and also Buddhist philosophical texts such as ''Adornment for Nagarjuna's Thought''. Another very influential Tibetan Buddhist modernist was [[Chögyam Trungpa]], whose [[Shambhala Training]] was meant to be more suitable to modern Western sensitivities by offering a vision of "secular enlightenment".<ref>Trungpa, Chogyam. (1984) "Shambhala: Sacred Path of the Warrior", pp. 25–34</ref>

In [[Southeast Asia]], thinkers such as [[Buddhadasa]], [[Thích Nhất Hạnh]], [[Sulak Sivaraksa]] and [[Aung San Suu Kyi]] have promoted a philosophy of socially [[Engaged Buddhism]] and have written on the socio-political application of Buddhism. Likewise, Buddhist approaches to [[economic ethics]] ([[Buddhist economics]]) have been explored in the works of [[E. F. Schumacher]],<ref>E. F. Schumacher, "Buddhist economics" (1973)</ref> [[Prayudh Payutto]], [[Neville Karunatilake]], and Padmasiri de Silva. The study of the Pali Abhidhamma tradition continued to be influential in [[Myanmar]], where it was developed by monks such as [[Ledi Sayadaw]] and [[Mahasi Sayadaw]].

[[Japanese philosophy]] was heavily influenced by the work of the [[Kyoto School]] which included [[Kitaro Nishida]], [[Keiji Nishitani]], [[Hajime Tanabe]] and [[Masao Abe]]. These thinkers brought Buddhist ideas in dialogue with [[Western philosophy]], especially European [[Phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenologists]] and [[Existentialism|existentialists]]. The most important trend in Japanese Buddhist thought after the formation of the Kyoto school is [[Critical Buddhism]], which argues against several Mahayana concepts such as [[Buddha nature]] and [[Hongaku|original enlightenment]].<ref name=Bingenheimer/>

The Japanese Zen Buddhist [[D.T. Suzuki]] (1870–1966) was instrumental in bringing [[Zen Buddhism]] to the West and his [[Buddhist modernism|Buddhist modernist]] works were very influential in the United States. Suzuki's worldview was a Zen Buddhism influenced by [[Romanticism]] and [[Transcendentalism]], which promoted spiritual freedom as "a spontaneous, emancipatory consciousness that transcends rational intellect and [[social convention]]."<ref>McMahan, David L. 2008. The Making of Buddhist Modernism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 122</ref> This idea of Buddhism influenced the Beat writers, and a contemporary representative of Western Buddhist Romanticism is [[Gary Snyder]]. The American Theravada Buddhist monk [[Thanissaro Bhikkhu]] has critiqued 'Buddhist Romanticism' in his writings.

Western Buddhist monastics and priests such as [[Nanavira Thera]], [[Bhikkhu Bodhi]], [[Nyanaponika Thera]], [[Robert Baker Aitken|Robert Aitken]], [[Taigen Dan Leighton]], and [[Matthieu Ricard]] have written texts on Buddhist philosophy. A feature of Buddhist thought in the West has been a desire for dialogue and integration with modern science and psychology, and various modern Buddhists such as [[B. Alan Wallace]], [[James H. Austin]], [[Mark Epstein]] and the [[14th Dalai Lama]] have worked and written on this issue.<ref>Austin, James H. Zen and the Brain</ref><ref>14th Dalai Lama, the Universe in a single atom</ref>

Another area of convergence has been Buddhism and environmentalism, which is explored in the work of [[Joanna Macy]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Prentice |first1=George |title=Joanna Macy |url=https://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/joanna-macy/Content?oid=2585773 |website=Web Archive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815200958/https://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/joanna-macy/Content?oid=2585773 |access-date=August 24, 2024|archive-date=15 August 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Edelglass |first1=William |title=Joanna Macy: The Ecological Self |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309534256 |website=Research Gate |access-date=August 24, 2024 |date=April 2009}}</ref> Another Western Buddhist philosophical trend has been the project to [[Secular Buddhism|secularize Buddhism]], as seen in the works of [[Stephen Batchelor (author)|Stephen Batchelor]].

In the West, Comparative philosophy between Buddhist and Western thought began with the work of [[Charles A. Moore]], who founded the journal [[Philosophy East and West]]. Contemporary Western Academics such as [[Mark Siderits]], [[Jan Westerhoff]], [[Jonardon Ganeri]], [[Miri Albahari]], [[Owen Flanagan]], [[Damien Keown]], [[Tom Tillemans]], [[David Loy]], [[Evan Thompson]], and [[Jay Garfield]] have written various works which interpret Buddhist ideas through [[Western philosophy]].

==Comparison with other philosophies==
{{Main|Buddhism and Western Philosophy}}
{{Further|Buddhist influences on Advaita Vedanta|Similarities between Pyrrhonism and Buddhism}}

Scholars such as [[Thomas McEvilley]],<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=McEvilley|title=The Shape of Ancient Thought|publisher=Allworth Communications|year=2002|isbn=1-58115-203-5}}</ref> [[Christopher I. Beckwith]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Beckwith |first=Christopher I. |url=http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s10500.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s10500.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4008-6632-8 |pages=22–23}}</ref> and Adrian Kuzminski<ref>Kuzminski, Adrian. Pyrrhonism: How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism (Studies in Comparative Philosophy and Religion), 2008.</ref> have identified cross influences between ancient Buddhism and the ancient Greek philosophy of [[Pyrrhonism]]. The Greek philosopher [[Pyrrho]] spent 18 months in India as part of [[Alexander the Great]]'s court on Alexander's conquest of western India, where ancient biographers say his contact with the [[gymnosophists]] caused him to create his philosophy. Because of the high degree of similarity between Nāgārjuna's philosophy and [[Pyrrhonism]], particularly the surviving works of [[Sextus Empiricus]],<ref>Adrian Kuzminski, ''Pyrrhonism: How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism'' 2008.</ref> [[Thomas McEvilley]] suspects that Nāgārjuna was influenced by Greek Pyrrhonist texts imported into India.<ref>Thomas McEvilley, ''The Shape of Ancient Thought'' 2002 pp. 499–505.</ref>

[[Baruch Spinoza]], though he argued for the existence of a permanent reality, asserts that all phenomenal existence is transitory. In his opinion sorrow is conquered "by finding an object of knowledge which is not transient, not ephemeral, but is immutable, permanent, everlasting." The Buddha taught that the only thing which is eternal is [[Nirvana]]. [[David Hume]], after a relentless analysis of the mind, concluded that consciousness consists of fleeting mental states. Hume's [[Bundle theory]] is a very similar concept to the Buddhist ''[[skandhas]]'', though his skepticism about causation leads him to opposite conclusions in other areas. [[Arthur Schopenhauer]]'s philosophy parallels Buddhism in his affirmation of [[asceticism]] and renunciation as a response to suffering and desire (cf. Schopenhauer's ''The World as Will and Representation'', 1818).

[[Ludwig Wittgenstein]]'s "[[language-game]]" closely parallel the warning that intellectual speculation or [[papañca]] is an impediment to understanding, as found in the Buddhist ''[[Parable of the Poison Arrow]]''. [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], although himself dismissive of Buddhism as yet another nihilism, had a similar impermanent view of the self. [[Heidegger]]'s ideas on being and nothingness have been held by some{{who|date=April 2012}} to be similar to Buddhism today.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.westernbuddhistreview.com/vol1/god_is_dead.html|title=God Is Dead: What Next|access-date=5 August 2006|archive-date=4 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004094712/http://www.westernbuddhistreview.com/vol1/god_is_dead.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

An alternative approach to the comparison of Buddhist thought with Western philosophy is to use the concept of the [[Middle Way]] in Buddhism as a critical tool for the assessment of Western philosophies. In this way, Western philosophies can be classified in Buddhist terms as eternalist or nihilist. In a Buddhist view, all philosophies are considered non-essential views ([[View (Buddhism)|ditthis]]) and not to be clung to.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110723211924/http://www.moralobjectivity.net/thesis_index.html Robert Ellis A Buddhist theory of moral objectivity (Ph.D. thesis)]}}.</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Buddhism|Philosophy}}
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Abhidharma]]
* [[Buddhism and psychology]]
* [[Buddhism and science]]
* [[Buddhism and sexuality]]
* [[Buddhism and Western philosophy]]
* [[Buddhist influences on Advaita Vedanta]]
* [[Buddhist logic]]
* [[Buddhist texts]]
** [[Buddhist canons]]
** [[Mahayana sutras]]
* [[Creator in Buddhism]]
* [[Enlightenment in Buddhism]]
** [[Buddhahood]]
** [[Buddhist paths to liberation]]
** [[Four stages of enlightenment]]
** [[Two truths doctrine]]
* [[Glossary of Buddhism]]
* [[Index of Buddhism-related articles]]
* [[Mindfulness]]
* [[Mindstream]]
* [[Outline of Buddhism]]
* [[Reality in Buddhism]]
* [[The unanswerable questions]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha|2}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation|last=Anderson|first=Carol|year=1999|title=Pain and Its Ending: The Four Noble Truths in the Theravada Buddhist Canon|publisher=Routledge}}
* {{Citation|last=Bronkhorst|first=Johannes|author-link=Johannes Bronkhorst|year=1993|title=The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass}}
* {{Citation|last=Capriles|first=Elías|title=The Four Schools of Buddhist Philosophy: Clear Discrimination of Views Pointing at the Definitive Meaning|url=http://webdelprofesor.ula.ve/humanidades/elicap/en/uploads/Biblioteca/philosophical_schools.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717191150/http://webdelprofesor.ula.ve/humanidades/elicap/en/uploads/Biblioteca/philosophical_schools.pdf|archive-date=17 July 2011}}
* {{Citation|last=Cousins|first=L. S.|year=1996|title=The dating of the historical Buddha: a review article|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society|series=3|volume=6|issue=1|pages=57–63|doi=10.1017/S1356186300014760|s2cid=162929573 |url=http://indology.info/papers/cousins|access-date=17 January 2016|archive-date=26 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226184207/http://indology.info/papers/cousins/|url-status=dead}}
* {{Citation|last1=Edelglass|first1=William|last2=Garfield|first2=Jay|title=Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings|place=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-19-532817-2}}
* {{Citation|last=Gombrich|first=Richard F.|year=1997|title=How Buddhism Began|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal}}
* {{Citation|last=Kalupahana|first=David J.|year=1992|title=The Principles of Buddhist Psychology|place=Delhi|publisher=Sri Satguru Publications}}
* {{Citation|last=Kalupahana|first=David J.|year=1994|title=A history of Buddhist philosophy|place=Delhi|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited}}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Lopez Jr. |editor-first=Donald S. |editor-link=Donald S. Lopez Jr. |year=2007 |origyear=1995 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaC4CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |title=Buddhism in Practice: Abridged Edition |location=[[Princeton, New Jersey]] and [[Woodstock, Oxfordshire]] |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |series=Princeton Readings in Religions |pages=3–36 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvcm4h64.8 |isbn=9780691129686 |jstor=j.ctvcm4h64 |lccn=2006050985}}
* {{Citation|last=Perdue|first=Daniel|year=1992|title=Debate in Tibetan Buddhism|publisher=Snow Lion Publications|isbn=978-0-937938-76-8}}
* {{cite book |author-last=Siderits |author-first=Mark |year=2007 |title=Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bK6O4Z7RyH8C&printsec=frontcover |location=[[Farnham]], [[Surrey]] |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |edition=1st |isbn=9781624669811 |lccn=2006013183}}
* {{Citation|last=Vetter|first=Tilmann|year=1988|title=The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism|publisher=BRILL}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/narada/nutshell.html Buddhism in a Nutshell]
* [https://archive.org/details/2500.Years.of.Buddhism.by.Prof.P.Y.Bapat.1956.djvu 2500 Years of Buddhism by Prof. P.Y. Bapat (1956)] at [[archive.org]]

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