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Channel: Love of All Wisdom » Four Noble Truths
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One and a half noble truths?

In almost any contemporary introduction to Buddhism, one of the first things one learns is the Four Noble Truths: Everything is suffering (dukkha). Suffering is caused by craving. There is an end to...

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Of noble lies and skill in means

Justin Whitaker makes an important point about my Noble Truths post: “I have to laugh, thinking of the Buddha as a ‘mostly-suffering-free’ spiritual ideal instead of the traditional ‘fully awakened...

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Without rebirth, suicide?

I’ve often heard it said, rightly I think, that Buddhism cannot do without a concept of karma; it is too central to Buddhist thought. I don’t see this as a big problem in itself, even for those (like...

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Buddhists against interdependence

It’s become something of a cliché to say that Buddhism is about embracing our “interdependence.” The mechanistic Cartesian worldview, so the story goes, has led us to think of human beings as subjects...

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New York as Eden

[EDIT: Image of New York City removed at copyright holder's request.] This weekend I went to New York City with friends so they could attend a bridal shower. I love New York – but I’m also wary of it....

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Monotheists’ humility

I’ve been thinking some more about the idea of encounter, which I blogged about in these posts and which I take to be central to the philosophy of Emmanuel Lévinas: the idea that we can never encompass...

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Indian renouncers and the defence of culture

Patrick Deneen had an eloquent piece up this week at Front Porch Republic, a speech given at a student retreat held by the Tocqueville Forum. This speech is emblematic of many popular conservative (and...

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Is compassion a virtue?

Thill makes an important point in response to my recent post on virtue and pleasure (as well as to a commenter named Bob). The post articulated the view, attributed to Aristotle via Julia Annas and...

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Marx, Augustine and early Buddhism: diagnosis vs. prognosis

The past couple weeks in the United States have been very congenial to a Marxist worldview. I don’t remember any time when the bourgeoisie has so clearly been waging war on the proletariat – or when...

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The good life, present and future

Every human life ends in death. A long time ago I noted that we often forget this fact; and we shouldn’t. But granted that we acknowledge that we are all going to die, just how significant is the fact...

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A journey to Buddhism with Hegel

A few years ago I told what I thought of at the time as the story of my philosophy: how I left a utilitarian worldview and came to discover Buddhism in Thailand at age 21. I realize now that there’s...

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The power of a beautiful temple

We think these days a lot about Buddhist ethics, which often involves some thought about Buddhist politics. We tend to think a lot less about Buddhist aesthetics. Now there’s an obvious explanation...

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Disengaged Buddhism in the era of Trump

Cross-posted at the Indian Philosophy Blog. Śāntideva’s anti-political views are very commonly missed by Buddhist scholars today, especially constructive or theological ones, who are excited by the...

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Beyond the removal of suffering

Last time I discussed Jan Westerhoff’s potent objection to naturalized Buddhism: if there is no rebirth then we can end our suffering simply by committing suicide. Westerhoff takes this objection as a...

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Whose religion? Which science?

A little while ago I had the pleasure of giving a guest lecture on Buddhism to David Decosimo‘s class at the Boston University School of Theology. The students were a delight to teach – smart, actively...

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In defence of McMindfulness

The mainstreaming of mindfulness meditation continues at a rapid clip. According to the Center for Disease Control, in the years 2012 to 2017 the percentage of adults meditating in the United States...

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