Philosophy
Spiritual traditions / Philosophy 
7 excerpts, 16:14 total duration

Buddhist Identity in the Modern World – Aug. 15, 2015

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14. Comment: Some Buddhists get upset when they hear someone say that Buddhism is a philosophy. [Philosophy] [Aversion] [Buddhist identity]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno: “It’s a lot more than that.”


Western Disciples of the Thai Forest Tradition, Session 26 – Feb. 10, 2016

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6. The Buddha taught not-self by ecouraging his disciples to ask these questions. [Teaching Dhamma] [Not-self] [Questions] [Philosophy]

Sutta: SN 22.59 Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta questionaire (Chanting Book translation).

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Skillful qualities] [Ajahn Chah]


Readings from The Island, Session 2 – Jan. 8, 2025

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1. Comment: I was thinking about our obsession to create things. We create our world out of the things that we create. So Nibbāna being no thing-ness seems just right. [Proliferation] [Nibbāna] [Non-identification]

Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Volitional formations] [Conventions] [Impermanence] [Philosophy] [Aggregates] [Insight meditation] [Suffering]

Quote: “The things of this world are merely conventions of our own making....” — Ajahn Chah in Convention and Liberation. [Ajahn Chah]


Readings from The Island, Session 8 – Jan. 18, 2025

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3. “When kamma meets this present moment way of handling experience, this synchronic approach, is there some sort of free will there?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Kamma] [Conditionality] [Philosophy]

Reference: The Wings to Awakening by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro, pp. 35-37.

Quote: “The concept of free will is quite European.” [Philosophy] [Culture/West]

Reference: “Is God a Taoist?”, Raymond M. Smullyan in The Mind’s ‘I’, edited by Douglas R. Hofstadter and Daniel C. Dennett.


Readings from The Island, Session 16 – Feb. 1, 2025

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3. Comment: The Scottish philosopher David Hume expressed his understanding of the nature of self similar to a Buddhist understanding. [Philosophy] [Not-self] // [Sense bases] [Perception]

Reference: David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature.


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5. Discussion about possible connections between Western philosopy and Buddhism. [Philosophy] [History] [Spiritual traditions]


Readings from The Island, Session 20 – Feb. 7, 2025

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1. Comment: When you were reading from the passage from Ācariya Nāgārguna’s Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā (quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 109), it struck me that the use of the word essence is equivalent to the way the Buddha uses the word self. [Acariya Nāgārguna] [Language] [Self-identity view] // [Mahāyāna] [Philosophy]

Sutta: SN 5.10: The Bhikkhunī Vajirā.