I am unimpressed with Buddhist metaphysics. In spite of the claim often heard that Buddhism is not a religion, I never seem to get very far into Buddhist doctrine without running into its metaphysics. Most recently, I was charmed by the idea of "samsara" -- which seemed to me a useful concept -- all the distractions of the world that keep us from enlightenment. However, any discussion I can find of the subject is all about the wheel of life and reincarnation. I'm also impressed by the idea that our suffering is self-imposed and that we can escape suffering by changing the way we think about our lives. This is a pretty obvious idea, really but the Buddhists seem to wrap it up in religious practice and doctrine. Not all of our problems can be solved this way and certainly not even the problems that arise solely in our minds can be solved this way. There are, after all, strong claims of modern medicine to address genuine illnesses, "chemical imbalances", injuries a...
Comments
Post a Comment