Marxism and Buddhism

By Wayne Brown
An interesting and thoughtful essay on the overlap and contrast between Marxist and Buddhist philosophy:

https://aeon.co/essays/how-marxism-and-buddhism-complement-each-other?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=0bc6e8251c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_07_15_12_57&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-0bc6e8251c-70392753

At this point, I can only comment that neither Buddha nor Marx was a philosopher. Essays like this tend to delve into "philosophizing" that must be subject to Zen skepticism about words as opposed to experience. Having said that, it seems to me that my own pursuit of what I call "Zen" has political ramifications along with implications as to what kind of society is possible as opposed to what kind of society we would like - the Utopian issue.

The overlap discussed in the essay turns on the observation that capitalism causes suffering. Both Marx and Buddha had their own ideas about how to reduce this suffering. As an aside, we run into the question of the "self". Is it "real" or created by social interactions?

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