REVIEW:
ALAN WATTS READING
In the reading, Watt’s presents two “stories”.
• The true nature of reality.
• The true nature of our personal identity.
REALITY?
• Reality isn’t a thing.
It’s one big process.
• We chop it up into
parts in time.
• We chop it up into
parts in space.
• Which makes it seem
like the world is made
up of parts that follow
laws of cause and
effect.
REVIEW
PERSONAL IDENTITY: WHO ARE WE?
Watts is slowly, but surely, telling us an Eastern (Hindu) story for
who we really are.
If no “things” exist and all is a process, then who/what are we?
Question: When did the Big Bang end?
What is the true identify of
a leaf?
REVIEW:
PERSONAL IDENTITY?
True self: You are all there is.
You are the universe experiencing itself.
WATTS ON THE HUMAN CONDITION:
“WE NEED TO WAKE UP”
EASTERN PHILOSOPHY
Can you see why the hippies loved this?
• Eastern philosophy as practical philosophy.
• Eastern philosophy as experiential and very closely
associated to observations of nature.
• Eastern philosophy as more metaphorical and
hence more poetic.
• More poetic = more accurate?
HISTORY OF HINDUISM
HINDUISM
• No particular founder
• Ideas are 4000+ years old
• Sacred Texts:
• Vedas (myths & rituals)
• Upanishads (philosophy, particularly metaphysics)
HINDU COSMOLOGY
• One impersonal, ultimate
reality (ground of all being)
called Brahman.
• Individual self is Atman.
• Trapped in suffering through
The Wheel of Samsara
• Rebirth governed by Karma.
• Trapped due to Maya.
• Escape Samsara after
“awaken” to realization that
Atman is Brahman. (Moksha)
HINDU PHILOSOPHY
As a result, what has Hindu philosophy said about…
• The nature of reality?
• Not comprised of separate things, but one big process, or unfolding.
• The nature of personal identity?
• You are not your brain, body, or memory.
• You are the whole universe being aware of itself from a particular point of view.
• The nature of knowledge? Truth?
• All knowledge is “maya” other than the truth about who you really are.
• The nature of free will?
• Yes, since your choices affect your Karma, but your circumstances at your birth are
determined.
• The nature of time?
• Cyclical
SUPERHERO ORIGIN STORY?
THE BUDDHA STORY
Buddha is not a name!
Buddha = “enlightened one”
Siddhartha Gautama – noble birth in India, 563 B.C.E.
BORN A PRINCE
THE FOUR SIGHTS:
OLD AGE
THE FOUR SIGHTS:
SICKNESS
THE FOUR SIGHTS:
DEATH
THE FOUR SIGHTS:
A MONK
HOW CAN YOU STOP
SICKNESS, DEATH, OLD AGE?
LEAVES HIS RICHES
AND SEARCHES FOR ANSWERS
LIVES THE LIFE OF A BEGGAR
BECOMES A STUDENT
RIGOROUS SPIRITUAL
PRACTICES
PEACE UNDER
THE BODHI TREE
THE NATURE OF REALITY:
BUDDHA’S METAPHYSICS
• The Three Marks of Existence (Conditioned Reality)
• The Four Noble Truths (Realities)
THE NATURE OF REALITY:
BUDDHA’S METAPHYSICS
When he looked at reality,
what did he see?
THE 3 MARKS OF EXISTENCE
1. Dukkha:
Life in this world is filled with suffering.
THE NATURE OF REALITY:
BUDDHA’S METAPHYSICS
When he looked at reality,
what else did he see?
THE 3 MARKS OF EXISTENCE
2. Anicca:
Everything in this world is impermanent
THE NATURE OF REALITY:
BUDDHA’S METAPHYSICS
When he looked at reality,
what else did he see?
THE 3 MARKS OF EXISTENCE
3. Anatta:
The self also changes;
changes; no permanent self .
• Body continually change.
• Thoughts continually change.
• Our relationships to the world and others continually change.
*Suffering often stems from
clinging to permanent notions of
the self (self-image, ego).
*Hindu striving for self-realization (“I
am the universe”) can make this
worse.
GROUP DISCUSSION
How is the Buddha’s notion of the ‘self’ different than
the one espoused by Hindu philosophy (via our Alan
Watts reading) and traditional western approaches
to personal identity?
THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
#1. Dukkha:
Life in this world is filled with suffering
THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
#2. Cause of Suffering: Craving and Clinging
The cause of suffering is self-centered desire
& attachments to what is impermanent.
Let’s take a look:
• Not having what you desire
• Becoming attached to things that inherently change.
So how can we end suffering?
THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
#3. The solution is to eliminate desire (craving) and
attachment, thus achieving Nirvana
THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
#4. The way to Nirvana is through
The EightEight-Fold Path
Be more consciously
aware of what and
how you think and
behave.
Garbage in,
garbage out.
GROUP DISCUSSION
• How is the Buddha’s approach to reality different
than the one espoused by Hindu philosophy (via
our Alan Watts reading) and traditional western
approaches to the nature of reality?
THE BUDDHA’S EPISTEMOLOGY
• Nowhere does the Buddha separate reason from
experience.
• Doesn’t see knowledge in the same way as the
west. Not a battle between rationalism and
empiricism.
• Reason is the way we understand experience.
• All knowledge should be tested through
experience. “Try it yourself…See for yourself…”
BUDDHA’S PHILOSOPHY
As a result, what has Buddha’s philosophy said about…
• The nature of reality?
• Is filled with suffering and impermanent.
• The nature of personal identity?
• There is no permanent, separate self.
• Just a collection of experiences, sensations, and thoughts that
change moment by moment.
• The nature of knowledge? Truth?
• Knowledge is gained through personal experience.
• The most important knowledge is about how to live in the
world.
TAOIST PHILOSOPHY
• Taoist philosophy originated
in China 2500+ yrs ago.
• It’s primary text is short book
of short words of wisdom
entitled the Tao Te Ching
• The author is often referred
to as Lao Tzu (“old master”).
LAO TZU’S
ORIGIN STORY
THE NATURE OF REALITY
When he looked at reality,
what did he see?
1. The Tao
2. A World of Opposites
TAO: “THE WAY”
From Ch.1 of the Tao Te Ching
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the
manifestations.
THE TAO
So what did he see?
1. There seems to be a natural intelligence to life.
• Examples?
• Think of the growth of a person
• Think of the body’s processes
• Think of nature, and the web of life.
2. There seems to be natural ebbs and flows to life.
• Examples?
The Tao is…
-This natural intelligence
-This natural flow of life
THE TAO
Ch. 30 of the Tao Te Ching
The Great Tao flows everywhere.
It may go left or right
All things depend on it for life.
and it does not turn away from them.
It accomplishes its task, but does not claim
credit for it.
It clothes and feeds all things
but does not claim to be master over them.
A WORLD OF OPPOSITES
The principle of Yin and Yang :
• No black without white, no hot without cold, no
long without short, no creation without destruction.
YIN-YANG: INTERPLAY OF OPPOSITES
Ch. 2 of the Tao Te Ching
When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.
Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.
YIN-YANG OF LIFE
Have you ever…
• Gotten in your own way?
• Thought too much about a decision?
• Missed an opportunity because you were too preoccupied or stressed to
see it?
• Did something through brute force, and later realized there was an easier
way?
• Felt like things came naturally?
• Felt as if something came “through you” rather than by you.
• Lost yourself in an activity?
• Felt as if everything was going right?
IN FLOW WITH THE TAO
What makes floating difficult?
HOW TO BE IN FLOW WITH THE TAO?
Wu-wei
Literally means “non-action.”
Act without doing;
Work without effort.
--Chapter 63
But it really means…
to not force things.
to let go of the need for control.
to go with the flow.
to align yourself with the Tao; be in harmony with the natural
movement of the universe.
SIMPLE EXAMPLES OF
WU-WEI
WU-WEI AND THE FORCE
Obi-Wan: Use the Force, Luke.
Luke looks up, then starts to look back into the targeting
device. He has second thoughts.
Obi-Wan: Let go, Luke.
True mastery can be gained
By letting things go their own way.
It can't be gained by interfering.
--Chapter 48
Wu-wei means living simply, having patience,
and going with the flow of the Tao.
WU-WEI AS
“GOING WITH THE FLOW”
THE POWER FROM WU-WEI:
BEING IN FLOW OR IN “THE ZONE”
GROUP DISCUSSION
What is the Taoist notion of wu wei and what specific
examples can you think of when it may have been a
useful approach to your own life?
TAOIST PHILOSOPHY
As a result, what has Taoist philosophy said about…
• The nature of reality?
• The Tao:
• Indescribable natural intelligence that ebbs & flows.
• Comprised of opposites in balance.
• The nature of knowledge? Truth?
• True knowledge indescribable with language.
• Truth is the way of the Tao.
• The nature of free will?
• Yes. You can choose to go with the current or against it.
FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS
• Form groups of 3-6.
• In your groups, reflect on the possible final exam
questions.
• Then vote on…
• 1) which question you would most like to answer on the
exam and
• 2) which you would least like to answer.
PRACTICALITY OF TAOIST
PHILOSOPHY
Our view of reality is so perverse that we struggle to
do what is simple, and make hard what is naturally
easy.
• Practical Concern:
• Wisdom is knowledge how, rather than knowledge that.
• Not a philosophy of what things are, but a philosophy of
how to live life.
• Paying attention to how things are, rather than stressing
over how we desire them to be.
EASTERN PHILOSOPHY
• Eastern philosophy as practical philosophy.
• Eastern philosophy as experiential and very closely
associated to observations of nature.
• Eastern philosophy as more metaphorical and hence
more poetic.
• More poetic = more accurate?
• Can’t we take a more practical, experiential approach
to western philosophy too?