PHI 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Shantideva, Multiple Choice, Mahayana

• School: University at Buffalo
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 101
• Professor: Powell Lewis

Document Summary

Phi 101 lecture 10 the meaning of life (cid:862)a(cid:272)(cid:272)ordi(cid:374)g to buddhis(cid:373), i(cid:374)di(cid:448)iduals are (cid:373)asters of their o(cid:449)(cid:374) desti(cid:374)(cid:455). A(cid:374)d all li(cid:448)i(cid:374)g (cid:271)ei(cid:374)g s are (cid:271)elie(cid:448)ed to possess the nature of the potential or seed of enlightenment, within them. What greater free (cid:449)ill do (cid:449)e (cid:374)eed? (cid:863) 14th dali lama. There are many strands of buddhist thought: however, there is one element that is important to various strands of buddhist thought is the denial of the self. In other words, many buddhists think that the self is an illusion. According to them, our individual existence or self-hood is an illusion. Why do they think this: there are two arguments they offer, the first concerns the relationship of the parts and the whole, suppose the part and the whole are both real. If both are real, then one of these must be true: the whole is identical to one of the parts.