“Philosophy of Buddhism”: lectures by Alexander Pyatigorsky on hermitage, suffering and Dharma. Concept of Buddhist philosophy

Hello, dear readers – seekers of knowledge and truth!

Probably, everyone who is even slightly interested in Buddhist teachings has had the question: “Is Buddhism a philosophy or a religion?” On the one hand, everyone around says that Buddhism is one of the main world religions. On the other hand, we usually call it "Buddhist philosophy, teaching."

So where is the truth? Let's try to figure this out. In the article below we discuss what philosophy and religion are, by what criteria Buddhism can be classified as a philosophy, and by what criteria – as a religion. At the end, we will summarize all the arguments and come to conclusions about which category Buddhism belongs to - philosophical or religious.

Philosophy and religion - what are the differences?

Our world is very multifaceted. And in terms of worldview, you can find hundreds of different views here. Some of them are called philosophy, others - religion. Another difficulty lies in the fact that in the countries of the East, where Buddhism is mainly widespread, there is no clear distinction between the concepts of “religion” and “philosophy”.

There have been disputes on this basis for centuries, and researchers still cannot come to a consensus. Controversy over Buddhism persists primarily because every year it attracts more and more new adherents. To understand which category it can be classified into, it is worth first defining what is philosophy and what is religion.

Literally, philosophy can be translated from Greek as “to love wisdom,” which perfectly reflects the essence of the concept. Philosophy always strives to study the world, our life, and the structure of the Universe from all sides. Different directions of philosophy study the process of cognition, the value system, existence, knowledge based on one’s own experience, and cause-and-effect relationships.

Philosophical concepts have their founders, and over time they are supplemented and transformed. They are based on scientific works, theories, laws. Philosophy is “friends” with science and, to some extent, it itself is considered a science.

Religion is a set of views that are based on faith - in higher powers, in the supernatural, in one God or in several gods. Religion unites people and dictates its own indisputable rules and dogmas.

At the same time, believers unite in organizations where ceremonies, sacred actions, services, and rituals are held. To do this, they gather in specially designated places, for example, in churches, temples, monasteries, synagogues.

Both philosophy and religion answer important questions for humans: is it possible to know the world, where the truth is hidden, is there a God, what is a person like, what is good and what is bad. But at the same time, philosophy provides arguments (often logical), which a person may or may not believe, accept or not, and which may change over time depending on scientific discoveries and new concepts.

In religion, God is transcendental, truths are unquestioningly accepted on faith, one way or another they talk about higher powers, there are rules that must be followed.

Buddhism as a philosophy

Buddhism does not speak about the divine principle that exists in the Universe and in each of us, but about spiritual Awakening - bodhi. Buddhists are not “slaves of God”, but “followers of the Teaching”.

That is, unlike the view of religions, we should strive not for God, but for our own Enlightenment. It is based on the Teaching, which in itself speaks of closeness to philosophy.

This Teaching has a founder -. He was not God, but a great Teacher who was able to walk his own path, learn the truth and throw all his strength into helping others. He was an ordinary person, and we know about him that his name was Sidhartha Gautama, he lived in India, was the son of a king from the Shakya family, he had a wife and a son, and the reality of his existence is beyond doubt.

The teaching does not talk about the divine origin of the world and otherworldly forces. There are many Buddhist sutras that have existed since early Buddhism and become texts that detail the essence of the teachings.

In some of them you can learn about various demons, deities, x - but you cannot talk about their divine or hellish nature, because they, just like us, are living beings and revolve in samsara - the cycle of death and rebirth. And no one worships them - even Teacher Buddha spoke about not making a cult out of him or anyone else.

In Buddhism there is no sin and its atonement - there is a concept. She, just like philosophy, explains that any action will be followed by a result in the future, that is, everything has its causes and consequences.

Also, the Buddhist Teaching is not blind faith in what an authority says. Any rule or saying must be passed through the prism own experience, be tested “on your own skin.” Buddha also spoke about this.

Buddhist philosophy, unlike religion, not only recognizes science, but also tries to go hand in hand with it. A good example This is the current Dalai Lama XIV - he works closely with researchers, is interested in science and even wrote more than one scientific work himself.

Summarizing the features of Buddhism, we can say that it does not have those basic features inherent in religion:

• God who created the world and rules it
• sins and their atonement;
• uncompromising faith;
• strict rules, dogmas;
• a single canon, which is considered sacred for all directions of religion.

Buddhism does not require its followers to accept its teachings as the only true ones. To become a Buddhist, you do not have to renounce your original religion.

The ideas of Buddhism are embodied in modern culture, for example in literature: Jack Kerouac and his “Dharma Bums”, Hermann Hesse and the novel “Siddhartha”, Victor Pelevin and his “Zen Buddhist”, as he calls it, novel “Chapaev and Emptiness”. This perception is far from religious and more like philosophical.

Buddhism as a religion

On the other side, the main objective Buddhism is to save people, help them achieve the truth, gain freedom. Why is this not the goal of religion?

Buddhism has long transcended the borders of certain countries and nationalities, reaching many followers around the world. It is for this reason that it is called a world religion along with Islam and Christianity.

Over the 2.5 thousand years of its existence, the teachings of the Buddha have changed greatly, dividing into many schools, the views of which can be completely different. In some directions, for example in Vajrayana, there is ritualism, which is so inherent in religion.

In some traditions, even the Buddha, as well as other bodhisattvas, are deified: altars are erected to them, statues are erected, and offerings are made to them. We all know so well about Buddhist prayers, which are essentially prayers found in other faiths.

Exist various kinds Buddhist temples, monasteries, datsans, khurals. Services, holidays, and rituals are held here, which is something you will never find in philosophy. Monks, lamas, pujas, offerings, reading sutras, thangkas that are so similar to iconography, certain clothes - these are, without a doubt, signs of religion that are very clearly manifested in the Buddhist tradition.

Summarizing

It is not for nothing that Wikipedia defines Buddhism as a religious and philosophical teaching. It combines features of both, so it is very difficult to answer the question posed unambiguously.

Of course, attributes like temples, customs, rituals, sculptures are religious, while the Teaching itself is pure philosophy.

Due to its versatility and multiplicity of directions, Buddhism can be called both a confession and a philosophical worldview. Much of the understanding depends on the context and the particular line of thought.

So, for example, it seems to be a philosophy that is popular now, including in the West. At the same time, the Gelug tradition of the Tibetan sense, which is widespread in Russia, has all the features of a religion. Therefore, Buddhist thought should be considered from the point of view of both religion and philosophy. And, of course, keep in mind that Buddhism is still different in its different directions.

Conclusion

Thank you very much for your attention, dear readers! We hope that in our article you found the answer to your question.

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BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY: WHAT IS BUDDHISM?

What is Buddhism?- this is the first religion, the number of its followers today is steadily approaching a billion. Buddhist philosophy proclaims the principles of non-violence. The term “Buddhism” itself was created by Europeans, because this word was more acceptable to the ear. The Buddhist religion was so named under the influence of the legend of the prince, Siddhartha Gautama, who later became Buddha, or the enlightened one. The Buddhists themselves call the movement to which they belong “Budhitharma”, “Budhi” is the name of the tree under which the Buddha himself sat, and “tharma” - law, order, support, this word has many meanings. The Buddha's teachings spread very quickly throughout the world; China, Japan, Thailand, Tibet, and today Buddhist philosophy is very popular in Europe. All large quantity people accept Buddhism and the teachings of Buddha as the basic principles of life that guide a person on the path of self-development and improvement. Buddhism is, to a greater extent, a practical religion aimed at helping a person, now in his real life, in contrast to Christianity, which places emphasis on afterlife, which is why Buddhism is becoming more and more popular.

Buddhism is often called a religion without God, because in this religion there is no personal God, as in Christianity. In some movements of Buddhism (and there are a lot of them), Buddha is perceived as a deity, but not in the usual way, for Christian understanding God.

BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY: TEACHINGS OF BUDDHA.

What is Buddhism? (The doctrine of the four noble truths and the doctrine of the non-existence of the soul and non-permanence)

Four Noble Truths: these truths were revealed to the Founder of Buddhism, the Buddha, as a result of his immersion in his own “I.” When the Buddha’s consciousness began to be compared to the ocean, and ceased to absorb information and also reflect this world, he discovered the four noble truths. “Samadhi” is insight, enlightenment, this is the name of the state in which the Buddha was.

What is the essence of these truths?
The first truth is the “truth of suffering” Buddha says that suffering is eternal and will always exist, it cannot be avoided by any living being.

Explanation:
Suffering in Buddhism and suffering in European thinking are somewhat different. In our understanding, there may be physical suffering and mental suffering. In Buddhism, the concept of suffering is more expanded. Buddhists believe that any person, rich or poor, who considers himself HAPPY, is in captivity of his own “Mayan” illusions. Buddhists say that even golden showers cannot make a person happy, because there will always be someone who will say that they got less. The state of happiness is not a result, it is a process and having achieved any goal set for oneself, feeling illusory happiness, sooner or later a person will ask the question: The goal has been achieved, but what next? that is, suffering in Buddhism is a state that haunts a person throughout his entire life, even when he considers himself happy.

The second truth is “the cause of suffering” Buddha will say; that one of the reasons for our suffering is our thirst for life, i.e. we are too attached to life and therefore we suffer. We are attached to our material world, financial, social well-being. We are very attached to our loved ones, and when they suffer, we suffer too.

The mechanism that helps a person come to terms with the conditions of his existence is the doctrine of karma.
What is karma? For Buddhism, karma is nothing more than an impersonal law, a set of actions, deeds that we perform throughout our lives. Karma is what determines our current life and shapes the future. From the point of view of Buddhism, in the suffering and troubles of one person, only that person himself is to blame. If in this life you are successful, rich and happy, then this means that in past lives you did everything possible to deserve your current position and happiness. According to Buddhism, of all living beings on earth, only man is capable of changing his karma.

on topic: Karma. Buddhism.

The Third Truth: “Suffering Can Be Ended” this truth gives hope to all humanity that any suffering can be stopped with the help of the fourth truth.

The fourth truth is: “There is a noble eightfold path to achieve Samadhi.” this path contains eight stages, through which a person on the path of self-improvement gradually becomes a completely different person.
Anyone who completes the noble eightfold path achieves the state of samadhi (enlightenment), the same state that the Buddha himself experienced while sitting under the buddhi tree. But samadhi is not a side chapel, there is more high level, this is nirvana.
Nirvana– literally means to disappear, fade away, later this term acquired such meanings as; bliss, tranquility, liberation. Nirvana is an absolute state, a feeling of freedom from everything material. Achieving nirvana is possible not only after death. Buddha himself, during his lifetime, achieved the state of nirvana twice. Buddha never gave his disciples precise definition what is nirvana. He believed that if he could give a certain mental image to the concept of "nirvana", then his followers would become attached to his description of this concept, and nirvana should be experienced by everyone individually. The state of nirvana is a unique experience, and it is different for everyone.

The doctrine of the non-existence of the soul and personality – In Buddhism, the understanding of what a person is, a personality, is very different from our understanding. There is no personality here, a person as an individual, there is only a set of some psychophysiological elements called “skanthas” (piles). Buddhists reject the concept of personality. Man, in their opinion, is just a word to designate certain groups of elements united in this life in the form of a specific appearance, nervous system, specific temperament, abilities, talents, etc. When we realize that we are ourselves, we are mistaken, it only seems to us that we represent a complete personality.
The following follows from this: the doctrine of impermanence, the instantaneity of everything . The whole world cannot be characterized by eternity, everything is subject to inevitable destruction, everything has its end and its beginning.

Buddhism is a religious and philosophical doctrine, the first in time world religion(along with Christianity and Islam).

The founder of Buddhism is the Indian prince Sidhartha Gautama (aka Shakyamuni, i.e. “sage from the Shakya family”) - Buddha, who lived in the Ganges Valley (India). Having spent a serene childhood and youth in his father’s palace, he, shocked by meetings with a sick man, an old man, the corpse of a deceased person and an ascetic, went into hermithood to look for a way to deliver people from suffering. After the “great insight” he became a wandering preacher of a new religion and morality, the founder of a Buddhist monastic community.

The cornerstone of Buddhism is the belief in reincarnation, the teaching of the path of liberation and the achievement of Nirvana, the highest spiritual state of illumination with true knowledge.

The philosophy of Buddhism is based on Vedic texts. The teachings of the Buddha were a serious attempt to reform Brahmanism, to cleanse it of the layers of cult practice, to destroy caste system, to establish justice in society based on the recognition of equality of people and the building of communities (sanghas).

The main philosophical and ethical idea of ​​Buddhism is connected with the Teaching of the “four noble truths” taught by the Buddha in the first Benares sermon:

There is the suffering of embodied existence arising from ever-renewing births and deaths;

The cause of this suffering is darkness, the thirst for self-satisfaction, illness, imperfection;

The cessation of suffering lies in achieving a state of enlightened containment, in which the possibility of exiting the cycle of existence on earth is created;

The path to ending suffering lies in the gradual strengthening of elements aimed at improvement in order to destroy the causes of existence on earth, and in approaching the great truth.

There is an "eightfold path" to truth:

• correct thinking
• · correct speech,
• correct action
• · correct recognition,
• · right life,
• correct work
• correct memories and self-discipline,
• · correct concentration.

The worldview system of Buddhism is built on the following main categories and concepts:

Dharma (element, Law),

Karma (action),

Samsara (stream of being),

Nirvana (literally: extinction - state of Enlightenment),

Nidana (wheel of cause and effect),

Sangha (community).

Buddhist cosmology describes the world as consisting of three lokas (spheres):

Kamaloka (sensual, real world);

Rupaloka (world of forms, illusory);

Arupa-loka (world without forms, sphere of pure consciousness).

One of the most important teachings in Buddhism is the Kalachakra (“Wheel of Time”) teaching. Its essence is the relationship between man and the Universe. Kalachakra exists as a doctrine of cycles (small 12-year, annual 60-year, and also cosmic). Calendar chronology is the esoteric “Wheel of Time”. The esoteric doctrine of Kalachakra is associated with secret astrological knowledge about the periods of evolution of the Universe and human life.

The world in Buddhism seems to be an endless combination of dharmas, elementary particles, a kind of flash of vital energy. The whole world is a “turbulence” of dharmas.

Psychological suffering is the constant experience of anxiety. Suffering as well as satisfaction create consequences for new births and combinations of dharmas. If you do not change the nature of experiences, then a person will not be able to get out of the circle of births and deaths (samsara). Through his actions, feelings, and thoughts, a person creates karma (fate). A noble and moral life improves karma.

There are 10 shackles that hinder the achievement of Nirvana:

• illusion of personality
• · doubt,
• · superstition,
• · bodily passions,
• · hatred,
• attachment to the earth
• · desire for pleasure and tranquility,
• · pride,
• · self-satisfaction,
• · ignorance.

“Of the three types of actions, the most destructive is not the word, not the bodily act, but the thought” (Buddha). A person is a complex of combinations of skandhas, and at the same time, a link between two subsequent states of life. Liberation is achieved by the cessation of the “disturbance” of dharmas, i.e. destroying desires, passions, thoughts - everything that does not correspond to the righteous eightfold path.

Nirvana is a state of absolute calm, penetration into the true essence of things, sinlessness and independence from external things.

Peace of mind is only external sign, which does not express the essence of the state. “Nirvana is the quality of containing all actions, the saturation of comprehensiveness.” It is in the state of insight that true knowledge flows. To achieve liberation, a number of schools of Buddhism have developed special methods, techniques and procedures that serve to transform the psychophysical characteristics of the personality, accelerating its evolution, transmuting imperfect connections of dharmas (skadhas). They received particular development in the schools of Yogacharas and Vajrayana, which combined the practice Indian yoga, Chinese Taoism, ancient magical religions. A person must fulfill his Dharma (Law, Duty), which in life is associated with moral concepts.

Buddhism teaches renunciation of property, equality of all people, life in a community (sangha). He opposed the ritual forms of religious life, against abstract dogmatic quests. Starting from the denial of external religiosity, Buddhism in the course of historical development came to her confession.

Buddha began to be personified with the Universe, and the theory of the Cosmic Body of Buddha arose. In Vajrayana, this is the concept of Adi-Buddha - the supreme unified Deity. From the Buddhist sangha, the working monastic community, monasteries, churches, and a hierarchy of clergy grew. The cult of Buddhism began to embrace family and everyday life, holidays, and created a system social institutions, allowing us to consider Buddhism as a single religious state with its own regions - schools and traditions.

The dogmatic perception of the Buddha's teachings led to social stratification and differentiation of adherents of religious movements. Buddhism had a strong influence on the way of life in India, during its origin and development it acted in opposition to Brahmanism.

The influence of Buddhism on world religious and philosophical thought is enormous. Buddhist culture has formed an entire mental-spiritual world with its own philosophy, architecture, painting, literature and form of thinking. In 1950 the world brotherhood of Buddhists was created.

TEACHING ABOUT THE WORLD AND MAN. The philosophical essence of the sermons of the founder of Buddhism was the affirmation of the dependence of the world on man, as well as the dynamic and changeable (anitya) nature of everything that exists, including man. Buddha believed that a person does not consist of a body and an unchanging soul (anatma-vada), as in Brahmanism, but from five groups ( skandha ) elements – dharm , shaping physical and mental phenomena. Nevertheless, universal variability does not mean chaos, since it is subject to the law of the interdependent arising of dharmas ( Pratitya-samutpada ). This is the picture of the world from which Buddha derives his four noble truths : universal variability causes suffering for all living things (first truth); suffering has its own cause - desire (second truth); this cause can be eliminated (third truth); exists eightfold path to the elimination of suffering (fourth truth).

After the death of Buddha, through the efforts of his followers, the Buddhist canon was created Tripitaka (Pali Tipitaka), the oldest version of which is preserved in the school Theravada (teaching of the elders). With t.zr. Theravada, everything that we observe, and we ourselves, is a stream of instantly flashing elements of existence - dharmas, which replace each other so quickly that it seems to us that we and the things around us are unchanged. In Theravada, the ideal is cultivated arhata – the perfect saint, who has eradicated all the weaknesses of human nature, emphasizes the importance of the practice of meditation, therefore, classifications of personality types and meditation methods corresponding to each type play a large role in it.

Philosophical ideas Vaibhashika and Sautrantika schools are reflected in "Abhidharmakoshe" , text created in the 4th century. AD Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu , who later converted to Mahayana. The basic idea of ​​Vaibhashika is that all dharmas - past, present and future - exist, but in different forms(the dharmas of the present are manifested, the dharmas of the past and future are unmanifested). Therefore, dharmas do not actually arise or disappear, but only pass from one stage of existence to another. All of them are divided into composed, constantly in “excitement” and filling the observable world, and uncomposed, “calmed” (primarily nirvana ).Samsara (empirical existence) and nirvana (liberation from rebirth) are mutually exclusive: while the dharmas are in “unrest”, nirvana will not come, and, on the contrary, when their “excitement” ceases, the world of samsara will simply disappear. If samsara is the state of the whole world, then nirvana is the state of only a person. And the only way to it is to eradicate in oneself the false opinion about “selfhood”, the unchanging “I”, which passes during rebirth from body to body. A Buddhist must look at himself and the world not as “I” and the world, or, in philosophical language, subject and object, but as an impersonal flow of elements. Representatives of the Sautrantika school believed that only the dharmas of the present exist, the dharmas of the past and the future are unreal. Nirvana is not some special state, but the simple absence of samsara.

Mahayana philosophy related to names Nagarjuna , Vasubandhu, Chandrakirti , Shantarakshita and others, continues to develop Buddhist teachings about nirvana and samsara. If in the previous schools, which the Mahayanists united with the concept of Hinayana - “narrow path”, the main thing was the opposition of these concepts, here they are practically identified. Since every being is capable of spiritual improvement, it means that everyone has “Buddha nature” and it must be discovered. Thus, nirvana, understood as the realization of “Buddha nature,” is latently contained in samsara. Mahayana goes further than Hinayana in the question of the absence of a soul, or self, in everything that exists. The world and everything contained in it, including dharma, are deprived of their own support, depend on each other, and therefore are relative, empty (shunya). Therefore, suffering is explained by the lack of meaning and value in this world, while nirvana is associated with the comprehension of its true basis - emptiness ( sunyata ) and with the understanding that any teaching about him is untrue. Mahayana philosophers emphasize that all concepts are relative, including relativity itself, therefore at the highest stages of meditation one should abandon concepts in general and comprehend the world purely intuitively.

IN Vajrayana a fundamentally new attitude towards man—the subject of enlightenment—is developed. If in other areas of Buddhism the human body was assessed mainly negatively, because was considered a symbol of the passions that keep a person in samsara, then tantrism puts the body at the center of his religious practice, seeing in it a potential carrier of higher spirituality. Realization of the vajra in human body there is a real combination of the absolute (nirvana) and the relative (samsara). During a special ritual, the presence of Buddha nature in a person is revealed. By performing ritual gestures (mudras), the adept realizes own body Buddha nature; by pronouncing sacred incantations (mantras), he realizes the Buddha nature in speech; and by contemplating the deity depicted on the mandala (the sacred diagram or diagram of the universe), he realizes the Buddha nature in his own mind and, as it were, becomes a Buddha “in the flesh.” Thus, the ritual transforms the human personality into a Buddha and everything human becomes sacred.

V.G.Lysenko

THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE AND LOGIC. The doctrine of knowledge (pramana-vada), including logic, began to be developed in Buddhism relatively late, in the 6th–7th centuries, through the efforts of outstanding Indian thinkers Dignaghi And Dharmakirti . Before them, in early Buddhism, knowledge was viewed not as the result of cognitive activity, but as a means of achieving liberation from suffering. This is not rational knowledge, but mystical enlightenment (prajna), reminiscent of the enlightenment (bodhi) of the Buddha. Subsequently, a large fund of epistemological ideas and concepts put forward by Nagarjuna was formed in the schools of Buddhism, Asanga and his brother Vasubandhu, but there were no systematic theories of knowledge and logic. A significant contribution to the development of Buddhist epistemology and logic was also made by Dharmottara (9th century).

The mentioned thinkers based their theory of knowledge on the ontological division previously accepted in Brahman schools of two areas of reality: the lower (samvritti-sat) and the higher (paramartha-sat), considering them as two independent areas of knowledge, each of which corresponds to its own truth: the lower (samvritti -satya) and highest (paramartha-satya). For Buddhists, the highest truth is dharma (in all the meanings given to it at that time - ontological, psychological, ethical), leading to the highest reality - the flow of dharmas, calming down in nirvana; it is comprehended through the practice of yoga, concentration, changing states of consciousness. The lowest truth is the result of cognition of the empirical world in the course of special cognitive procedures, also called instruments of reliable knowledge, sensory perception and inference, interpreted by Buddhists both as a logical operation and as thinking in general. The consequence of this idea of ​​the process of cognition of the world was the development within the framework of Buddhist epistemology of logic, which never had the status of an independent and purely formal discipline, like the European one. Buddhists described the cognitive situation in two ways: in terms of ultimate reality and in terms of empirical reality. In the first case they said that at the moment sensory knowledge there is an outbreak of a certain complex of dharmas, including a chain of elements constructing an object, and a chain of dharmas constructing a subject. These two chains are connected by the law of dependent arising, so some of them flare up together with others: for example, the dharma of color, the dharma of the organ of vision and the dharma of pure consciousness, flaring up together, create what is called the sensation of color. The dharma of consciousness is always supported by the object and the perceptive faculty.

The transformation of sensation into sensory knowledge (into a perceptual judgment) has been described in different ways in schools of Buddhism. The Yogacaras (to which Dignaga and Dharmakirti belonged) believed that sensory knowledge is the result of an external projection of ideas of consciousness, namely the variety of it that forms the basis of personality ( adayavijnana ). Sautrantikas believed that a reverse process takes place: it is not the ideas of consciousness that are projected outward, but external reality that generates ideas-copies of things in the consciousness. The Vaibhashiks argued that sensory knowledge is not expressed in the ideas of objects that make up the content of consciousness, but the contents of consciousness at the moment of sensory perception constitute the directly sensory qualities of the perceived objects themselves. The concept of inference, adjacent to the concept of perception, contains epistemological and logical components, because, on the one hand, it provides a philosophical explanation of the intellectual processes that take place during the acquisition of inferential knowledge, on the other hand, it equips with the means of formal logical analysis of reasoning, used not only in the process knowledge, but also in religious and philosophical polemics. In addition to the above-mentioned concept of inference, the logical part of Buddhist epistemology contains in implicit form a theory of judgments, a classification of logical errors ( dosha ), including polemical errors, the theory of meanings of linguistic expressions ( apoha-vada ) and the theory of argumentation and polemics (vada-nyaya, tarka-nyaya).

Speaking about inference as thinking in general, Buddhists noted that the knowledge obtained with its help has nothing to do with reality; everything that is communicated to us by thinking about the phenomenal world is illusory, “constructed” according to special laws of reason. The main known property of intellectual constructions is, according to Dharmakirti, their ability to be expressed in words. Inferential knowledge was understood as the result of intellectual processing of information received in perception: it follows the perception of the logical attribute of an object and the justification of the inextricable connection between the object and its logical attribute.

The core of the Buddhist teaching on inference was three concepts. The first is about dividing inference into “for oneself” and “for another” depending on its purpose and structure (inference “for oneself” is a means of knowing an object by its sign, it contains two statements and is similar to an enthymeme in Western logic: “ There is fire on the mountain, because there is smoke”; the conclusion “for others” is a means of argumentation, it consists of three statements: “There is fire on the mountain, because there is smoke there, like in a hearth”). The second was the concept of the tripartite middle term, according to which the middle term of the conclusion had to be distributed in the minor premise; must always be present where there are major and minor terms; be absent where the named terms are absent. The third was the classification of inferences depending on the varieties of the middle term into “based on causation,” “based on identity,” and “negative inferences,” for which Buddhists counted 11 modes.

Of extreme interest is the theory of meanings developed by Buddhists (apoha-vada), which substantiates the purely relative or negative meaning all names and sayings. It is interesting because it solves the problem of representing in language the content of thinking about the world of things, which in Western logic received a satisfactory solution only in the 19th century. In alo-ha-vada it is argued that words do not tell us anything about reality (dharmas) and carry information about the physical world in a certain way: firstly, they fix a certain state of affairs established through thinking in the world of sensory things, which is constantly changing. Therefore, words designate things and situations only relatively. Secondly, when we name a thing or assert something about a thing in a statement, then at the same time we deny everything that is not the named thing (i.e., saying A, we deny ˥A), and that which is not inherent in this thing (saying “S is P”, we at the same time deny that “S is ˥P”.

Literature:

1. Androsov V.P. Nagarjuna and his teachings. M., 1990;

2. Lysenko V.G. Early Buddhist philosophy. - In the book: Lysenko V.G..,Terentyev A.A.,Shokhin V.K. Early Buddhist philosophy. Philosophy of Dhainism. M., 1994;

3. Dharmakirti. A short textbook of logic, with commentary by Dharmottara. - In the book: Shcherbatskaya F.I. Theory of knowledge and logic according to the teachings of later Buddhists, parts 1–2. St. Petersburg, 1995;

4. Shokhin V.K. The first philosophers of India. M., 1997;

5. Murti T.R.V. The Central Philosophy of Buddhism. A Study of the Māḍhyamika System. L., I960;

6. Stcherbatsky Th. Buddhist Logic, v. 1–2. N.Y., 1962;

7. Ci R. Buddhist Formal Logic, v. 1. L., 1969;

8. Singh J. An Introduction to Madhyamaka Philosophy. Delhi etc., 1976.

In our series of articles about Nepal, there are several materials dedicated to Buddhist shrines (for example, stupas), which are important tourist attractions in the country. Many tourists like to visit these places, but Russians know very little about Buddhism, and there is a lot they simply don’t understand. This short series of articles will give you some knowledge about this religion and will make your excursions more interesting.

The main thing about Buddhism

The first thing you need to know is that Buddhism is not a religion in the traditional sense of the word by Russians. It would be more accurate to call Buddhism an ideology.

Buddhists do not believe in the existence of God - the supreme being and creator of the universe. Of course, in Buddhist cosmology one finds “devas,” who are sometimes called “gods.” But this idea is wrong. The Devas did not create this world and do not decide the fate of people. We can say that they are just people, but from an alternative reality.

You ask: “Who is Buddha?” He is just a man, a great teacher and a real historical figure who lived about 2,500 years ago. His name is Siddhartha Gautama, he was the prince of one of the Indian principalities.

Therefore, the question is: “Do you believe in Buddha?” sounds as absurd as “Do you believe in Julius Caesar?” or “Do you believe in Ivan the Terrible?”

Let us dwell in detail on the essence of the concept of Buddha, since most people associate it with Buddha Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama), but this is not entirely true. The word "Buddha" is translated as "enlightened" or "awakened" and it refers to any person who has achieved enlightenment. There were a lot of such living beings, and they were all Buddhas.

Usually it is customary to write only the Great Buddhas with a capital letter, and all others with a small letter. Among the Great Ones there is the Badda of the Present - Shakyamuni and several Great Buddhas of the past. Past Greats according to the canons of different schools from 6 to 21.

Branches of Buddhism

Buddhism has three main branches: Mahayana, Theravada and Vajrayana.

It is correct to call them the word “trend”, and they should not be associated with the division of churches in Christianity, which many do.

The division of churches among Christians (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant) is, first of all, an organizational division. Buddhists do not have churches or a single organization at all.

The movements differ in the details of their ideology, the list of revered bohhitsattvas, and their views on the processes of purification of the mind and enlightenment.

The well-known Dalai Lama is not the leader of all Buddhists, and certainly not similar to the Pope. His name is Tenjing Gyamtsho, and he is the main Buddhist teacher for the Tibetans and Mongols. For example, in neighboring China, Buddhists do not recognize him, but they respect him.

Vajrayana is a very small movement, which many consider component Mahayana. Derived from the word “vajra”, which translates as “diamond”. There is a sacred object with this name. It can be seen in Nepal near the stupa in Kathmandu.

Relationships between schools of Buddhism

They have always been extremely peaceful. Buddhism is generally a very peaceful religion that prohibits causing any harm to living beings.

Distribution of schools by region

Theravada (or Mahayana or Lesser Vehicle) is considered the oldest school and is often given the epithet “orthodox Buddhism.” Theravada is common in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The number of Theravada followers is estimated at 100-200 million.

Mahayana (or Greater Vehicle) is much more widespread. This scale of Buddhism is common in Tibet, China, Japan and Korea.

The number of Mahayana followers is much more difficult to estimate, since there is no exact data on the percentage of believers in China. The approximate number of followers is estimated at 500,000,000.

And a separate large branch is the schools of Buddhism in China, many of which are difficult to classify anywhere.

Basic concepts of Buddhist philosophy

There are a lot of them, we will dwell a little on each of them, and in the following articles we will describe them in detail.

Karma. It is a fundamental principle that explains the causes and consequences of all actions and events that happen to us. The principle of karma can be briefly described by the phrase “what goes around comes around.”

Incarnations. The principle of rebirth of some living beings into others. This doctrine is slightly different from the principle of “transmigration of souls”, since it does not recognize the existence of a permanent soul, like, for example, the “atman” of the Hindus. Karma as a result of reincarnation passes from one living being to another.

Four Noble Truths. They were formulated by Shakyamuni Buddha and are the basis of the ideology of Buddhism. Their translation into Russian is very inaccurate, since there is a serious difference in concepts between languages. In one of the following articles we will talk about this in detail.

We will present four noble truths, but we ask you not to take them too literally.

1. Our whole life is dissatisfaction and suffering.

2. The cause of suffering is thirst.

3. The end of suffering is the destruction of thirst.

4. The method is the eightfold path.

As you noticed, these definitions are very general, they can and should be deciphered, which we will do in one of the following articles.

Enlightenment. A state of mind cleared of negative thoughts, emotions and motivations, allowing you to see all things as they really are and achieve nirvana.

Nirvana. A condition that cannot be described in human language. Therefore, we will not describe it.

Samsara. Or the “wheel of life”. This is the state in which all living beings arrive, except enlightened minds.

In the following articles we will talk about all this in detail. .

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