Buddhist philosophy

Buddhist philosophy is the elaboration and explanation of the delivered teachings of the Buddha as found in the Tripitaka and Agama. Its main concern is with explicating the dharmas constituting reality. A recurrent theme is the reification of concepts, and the subsequent return to the Buddhist middle way.^[1][2]

Early Buddhism avoided speculative thought on metaphysics, phenomenology, ethics, and epistemology,^[3] but was based instead on empirical evidencegained by the sense organs (ayatana).^[4]

Nevertheless, Buddhist scholars have addressed ontological and metaphysical issues subsequently. Particular points of Buddhist philosophy have often been the subject of disputes between different schools of Buddhism. These elaborations and disputes gave rise to various schools in early Buddhism of Abhidhamma, and to the Mahayana traditions and schools of the prajnaparamita, Madhyamaka, buddha-nature and Yogacara.

Contents

 

• 1 Indian background
• 2 Life and teachings of the Buddha
  • 2.1 Biography
  • 2.2 Philosophy
    • 2.2.1 Emphasis on awakening
    • 2.2.2 Attachments to the skandhas
    • 2.2.3 Emptiness
• 3 Early Buddhism
  • 3.1 Basic teachings
    • 3.1.1 Dukkha
    • 3.1.2 Dependent origination
    • 3.1.3 Anatta
  • 3.2 Ethics
    • 3.2.1 Eightfold Path
    • 3.2.2 Precepts
  • 3.3 Textual authority
• 4 Early Buddhist schools
  • 4.1 Sarvastivadin realism
  • 4.2 Theravada
• 5 Mahayana
  • 5.1 Indian Mahayana
    • 5.1.1 Prajnaparamita
    • 5.1.2 Madhyamaka
    • 5.1.3 Tathagatagarbha
    • 5.1.4 Yogacara
  • 5.2 Chinese Buddhism
    • 5.2.1 Huayan and Avatamsaka-sutra
  • 5.3 Tibetan Buddhism
• 6 Comparison with other philosophies
• 7 See also
  • 7.1 Topics
  • 7.2 Buddhist philosophers
• 8 Notes