Buddhism as Philosophy Quotes

“It is known in the West as Ockham’s Razor, but Indian philosophers call it the Principle of Lightness, for it dictates that we choose the ‘lighter’ of two competing theories. The Principle of Lightness may be stated as follows: given two competing theories, each of which is equally good at explaining and predicting the relevant phenomena, choose the lighter theory, that is, the theory that posits the least number of unobservable entities.”
― Mark Siderits, Buddhism as Philosophy

“Some scholars thus suggest that Mahāyāna arose out of a variant on the worship of stūpas and images, that is, the cult of books. One finds in many Mahāyāna sūtras the claim that copying, memorizing or reciting this text will earn one great merit. The theory is that this formula reflects a new form of worship aimed at attracting lay followers and their material support.”
― Mark Siderits, Buddhism as Philosophy

“The pursuit of happiness will become a kind of treadmill, and the sense that we are on this treadmill leads to alienation and despair. For anyone who is at all reflective about their life, it is inevitable that the happiness in their life will be outweighed by the suffering.”
― Mark Siderits, Buddhism as Philosophy

“Dis-ease’ might be a better translation of the Sanskrit term we are discussing here, duhkha, than is ‘suffering’. This term is formed from the prefix duh, which is related to the English ‘dis’, plus the noun kha, which came to mean ‘happiness’ or ‘ease’.”
― Mark Siderits, Buddhism as Philosophy

“It is not clear, though, that representationalism is linked to attaining nirvāna and overcoming suffering. Perhaps the Sautrāntikas embraced it simply because they thought it was true. Philosophers have been known to do such things, after all. And this should not be surprising. To philosophize well, one must be committed to following the argument wherever it leads. Perhaps the Sautrāntikas simply found that their thinking about the nature of perceptual cognition led them to this surprising conclusion.”
― Mark Siderits, Buddhism as Philosophy

“They teach that a rūpa dharmas lasts not just one moment but 17 moments.”
― Mark Siderits, Buddhism as Philosophy

“Vasubandhu gives the example of the whirling firebrand. When someone twirls a torch rapidly, it appears as if there is a circle of fire. In fact there is just the fire at the tip of the torch. It is only because that fire is moving so rapidly that it seems to us there is a ring of fire.”
― Mark Siderits, Buddhism as Philosophy

“If everything is really just one, then for instance it should make no difference whether I drink beer or bleach.”
― Mark Siderits, Buddhism as Philosophy