Studies
in Buddhadharma

"I praise the perfect Buddha,
The Supreme Philosopher,
Who taught us relativity ;
Free of cessation and creation,
Without annihilation and permanence,
With no coming and no going,
Not a unity, nor a plurality,
Fabrications quieted, the supreme bliss !"
Nâgârjuna : Mûlamadhyamakakârikâ, I:1-2.

The spirit of Mañjuśri, the Buddha of Transcendent Wisdom, urges philosophers to relinquish all extreme conceptualizations, and embrace the love of wisdom for its own sake. Philosophy is not the handmaiden of theology or science, but is founded on an appreciation of the vast & profound potential of intelligence, i.e. our innate capacity to know everything we need to know, urging us to become "perfectly enlightened" ("sambuddha"), transcendently realized ("tathâgata") and "omniscient" ("sarvajña").

This subdomain of my website is dedicated to the Teachings of the noble Siddhârtha Gautama, Buddha Śâkyamuni, the Awakened One ("bodhi"). As the history of his teachings is very vast and encompasses many different traditions, I focus on the Indo-Tibetan take on the Buddhadharma. India being the origin and Tibet being the custodian of the three Vehicles for these teachings, called the Lesser Vehicle, the Great Perfection Vehicle & the Diamond Vehicle.

Personal liberation and universal awakening are brought about by causing a change of mind ("metanoia"), a restructuring of our cognitive faculties, a profound transformation of heart. These teachings affirm the innate, given potential of enlightenment or awakening to the ultimate truth. Focusing on truth, they are philosophical. Saving us by reconnecting us with truth, they are religious. They develop rational, conceptual strategies to justify the itinerary and path-structure of an individual's spiritual process of awakening. Their method is science, but their aim is the creative & nondual modes of cognition.

The Buddhayâna, the path of the Buddhadharma, is not a religion per se. Because it intends to uncover the nature of mind, and the sensate & mental phenomena experienced & designated by our cognitive faculty, it may be called a "science of mind" close to epistemology (theory & practice of knowledge), philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, cognitive genesis and neurophilosophy.

The Buddhadharma as a science of mind has philosophical, moral, psychological & soteriological aspects. As a philosophy of life, it helps to understand the meaning of life and the way to overcome the suffering of the world ; dissatisfaction & a closed mentality. As a system of ethics, it ends self-cherishing, brings compassion into play and seeks to benefit all sentient beings. As a psychology of the inner life, it studies the aggregates of sensation, volition, affection, cognition & consciousness. These sensate & mental factors allow us to designate our personality, to name this identity called "I", "ego" or "self", deemed to solidly exist at the core of what we call the life of "my" person.

By way of study, reflection & meditation, these mental factors are introduced to the "lab of the mind". This is based on thoughtful & skillful analytical investigations hand in hand with the meditative cultivation of tranquility, a peaceful mind and a good heart. When these are realized, insight into the ultimate nature of phenomena, emptiness, becomes possible.