tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9223684.post1421794258650360934..comments2023-10-22T12:12:04.100+01:00Comments on American Buddhist in England: Enlightenment? First KönigsburgBuddhist_philosopherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14246929532585980356noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9223684.post-50567207033396703202007-11-01T15:38:00.000+00:002007-11-01T15:38:00.000+00:00Hi Chris, good stuff, I'll respond on your blog. :...Hi Chris, good stuff, I'll respond on your blog. :)<BR/><BR/>Andy - Yea, few of the big names in Western Philosophy lived particularly great lives - if any. David Hume seems to have been a pretty great guy, Socrates as well and Charles Darwin (though we're getting out of philosophy proper I suppose with him).<BR/><BR/>Perhaps some of those great Buddhists, like some Christian saints no doubt, seem so great to us because most all that was writtin about them came from devout followers (who would hardly have spent much time noting their personal faults). <BR/><BR/>Ah, and thanks for mentioning the Sam Harris book, too - I've heard good things and have meant to read it but it's slipped off my list...Buddhist_philosopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14246929532585980356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9223684.post-62476500913318942102007-11-01T00:48:00.000+00:002007-11-01T00:48:00.000+00:00The point about the gap between what a philosopher...The point about the gap between what a philosopher says and what (s)he is or does is a bit of moot point in Western philosophy. If I'm honest, I struggle to think of a single Western philosopher whose life I would want to imitate. I love Nietzsche, his ideas, his writings, his life story. But would I really want to live like he did? No!<BR/><BR/>It's only in the religious traditions that things start to get more interesting and appealing. I wouldn't, for example, mind having a life like one of the Desert Mothers and Fathers. The Christian philosopher Simone Weil had a tough old time, but she did at least live admirably, doing what she believed. Michel de Montaigne was a Christian of sorts, and I'd rather be him than Thomas Hobbes!<BR/><BR/>In Buddhism, there are many more examples of 'great souls' whose life I can more easily wish to emulate. Dogen, Shantideva. Asanga. (Probably *not* Bodhidharma!) But even here there remain those whose teachings didn't square with their actions. Think about D.T. Suzuki - in a not dissimilar position to Heidegger when you think about it (although Suzuki ostensibly recanted more than Heidegger ever did).<BR/><BR/>Sam Harris writes a little bit about the issue of a 'good life' in the last chapter of his book The End of Faith, comparing Western and Eastern philosophers. Like you he criticizes academic adulation of somewhat like Heidegger, whose Nazi sympathies put him, for Harris at least, beyond redemption as a philosopher.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9223684.post-41523456190291513512007-10-30T17:33:00.000+00:002007-10-30T17:33:00.000+00:00Hey I just wanted to let you know I posted a link ...Hey I just wanted to let you know I posted a link to this entry on my page as well as some of my thounghts on the subject. I mean no disrespect and thank you for bring it up the subject. Kant has some good stuff out there and Wood seems to be a pretty knowledable guy himself. Thanks for putting me on to them.<BR/><BR/>NamasteSaint27https://www.blogger.com/profile/08544164542248320733noreply@blogger.com