Buddhist philosophy

Buddhist philosophy is the ancient Indian philosophical system that developed within the religio-philosophical tradition of Buddhism.[2] It comprises all the philosophical investigations and systems of rational inquiry that developed among various schools of Buddhism in ancient India following the parinirvāṇa of Gautama Buddha (c. 5th century BCE), as well as the further developments which followed the spread of Buddhism throughout Asia.[2][3][4]

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Traditions Vibhajyavāda Theravāda Vaibhāṣika Sautrantika Pudgalavada Prajñaptivāda Lokottaravāda Mahayana Madhyamaka Yogācāra Pramāṇavāda Vajrayana Tiāntāi Huáyán Zen/Chán Dzogchen
Themes Buddhist logico-epistemology Buddhist ethics Buddhist psychology Buddhist vegetarianism Abhidharma Ahimsa Not-self Interdependent origination Emptiness Karma Middle Way Two truths doctrine Dharma theory Svabhava Buddhist atomism Suffering Buddha-nature Nirvana Buddhist modernism
Pre-modern philosophers Moggaliputta-Tissa Katyāyāniputra Nagasena Nagarjuna Aryadeva Harivarman Vasubandhu Saṃghabhadra Asanga Buddhaghosa Buddhadatta Dhammapala Dignaga Dharmakirti Buddhapālita Bhāviveka Dharmapala of Nalanda Chandrakirti Shantideva Sengzhao Jizang Xuanzang Zhiyi Fazang Guifeng Zongmi Wonhyo Jinul Kūkai Dogen Jñānagarbha Śāntarakṣita Haribhadra Atiśa Jñanasrimitra Ratnakīrti Ratnākaraśānti Abhayakaragupta Sakya Pandita Rongzom Acariya Anuruddha Dolpopa Tsongkhapa Longchenpa Gorampa Sakya Chokden Mikyö Dorje
Modern philosophers Anagarika Dharmapala Ledi Sayadaw B. R. Ambedkar Taixu Yin Shun Kitaro Nishida Keiji Nishitani Hajime Tanabe Masao Abe D. T. Suzuki Mahasi Sayadaw K. N. Jayatilleke David Kalupahana Ñāṇananda Buddhadasa Prayudh Payutto Thich Nhat Hanh Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo Jamgon Kongtrul Ju Mipham Gendün Chöphel 14th Dalai Lama
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Buddhism combines both philosophical reasoning and the practice of meditation.[5] The Buddhist religion presents a multitude of Buddhist paths to liberation; with the expansion of early Buddhism from ancient India to Sri Lanka and subsequently to East Asia and Southeast Asia,[3][4] Buddhist thinkers have covered topics as varied as cosmology, ethics, epistemology, logic, metaphysics, ontology, phenomenology, the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of time, and soteriology in their analysis of these paths.[2]

Pre-sectarian Buddhism was based on empirical evidence gained by the sense organs (including the mind), and the Buddha seems to have retained a skeptical distance from certain metaphysical questions, refusing to answer them because they were not conducive to liberation but led instead to further speculation.[2][6] However he also affirmed theories with metaphysical implications, such as dependent arising, karma, and rebirth.

Particular points of Buddhist philosophy have often been the subject of disputes between different schools of Buddhism, as well as between representative thinkers of Buddhist schools and Hindu or Jaina philosophers.[2] These elaborations and disputes gave rise to various schools in early Buddhism of Abhidharma, and to the Mahāyāna traditions such as Prajñāpāramitā, Mādhyamaka, Sautrāntika, Buddha-nature, and Yogācāra.[2][4] One recurrent theme in Buddhist philosophy has been the desire to find a Middle Way between philosophical views seen as extreme.[7][8]