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**jacknates** · 09-05-2011, 10:07 AM

Hello FBM,

After reading your post i just realized that the idea of rebirth in Buddhism is different than reincarnation in hindusim!!! Most of the posts here are so deep and informative so thank you for that.

Can i ask you a question? what is the nature of mind according to Buddhism? is it moism or dualism? what is the source of Qualia according to buddhism?

First of all, you're welcome. A lot of people fail to distinguish reincarnation and rebirth.

The nature of the mind? Fleeting, I'd say. All sensations, perceptions, thoughts and feelings are fleeting phenomena, and clinging to them only brings disappointment, stress and confusion. The monist/dualist question is a false dilemma, I think. In Buddhism, mind is ongoing activity of a pluralistic set of conditions, not entities, as far as I know.

And most Buddhists I know wouldn't know qualia from quail.

Qualia is, in my opinion, just another label for or classification of experience. If the concept is useful, it will survive, but not so many people are finding it useful, outside a few philosophers.

Also yesterday i ve read one of your posts and you quoted "If it wasnt supposed to be that way, it would not be" which sound like fatalism to me!! There's nothing fatalistic about it, to me. It's just another way of saying that there's nothing unnatural in the universe. Everything behaves according to natural laws. Whatever happens is natural, therefore, if it wasn't supposed to be that way, it wouldn't be. If you have a pessimistic outlook, you could interpret that fatalistically, but if you have an optimistic outlook, you would see the opposite. Buddhism is, in this case, the middle way. Neither optimistic nor pessimistic, just realistic.

in addition, i noticed many on this forum keep on talking about cause and effect which implies that they believe in a determinstic universe!! so how can you believe in a determinstic universe and believe in free well at the same time? (in a determinstic universe there is no such a thing as free well) A lot of people are unversed in the free will vs determinism issue, so that may explain why so many people (on this forum or elsewhere) make contradictory or equivocal statements about it. Buddhist philosophy avoids the issue by pointing out that, first of all, the existence of enduring entities that might make choices is an illusion (anatta). Also, paticca samuppada (conditioned co-arising of phenomena) is the observation that certain prior conditions tend to give rise to a limited number of new conditions, which in turn give rise to a limited range of fresh conditions, ad infinitum. This is much more in line with a probabilistic cosmology, not a deterministic one. That said, Buddhism does not assert or claim to teach a cosmology, anyway. The Buddha taught the existence of stress, its cause, its cure, and a practical means to set up the conditions that lead to the ending of stress. Everything else in the suttas is either connected to this path or is superfluous, I think.

Thanks mate Thank YOU for the interesting discussion!

09-05-2011, 10:07 AM	#17
jacknates Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 406 Senior Member	Hello FBM, After reading your post i just realized that the idea of rebirth in Buddhism is different than reincarnation in hindusim!!! Most of the posts here are so deep and informative so thank you for that. Can i ask you a question? what is the nature of mind according to Buddhism? is it moism or dualism? what is the source of Qualia according to buddhism? First of all, you're welcome. A lot of people fail to distinguish reincarnation and rebirth. The nature of the mind? Fleeting, I'd say. All sensations, perceptions, thoughts and feelings are fleeting phenomena, and clinging to them only brings disappointment, stress and confusion. The monist/dualist question is a false dilemma, I think. In Buddhism, mind is ongoing activity of a pluralistic set of conditions, not entities, as far as I know. And most Buddhists I know wouldn't know qualia from quail. Qualia is, in my opinion, just another label for or classification of experience. If the concept is useful, it will survive, but not so many people are finding it useful, outside a few philosophers. Also yesterday i ve read one of your posts and you quoted "If it wasnt supposed to be that way, it would not be" which sound like fatalism to me!! There's nothing fatalistic about it, to me. It's just another way of saying that there's nothing unnatural in the universe. Everything behaves according to natural laws. Whatever happens is natural, therefore, if it wasn't supposed to be that way, it wouldn't be. If you have a pessimistic outlook, you could interpret that fatalistically, but if you have an optimistic outlook, you would see the opposite. Buddhism is, in this case, the middle way. Neither optimistic nor pessimistic, just realistic. in addition, i noticed many on this forum keep on talking about cause and effect which implies that they believe in a determinstic universe!! so how can you believe in a determinstic universe and believe in free well at the same time? (in a determinstic universe there is no such a thing as free well) A lot of people are unversed in the free will vs determinism issue, so that may explain why so many people (on this forum or elsewhere) make contradictory or equivocal statements about it. Buddhist philosophy avoids the issue by pointing out that, first of all, the existence of enduring entities that might make choices is an illusion (anatta). Also, paticca samuppada (conditioned co-arising of phenomena) is the observation that certain prior conditions tend to give rise to a limited number of new conditions, which in turn give rise to a limited range of fresh conditions, ad infinitum. This is much more in line with a probabilistic cosmology, not a deterministic one. That said, Buddhism does not assert or claim to teach a cosmology, anyway. The Buddha taught the existence of stress, its cause, its cure, and a practical means to set up the conditions that lead to the ending of stress. Everything else in the suttas is either connected to this path or is superfluous, I think. Thanks mate Thank YOU for the interesting discussion!
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