- Free Will Worth Wanting: the Buddha's Radical Answer
The free will dilemma: are we mere puppets of our past conditioning? Or are we somehow magically able to rise above all causes to act with pure spontaneity? The Buddha rejected both these alternatives, and provided us with a third answer:…
- The "Paternalism" of Skillful Means in Buddhism
The idea of "skillful means" plays a central role in much Buddhist dharma. We'll consider one of its most famous early examples and why one scholar considered it a "paternalistic" concept. We'll also look at its role in reinterpreting the…
- Discovering the Four Phases of "Skillful Means" in Buddhism: Dilemmas and Controversies
"Skillful means" is a key concept in Mahayana Buddhist dharma. Scholar Damien Keown has identified four phases in its development, taking us from early Buddhism towards more controversial claims about practice, including deception and…
- The Buddha and Free Will
What might the Buddha have thought about free will? To answer that question we'll look at the history of the concept in Western philosophy, and then consider how it applies to early Buddhism. We will find that the Buddha would have…