Buddhist philosophy

Given the range of Buddhist thought and thinkers, we will restrict our attention to the great North Indian Buddhist philosophers such as Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu and to the development of Buddhist philosophy in the Chinese/Japanese ‘Chan’/’Zen’ traditions.Topics will include: The idea of the ‘Buddha’; ‘suffering’ its causes and remedies; the nature of persons and the ‘bodhisattva’; Buddhist metaphysics and views on the nature of reality as ‘empty’; the 5 ‘skandhas ’ (‘constituents’ of experience); finding one’s way in Buddhist writings; some key Buddhist philosophers and schools including Madhyamaka and Yogacara and also Chan/Zen and the role of ‘koans’ (‘puzzles’). We will also examine the role of meditation in Buddhist philosophy.