Gotama’s teachings do not assume a strict determinism1; there is at least pragmatic free will, whether it meets some philosophers’ criteria or not2. It is enough for Gotama’s premise that suffering (dukkha) can be eliminated through training3. There is no value—within Gotama’s goal of eliminating dukkha—to speculation beyond a natural explanation for our experience. We do not currently understand everything that might be known; we could simply be wrong or ignorant. At the same time, we do things (including thinking, something we do), that affect the future; for example, our intentions affect the future, even if they don’t always determine it exactly4. This does not have to be deterministic (fated or inevitable) to be powerful5. In fact, actually seeing directly how thoughts arise—& how concentration & mindfulness can affect the thought process—is the key to freedom. With training, we can have freedom from habits & painful reactions to the world. We have enough freedom to escape dukkha.
dukkha • kamma • philosophy
- See Karunadasa, Y, Early Buddhist Teachings
- Gotama refuses to go down philosophical rabbit holes. If you want to say that an individual’s psychology, or even their quantum bits, including exposure to certain teachings, leads someone to practice & find freedom, OK. See Nāgājuna.
- See Nāgājuna. ↩
- This is why Gotama says that kamma & intention should be understood to be the same.
- It is more likely probabilistic. See Asimov, Foundation Trilogy, for example.