Gotama’s teachings are best understood as pragmatic, that is, practical, since they treat thinking as no more than a tool to achieve an end, rather than setting up a system of ideas as an end in itself. For Gotama, liberation from dukkha, human suffering & stress, is the goal. That practical effect is not an idea or a belief, but a new way of experiencing the world. He invites us to “come & see” for ourselves, offering suggestions for training, & language designed mainly to help us unlearn our habitual ways of being & understanding. As such, Gotama’s teachings can be understood in harmony with a naturalistic view of the world, without rigid ideals or views, or other metaphysical dogma. Gotama thus did not see himself as arguing with other people’s ideas, except to point out how his training might solve the idea-based knots in their understanding. Especially with those who advocated ethical behavior, he happily made common cause with them except where their misunderstandings caused them to create dukkha for themselves or others. Gotama understood why we want to create sets of ideals, systems of ideas, & abstract notions; he devotes an entire discourse1 to analyzing such ideas & the psychology behind them, showing why each one falls short in reaching the goal of ending dukkha.
- Brahmajāla Sutta, Dīgha Nikāya 1 ↩