Notions of Selflessness in Sartrean Existentialism and Theravadin Buddhism

Sartre emphasizes the mantra of existentialism. His slogan is “existence precedes essence”. Essence is what makes something what it is. According to Descartes, our essence is our rational mind – it makes us who we are. Sartre argues humans aren’t born with an essence—they don’t start with one. Humans start by simply existing. At the beginning, there is no internal essence or human nature. Our essence is later defined by

In his book God is Not One, author Stephen Prothero offers audiences glimpses into the various religions throughout the world including Islam, Christianity, Confucianism, Buddhism, and more. Within the Buddhism chapter, Prothero discusses the numerous aspects of the religion. He provides extensive information regarding Buddhism’s background, beliefs, and practices. Although he mostly presents facts about this religion, Prothero effectively utilizes these details as substantial evidence to prove his argument that Buddhism heavily focuses on experience rather than narrative (Prothero 201).

Existentialism is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre, was published in 1945 at the height of Existentialism's cultural resurgence. As Sartre states in his opening line, his purpose is to “offer a defence of existentialism against some charges that have been brought against it.” (Sartre, 1945) At a time where Existentialism was heavily associated with wearing black and smoking (Fahlenbrach, 2012) Sartre felt the need to draw attention to its philosophical and more meaningful aspects, beyond it simply being a passing trend. Sartre outlines, “Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself. That is the first principle of existentialism” (Sartre, 1945) This is rooted in what Sartre believes to be the basis of all Existential

There is no universal essence that can define every being, there is no divinely-inspired archetype for the human to aspire to (called the adam-kadmon in Hebrew mysticism), as the existence of such a blue-print for our essence would preclude freedom and bind us to an average, everyday homogeneity. Considerations of freedom and choice are the crux of existential philosophy, and being that Sartre is one of the primary philosophers of Existentialism, he examines both concepts with a critical eye in Being and Nothingness. Sartre states plainly that authentic choices are wholey and fully undetermined; if we choose and decide based merely upon the edicts of a religious code or some sort of secular ethical

Buddhism has been around for over two thousand years, and continues to do so in many countries around the world. This religion originates in Asia and has a very unique adversity, much of its structure arose from the end of World War II, predominantly Asian nations needed to restructure society (RoAT 167). The word ‘Buddha’ means one who has awakened and will no longer be reborn. Thereafter, one who will enter nirvana, the state of being free from suffering.

The terms in the title refer to the two primary constituents of reality: being, which is non-conscious, and the negation of being, which is the way Sartre conceives of consciousness. This consciousness of being is examined by a method called phenomenological, which suggests that no pretension is being made to uncover the ultimate nature of reality in a "metaphysics," but that Sartre intends to describe as accurately as possible the structures of reality as it appears.

Lopez, Donald S. "Buddhism." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2016. .

Sartre then divides things that exist into three kinds: human beings, artifacts, and naturally occurring objects. He declares that human existence precedes essence, that in artifacts essence precedes existence and that in the case of naturally occurring objects existence and essence coincide.

Hinduism and Buddhism are both eastern traditions with much to say about the human condition as well as the reason human beings exist at all. In some ways they are different while also being similar in other ways. In this essay, those differences will be discussed and the similarities examined for their message. In conclusion, we will examine what these two faiths offer to the human beings of the twenty-first century.

Rooted in Descartes, he stated that “there can be nothing in the mind … of which it is not aware, this seems to me to be self-evident.” The main argument put forward by subsequent inseparatists follows on from this view. They advocate for a mind to be a mind it has to be conscious. Then deriving that consciousness has a phenomenology and therefore all conscious states, thus all intentional states, have phenomenology. “A state cannot be conscious without being phenomenal.”

When Sartre says “existence precedes essence,” he means that a person first exists – is conscious and present in reality – and then is able to create their own personal essence – a person’s definition and purpose – through actions and will. The idea that God created man implies that God has a set purpose for each individual creation and knows exactly what is being created before it is actually created; therefore, in this view, essence precedes existence. However, Sartre argues that because there is no God, there is also no human nature – no “universal conception” – and each person is free, at their own will, to decide their being (348).

Sartre is one of the constructors of the philosophy of existence that is existentialism. Humans must first be born and exist before they are able to define their essence. He

Eastern enlightenment religions have been gaining popularity throughout the western world for the past few decades, with many people attracted to a "different" way of experiencing religion. As with many other enlightenment religions, Buddhism requires disciples to understand concepts that are not readily explainable: one such concept is that of no-self. In this essay I shall discuss the no-self from a number of modern perspectives; however, as no-self is difficult to describe I shall focus on both the self and no-self. Beginning with psychological aspects, and neurophysiological research on transcendental meditation, I shall discuss the impact of modern brain science on our understanding of the self and transcendence. Next I will outline

Theravada Buddhism, or otherwise known as ‘The Way of the Elders’, is the oldest form of Buddhism, and was formed just after 500 BC. It was established by the Second Buddhist Council, which was assembled 100 years after the Buddha’s death who died approximately around 483 B.C.E. During the time of the Second Council, there was plentiful controversy revolving around monastic beliefs and followers. Many monks were disagreeing with the set beliefs and interpretations of the Buddha’s teachings and were consequentially being expelled or leaving by their own will. In order to settle this controversy there was a split instituted in the religion, with the group of monks who remained faithful to the initially set beliefs deeming themselves ‘The Elders’ (or ‘Thera’ in Pali). The other group regarded themselves as ‘The Great Community’ (Mahasanghika in Sanskrit), and they interpreted the Buddha’s teachings more liberally or openly, as they believed this was in fact more accurate to the Buddha’s beliefs. Over time, these groups evolved into Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism respectively. Today, Theravada Buddhism is active in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Laos, and Cambodia and in other parts of Southeast Asia. Its origin language is Pali, while Mahayana’s is Sanskrit. Theravada is known to be the stricter and more traditional division of Buddhism, and therefore has a smaller number of followers compared to Mahayana.

Consciousness is what human beings are, it is not something they have. It doesn’t mean he thinks of human beings as pure intellects (like angels). Quite the reverse, for Sartre consciousness is much more than the intellect. Consciousness also includes our memories, desires, emotions, hopes and fears — even our bodies (Spade, 1995). For Sartre, this vague, undetermined nature, is what defines man. Since the “for-itself” (like man) has an absence of predetermined essence, it is forced to generate itself from nothingness. Sartre believes that nothingness is the crucial characteristic of the “for-itself”, for example, a table is a table and does not have the capability to change or create its being. On the other hand, by acting in the world man makes himself, so instead of simply “being” as the object-in-itself does, man, as an object-for-itself, must activate his own being (Anon.,