Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by andeee23 713 days ago
conditioned in buddhism refers to the fact that anything that exists, originates from something else.

so any one thing you examine will be “conditioned” on the previous things that cause it to appear

cause and effect basically

this has some philosophical implications, since all you are as a person is a bundle of emotions, mental patterns, etc that are ultimately conditioned

this leads to the buddhist view of no self, where there isn’t something that makes you “you”. just a bunch of responses to stimuli. some of those responses are thoughts of a self.

2 comments

After 2500 years, an idea still ahead of the times
no self is still a self

the diamond sutra's point aiui is that what we call a self isnt a self in that a true self does not exist independently (from the causes, such as its essential nature, its foundation, and its environment)

i might even say a self has an essential nature defined by an origin which is composed of relationships. you can find all examples in nature if you look a little.