Conversations with Bard: Mind-Body Philosophy

Ken: Is there a mind-body dualism in Buddhist teaching?

Bard: No, there is no mind-body dualism in Buddhism. In Buddhism, mind and body are not two separate entities, but are instead two aspects of the same reality. The mind is seen as the driving force behind the body, and the body is seen as the manifestation of the mind.

This view is based on the Buddhist concept of dependent origination, which states that all phenomena arise in dependence on other phenomena. In other words, nothing exists in isolation. The mind and body are also interdependent, and cannot be separated from each other.

This does not mean that the mind and body are the same thing. They are two different aspects of reality, but they are not separate. The mind is the immaterial aspect, and the body is the material aspect.

The Buddhist view of mind-body dualism is different from the view of mind-body dualism in Western philosophy. In Western philosophy, the mind and body are seen as two separate substances. This view is based on the Cartesian dualism of René Descartes, who argued that the mind is a thinking substance and the body is an extended substance.

The Buddhist view of mind-body dualism is more holistic. It sees the mind and body as two aspects of the same reality, and it does not see them as…