From a personal point of view I think that it is not possible to know absolutely if the future is predetermined or not. I can not imagine any method or test which could conclusively determine the answer....if anyone knows of one please post it...i won't hold my breath waiting for a foolproof method to appear. I think the Buddha would say that this is out of range and that we are limited to the six sense doors and their objects to make up the entirety of our experience..and these tools are not adequate to settle this question about the future. And to go one step further...if this question can not be settled in any way then of what value can it be to discuss it?
From a Theravada Scriptural persepective it seems that the Buddha indicated on several occasions the importance of efforts in following the path and the exertion of effort seems to only make sense if the view accompanying the effort is that the effort will have an effect on the future outcome. So it seems to me that the Buddha was teaching that we should at least from time to time have the view that the future is not determined.
chownah
Did the Buddha teach we have choice? (aka The Great Free Will v Determinism Debate)
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Re: Is the future predetermined
Highly advanced physics in which the origins of universes (the origin of our space-time) is more clearly understood (that is, discovering the multiverse, delineating several timelines, creating a neutral bubble outside our space-time so as to allow scientists to study the ebb and flow of space-time objectively, by being independent of it). It's speculative and maybe just fantasy, but who knows?chownah wrote:From a personal point of view I think that it is not possible to know absolutely if the future is predetermined or not. I can not imagine any method or test which could conclusively determine the answer....if anyone knows of one please post it...
The probabilism of quantum mechanics are said to have already debunked pure determinism.
Re: Is the future predetermined
I think that quantum mechanics has not (and in principle can not) debunk pure determinism....it can only show us that if the the world is purely deterministic then this determinism displays itself in ways far more complex than we have so far imagined. My view is that it is good to remember that all science can at best only test whether a principle conforms to the accepted paradigm for the scientific discipline which subsumes the experiment....quantum mechanics is interesting in that it seems to strongly disagree with certain principles in the accepted paradigm for the physics of very very small things. I think that to jump to the conclusion that it has debunked pure determinism is simply to indicate that one has not yet conceived of any other explanation for the phenomena observed. Also, I think it is good to remember that probabilism is a way to describe outcomes but it does not in and of itself explain why the outcomes are probabilistic...i.e. it does not construe that the probabilistic nature of events is caused or not caused by a deterministic or non-deterministic universe...or anything else...I guess.Individual wrote:Highly advanced physics in which the origins of universes (the origin of our space-time) is more clearly understood (that is, discovering the multiverse, delineating several timelines, creating a neutral bubble outside our space-time so as to allow scientists to study the ebb and flow of space-time objectively, by being independent of it). It's speculative and maybe just fantasy, but who knows?chownah wrote:From a personal point of view I think that it is not possible to know absolutely if the future is predetermined or not. I can not imagine any method or test which could conclusively determine the answer....if anyone knows of one please post it...
The probabilism of quantum mechanics are said to have already debunked pure determinism.
chownah
Re: Is the future predetermined
Buddhism is not fatalistic.
I don't think the future is predetermined, more like past kamma provides a framework and conditions current behaviors. It ain't called volitional activity for nothing. As I'm sure has been said, if everything was predetermined there would be no way to achieve liberation, to achieve Nibbana.
I don't think the future is predetermined, more like past kamma provides a framework and conditions current behaviors. It ain't called volitional activity for nothing. As I'm sure has been said, if everything was predetermined there would be no way to achieve liberation, to achieve Nibbana.
"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:
'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta
Path Press - Ñāṇavīra Thera Dhamma Page - Ajahn Nyanamoli's Dhamma talks
'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta
Path Press - Ñāṇavīra Thera Dhamma Page - Ajahn Nyanamoli's Dhamma talks
Free-will is it an illusion?
Christians would say God gave us Free-will. Does Free-will exist? Or is it similar to Anatta where it's only an illusion?
Re: Free-will is it an illusion?
That's kind of an interesting question. There is choice, but then again those choices or acts of will come about due to other conditions, so I'm not sure which way to go.
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Re: Free-will is it an illusion?
there is a sorta limited freewill, your present situation is determined by your past kamma, but that does not mean your present kamma has no influence over it, and both influence your future situation.
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
Re: Free-will is it an illusion?
Is anatta an illusion ? Or is it atta that is the illusion ? And anyway do we not mean delusion ? atta is an idea isnt it ? Not something we encounter at lunch or in the bathroom and mistake it for something else.
Re: Free-will is it an illusion?
Well, the free-will question is intimately related to anatta. The "person" who we think is in control really isn't, since that person not only doesn't exist, but doesn't have control. If everything is dependent on causes and conditions, as the Buddha teaches, is there any point in even asking about free will?
Before Peter has to say it, the Buddha's message is radical --- and scary. But (I'm told) liberating...
Mike
Before Peter has to say it, the Buddha's message is radical --- and scary. But (I'm told) liberating...
Mike
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Re: Free-will is it an illusion?
But there is choice.mikenz66 wrote:Well, the free-will question is intimately related to anatta. The "person" who we think is in control really isn't, since that person not only doesn't exist, but doesn't have control. If everything is dependent on causes and conditions, as the Buddha teaches, is there any point in even asking about free will?
Before Peter has to say it, the Buddha's message is radical --- and scary. But (I'm told) liberating...
Mike
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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Re: Free-will is it an illusion?
of course, lest one think we are fatalistsmikenz66 wrote: is there any point in even asking about free will?
Mike
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
Re: Free-will is it an illusion?
Hi Tilt,
Is everything not conditioned (including volition)?
Mike
Yes, but (partly to play devil's advocate here): isn't that "choice" just part of the illusion of atta?tiltbillings wrote: But there is choice.
Is everything not conditioned (including volition)?
Mike
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Re: Free-will is it an illusion?
oh this is where Buddhism becomes confusing, because yes you are right, but what then is it conditioned by if not past choices?
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
- tiltbillings
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Re: Free-will is it an illusion?
Atta is not an illusion, and if there were no choice, there would be no awakening.mikenz66 wrote:Hi Tilt,Yes, but (partly to play devil's advocate here): isn't that "choice" just part of the illusion of atta?tiltbillings wrote: But there is choice.
?Is everything not conditioned (including volition)?
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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Re: Free-will is it an illusion?
at the risk of causing frowny faces I'll quote ajahn Buddhadasa here
"You are a self that is not a real self. If you do not understand this, you do not understand Buddhism".
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat