Tag: Buddha

Five blind men encounter an elephant in the jungle, each touching a different part to “know” it.

One feels the trunk: “It’s a large snake!”
One grasps the tusk: “No, a spear!”
One touches the leg: “A tree trunk!”
One holds the ear: “A fan!”
One bumps the side: “A wall!”

They argue fiercely, each insisting his version is the truth.

A wise sage explains: “You all grasp fragments of the same elephant. Reality is one, but partial views breed endless strife.”

When I say the Buddha believed in the One, I am talking about the elephant—the whole, not the fragments.

Not a Personal God

The Buddha most certainly did not believe in a personal creator deity like the “Man Upstairs,” a bearded overseer on a throne handing out rewards and punishments. As you can see, everything depends on what you mean by the word “the One.”

In Udana 8.3, the Buddha said:

“There is, monks, an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned. If, monks, there were not that unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned, you could not know an escape here from the born, become, made, and conditioned.”

I define the One as the unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned. In more modern terms, the One is not a being, but the Ground of Being.

The modern understanding of God as the Ground of Being was not available to the Buddha. At the time, the only “gods” he knew were those of Brahminism. And the Reality he encountered in spiritual experience was not a personal being, but something entirely different.

Therefore, he never called this Reality “God,” though he could call it that today. But even today there are connotations that come attached to the word God, such as maleness.

So even though I sometimes use the word God, I find it safer to follow Plotinus and stick with the One, or in more modern form, the Source. In Buddhism, the One is the Unconditioned. In Daoism, it is the Eternal Dao. In philosophy, it is called the Absolute or Ultimate Reality. Different names, same Reality.

Neoplatonic Buddhism

My aim as a philosopher is to bring together Neoplatonism and Buddhism into a coherent synthesis. In doing so, I draw upon comparative philosophy, current insights from psychology, and what we know from physics and biology.

This project is a life’s work—years of study, contemplation, and struggle have led me toward this synthesis. Many traditions contain profound wisdom, but these two stand out as the finest expressions of the Western and Eastern philosophical worlds.

They meet, I believe, in the same ultimate insight: There is an Unconditioned Reality beyond time and space.

We are Sparks of that Unconditioned Reality—expressions of the One, refracted into the world of becoming. We find ourselves in this matrix of change and growth not by accident, but because becoming is the arena in which the Spark evolves.

Our meaning in life is simple and profound: to return to the One from which we came. This takes place by awakening to our Source and evolving our consciousness, our spark, into the likeness of and harmony with the One. It is the flight of the alone to the Alone – Nirvana.

Plotinus lived roughly six centuries after Plato, the famed student of Socrates. He led an austere, disciplined life devoted to philosophy and inner contemplation. Ancient accounts describe him eating very little—sometimes only a single meal a day—avoiding luxury, and spending most of his time in quiet reflection or conversation with students rather than engaging in public affairs.

This unusual, inward‑turned man became the central figure in Neoplatonism, a grand synthesis of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. His system would become one of the most influential metaphysical frameworks in Western thought.

Why Neoplatonism Matters

Neoplatonism is foundational to Neoplatonic Buddhism, especially in shaping its metaphysics and soteriology. While metaphysics—the study of the fundamental nature of reality—was something the historical Buddha largely avoided, his followers did not. Their desire for metaphysical clarity eventually gave rise to the Mahayana, which introduced innovations such as Buddha‑nature, pure lands, celestial bodhisattvas, and the erasure of the boundary between samsara and nirvana.

Neoplatonic Buddhism takes a different approach. Rather than contradicting the Buddha’s early teachings, it seeks to augment them with the best insights from science, psychology, and Western philosophy. Neoplatonism provides a metaphysical scaffolding that aligns remarkably well with contemplative practice and modern science.

The Structure of Reality

Neoplatonism teaches that the structure of the universe mirrors the structure of the human psyche. The macrocosm of the cosmos is reflected in the microcosm of inner life. Following Plotinus, reality has three major divisions:

– The One — the eternal, ineffable Ground of Being
– The Nous — the first emanation, the organizing principle of reality (the demiurge of Plato, the logos of the Stoics)
– The Physical World — the realm of becoming and change

Our inner life reflects this same triad:

– Consciousness mirrors the One
– Cognition mirrors the Nous—the information‑processing, organizing aspect of mind
– Brain and body mirror the physical world

This parallelism is not merely poetic; it is the basis for the Neoplatonic path of transformation.

Descent, Ascent, and Liberation

Another central theme in Neoplatonism is the movement of descent and ascent. Consciousness descends from the One into the physical realm. Liberation is the reverse movement: the ascent back to the One.

Union with the One is salvation. It is the return to the Source, the rejoining with what the Buddha describes as the “unborn, unformed, unmade, and unconditioned” (Udāna 8.3).

If the One is beyond all becoming, and liberation is union with the One, then union with the One is Nirvana. This is the heart of Neoplatonic Buddhism.

Reincarnation, Karma, and the Western Tradition

Neoplatonism, like Buddhism, accepts karma and rebirth. Many people are unaware that reincarnation was taught not only by Plato but also by Plotinus. Philosophers often ignore this inconvenient truth, yet reincarnation was once central to Western philosophy.

Even more striking is that Neoplatonism contains a concept analogous to nirvana. The ascent out of the conditioned realm and the return to the One is, in essence, liberation. The One alone is beyond conditioning; therefore, union with the One is the highest freedom.

Neoplatonism is a vast and intricate system, open to many interpretations. What I’ve offered here is only a brief introduction.