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Introduction

I suggest that the Dharma of the awakened mind of Buddha, began its life as a philosophical inquiry into the nature of the worrying mind, to see if it could be alleviated or eradicated within the human experience. Having realized it can, it was and is communicated, to provide the potential for others to awaken to the way THINGS physical, emotional, psychological or any combination thereof, are in actuality and thereby realize peace of mind for themselves. It seems to me, that the historical Buddha did not set out to create a new religion, or even to support the existing religions of his day. His entire approach appears, to me, to be a timeless secular philosophy that continues to be shared and pointed towards by other Dharma minds, for the benefit of all beings.

This book will explore chronologically, a range of philosophical quotes that are attributed to a wide range of philosophers within different cultures and different periods in human history, to see what a secular western approach to the Dharma makes of them within modernity. Let me say from the outset that this is not an academic exploration. It may well be that some of the quotes found in this book cannot be authenticated, or aligned with the stated philosopher, and may not even be factually correct. I know that some people do get a bit het up about this kind of thing, but what I’m looking to explore here are simply the words, the fingers that point towards the moon, and to not be too concerned if the finger is real or not.

The method in which this book was created is based on my early training within the classical Theravada Buddhist tradition, so it will be helpful to understand something about that method to make sense of the format being used throughout this book. My first ever official Buddhist teacher back in 1980 was a Sri Lankan, Theravada Buddhist monk, who was a Pali Canon scholar. He taught me how to dissect Pali texts down to the pith or core teaching, which were no more than a couple of sentences, or even just a few words. He then encouraged me to memorize them and take them into the meditative process, where they would be dropped into the experience after the fourth stage of the process that I call thought-less-ness. This stage is the gateway point for the latter stages of the process, where different layers of insight, clear thinking, direct thinking, and clarity emerge, which can only happen when the conditioned self-referential mind is suspended. I have used this method consistently over the years whilst engaging in other forms of Buddhism, and in particular whilst working on Koans within the Zen tradition. It also worked effectively whilst studying Mahayana texts such as the White Lotus, the Heart and Diamond Sutra.

Whilst considering a direction for this latest book, I thought it would be interesting to explore and make a comparative study of well known philosophical quotes throughout history, and apply this meditative method to see what Dharma insight arose that relates to them, which is how the format developed as it is. To some extent, the idea began to take form after I read ‘The Meditations of Marcus Aurelias’. The initial response for each quote is simply the first thought to arrive within the meditative process as it is dropped into the silent space of thought-less-ness. The reasoning is what is going on within the thought process during the clear thinking reflection stage that follows, as the mind is directed towards the initial response. The Dharma philosophy is how it can be aligned with what knowledge and direct experience has been arrived at over the years on my Dharma journey. It is my expression of a way, that appears to me, to align the quote with the context in which I communicate the Dharma, from a secular western perspective in my previous books: “No Worries,” “Talking Dharma,” “Choosing Dharma,” and “Sharing Dharma.”

These books contain a current functional understanding of actuality that was realized within a period of meditation on the 13^th of June 1980. This was followed by an actualization process throughout the various schools of Buddhism, over thirty years - and then from 2006, within a secular western context, which is still on-going. This journey was an attempt to make intellectual sense of the experience, so it could be communicated to a new secular western audience, without recourse to anything supernatural, magical thinking, religious dogma, institutionalized belief or other non-western cultural influences.

B. Cumming

Acknowledgments

It would possibly fill this entire book if everybody who has contributed in some way towards its development were individually acknowledged. There have been so many teachers within each of the main traditions of Buddhism, both formal and informal. There have been so many mentors along the way, many of whom are still in contact. There have been so many Dharma friends, who’ve been there, supporting and encouraging this journey. It’d take a lifetime to be able to express the depth of gratitude that’s owed to any of them. They know who they are and so do I, and that’s all that matters.

I’m indebted to the kindness and dedication of Abhayagita (Susan Conell) who has somehow, painstakingly managed to untangle my uneducated scribbling, into something that sounds half-intelligible, and has apparently put all the dots and squiggly bits in all the right places. Thanks also to Shaktidana (Michelle Mainwaring) for creating the artwork for the cover.

This book is dedicated to the memory of my late parents, who provided me with the opportunity of human life and encouraged me, from a very early age, to be a critical, free-thinking, creative individual with a sense of humor. And to my wife Mudita (Julia) who has been there supporting me every step of the way since the age of 13.

It is also dedicated to my friend and fellow experiential secular philosopher, Koh Ken Kuan (Alvin Koh) who created the Facebook Forum ‘Philosophy & Wisdom (The Original & Authentic Forum) where my writing has been tested and challenged within the public domain before publication in book format, and where he has resisted all attempts by others to silence or censor what I communicate in the face of intense hostility at times.

Forward

You don’t need to be a Buddhist to follow Buddhism

What is so difficult about understanding and accepting, that one could simply follow the ways of the Buddha without following the ways of the institution?

Buddha is original and the monks are just parrots. One generation of parrots adding parroted speech to the next generation, and successively they created an institution of dogmas and superstitions incorporating the colors and flavors of the land (India and China).

And even if I were to largely incorporate the principles of the Buddha in my life, still I don’t necessarily have to call myself a Buddhist, as I am who I am. I just happen to resonate with the Buddha, but I also resonate with Michael Jackson and his moon dance!

One should be fluid and courageous enough to take from the Buddha, rob from Christ, and steal from Aristotle and enjoy the buffet of wisdom found in the sea of humanity.

Most importantly, one shouldn’t become an institutionalized person. Be a philosopher with your meditation of life instead.

Koh Ken Kuan (Alvin Koh) - Philosopher

Contents

Chapter One	634BCE to AD65
Thales	624-546 BCE
Anaximander	610-546 BCE
Pythagoras	570-495 BCE
Xenophanes	570-475 BCE
Parmenides	551-459 BCE
Epicharmus	550-460 BCE
Anaxagoras	510-428 BCE
Empedocles	495-434 BCE
Zeno of Elea	495-430 BCE
Protagoras	490-420 BCE
Gorgias	483-375 BCE
Socrates	470-399 BCE
Critias	460-403 BCE
Leucippus	459-402 BCE
Democritus	459-370 BCE
Antisthenes	445-365 BCE
Isocrates	436-338 BCE
Aristippus	435-356 BCE
Xenophon	431-354 BCE
Plato	428-348 BCE
Diogenes	404-323 BCE
Xenocrates	396-314 BCE
Aristotle	384-322 BCE
Theophratus	371-287 BCE
Zeno of Citium	334-262 BCE
Epicures	341-270 BCE
Chrysippus	279-206 BCE
Cicero	106-43 BCE
Lucretius	99-55 BCE
Philo	20-50 BCE
Seneca	4BCE-AD65
Chapter Two	AD50 to 1037
Epictetus	AD 50-135
Marcus Aurelius	AD 121-180
Sextus Empiricus	AD 160-210
Plotinus	AD 204-270
Augustine	AD 354-430
Proclus	AD 412-485
Boethius	AD 477-524
Al Kindi	AD801-873
Al Farabi	AD872-950
Avicenna	AD980-1037
Chapter Three	AD1021 to 1546
Solomon Ibn Gabirol	1021-1070
Al Ghazali	1058-1111
Peter Abelard	1079-1142
Maimonides	1135-1204
Robert Grosseteste	1175-1253
Francis of Assisi	1182-1226
Roger Bacon	1214-1292
Thomas Aquinas	1225-1274
Meister Eckhart	1260-1328
John Duns Scotus	1266-1308
William of Ockham	1287-1347
John Wycliffe	1330-1384
Nicolas of Cusa	1401-1464
Marsillio Ficino	1433-1499
Giovanni Mirandola	1463-1494
Desiderius Erasmus	1466-1536
Niccolo Machiavelli	1469-1527
Thomas More	1478-1535
Martin Luther	1483-1546
Chapter Four	1509 to 1803
John Calvin	1509-1564
Michel de Montaigne	1533-1592
Pierre Charron	1541-1603
Giordano Bruno	1548-1600
Francis Bacon	1561-1626
Galileo Galilei	1564-1642
Hugo Grotius	1583-1645
Thomas Hobbes	1588-1679
Rene Descartes	1596-1650
Baltasar Gracian	1601-1658
Ralph Cudworth	1617-1688
Blaise Pascal	1623-1662
Margaret Cavendish	1623-1673
Richard Cumberland	1632-1718
John Locke	1632-1704
Issac Newton	1643-1727
Gottfried Leibniz	1646-1716
Pierre Bayle	1647-1706
Jean Meslier	1664-1729
Voltaire	1694-1778
Thomas Reid	1710-1796
David Hume	1711-1776
Jean-Jacques Rousseau	1712-1778
Denis Diderot	1713-1784
Claude Adrien Helvetius	1715-1771
Paul Henri Thiry	1723-1789
Adam Smith	1723-1790
Emmanuel Kant	1724-1804
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing	1729-1781
Edmund Burke	1729-1797
Sir William Hamilton	1730-1803
Thomas Jefferson	1743-1826
Jeremy Bentham	1748-1832
William Godwin	1756-1836
Mary Wollstonecraft	1759-1797
Frederich Shiller	1759-1805
Johan Gottlieb Fichte	1762-1814
Georg Wilhelm Hegal	1770-1831
Richard Whately	1787-1863
Arthur Schopenhauer	1788-1860
William Whewell	1794-1866
Auguste Comte	1798-1857
Chapter Five	1803 to1900
Ralph Waldo Emerson	1803-1882
Ludwig Feuerbach	1804-1872
John Stuart Mill	1806-1873
Charles Darwin	1809-1882
Søren Kierkegaard	1813-1855
Henry David Thoreau	1817-1862
Karl Marx	1818-1883
Friedrich Engels	1820-1895
Herbert Spencer	1820-1903
Susan B. Anthony	1820-1906
Wilhelm Dilthey	1833-1911
Henry Sidgwick	1838-1900
Ernst Mach	1838-1916
Charles Sanders Peirce	1839-1914
William James	1842-1910
Peter Kropotkin	1842-1921
Friedrich Nietzsche	1844-1900
F.H. Bradley	1846-1924
Henri Poincare	1854-1912
Ferdinand de Saussure	1857-1913
Émile Durkheim	1858-1917
Edmund Husserl	1859-1938
Samuel Alexander	1859-1938
Henri Bergson	1859-1941
John Dewey	1859-1952
Jane Addams	1860-1935
Alfred North Whitehead	1861-1947
George H. Mead	1863-1931
George Santanaya	1863-1952
Miguel de Unamuno	1864-1946
Rosa Luxemburg	1871-1919
Bertrand Russell	1872-1970
George Edward Moore	1873-1958
Ralph Barton Perry	1876-1957
Martin Buber	1878-1965
Pierre de Chardin	1881-1955
Jose Ortega y Gasset	1883-1955
Karl Jaspers	1883-1969
Gaston Bachelard	1884-1962
Ludwig Wittgenstein	1889-1951
Martin Heidegger	1889-1976
Susan Langer	1895-1985
Jiddu Krishnamurti	1895-1986
George Bataille	1897-1962
Ramana Maharshi	1879-1950
Herbert Macuse	1898-1979
Nisargadatta Maharaj	1897-1981
Leo Strauss	1899-1973
Chapter Six	1900 to 2020
Hans-Georg Gadamer	1900-2002
Gilbert Ryle	1900-1976
Jacques Lacan	1901-1981
Karl Popper	1902-1994
Mortimer J Adler	1902-2001
Theodor Adorno	1903-1969
Jean-Paul Satre	1905-1980
Ayn Rand	1905-1982
Emmanuel Levinas	1906-1995
Hannah Arendt	1906-1975
Maurice Merleau-Ponty	1908-1961
Simone de Beauvoir	1908-1986
Willard Van Orman Quine	1908-2000
AJ Ayer	1910-1989
Marshall McLuhan	1911-1980
Alan Turing	1912-1954
Albert Camus	1913-1960
Alan Watts	1915-1973
Roland Barthes	1915-1980
J. L. Mackie	1917-1981
Donald Davison	1917-2003
Louis Althusser	1918-1990
P. F. Strawson	1919-2006
Zygmunt Bauman	1925-2017
Frantz Fanon	1925-1961
Gilles Deleuze	1925-1995
Michel Foucault	1926-1984
Noam Chomsky	1928-
Robert Adams	1928-1997
Robert M. Pirsig	1928-2017
Bernard Williams	1929-2003
Jean Baudrillard	1929-2007
Pierre Bourdieu	1930-2002
Richard Rorty	1931-2007
Osho	1931-1990
John Searle	1932-
Thomas Nagel	1937-
Alain Badiou	1937-
Robert Nozick	1938-2002
John Lennon	1940-1980
Richard Dawkins	1941-
Girogio Agamben	1942-
Daniel Dennett	1942-
Billy Connelly	1942-
Roger Scruton	1944-
John Ralston Saul	1947-
Eckhart Tolle	1948-
Christopher Hitchens	1949-2011
Slavoj Zizek	1949-
Ken Wilbur	1949-
Cornell West	1953-
Michael J Sandel	1953-
Judith Butler	1956-
Stephen Fry	1957-
Ricky Gervais	1961-
Jordan Peterson	1962-
Sam Harris	1967-
Anthony Liccione	1968-
Tim Minchin	1975-