Buddhism is a teaching that is beyond philosophical confusion,
doubts, and beliefs. The core of this problem is in
dualism.
The buddha-dharma is called the middle way because it rejects
any extreme view, what the Buddha called "frozen views." These are
views that attempt to wrap Reality into nice, neat packages.
We're strongly inclined to hold tight to certain views since they
give us a sense of solidity under our feet. Unfortunately, they
simply can't hold Reality, and thus they always leaves us
susceptible to doubt and confusion - duhkha. Most of the views we
hold might not seem extreme to us at first glance, but the more
closely we examine them, the more extreme (and absurd) they
become.
All the views we hold (and hold dear) appear in sets of two or
more. more often, they appear as pairs of opposites: pro and con,
Western and eastern, liberal and conservative, dualistic and
non-dualistic. For example, "People are basically good" posits an
ultimate quality of goodness, then attributes this quality to every
member of our species. As soon as it's offered, however, it
immediately invites a counter view: "People are basically evil."
This is essentially the same view, but leaning in the opposite
direction.
Can you see, based on your
immediate experience alone that neither of these views point to
Reality? They are both concepts - attempts to freeze Reality into
something hard, fast, solid and packaged.
Review your own experience. Do you find a specific thing called
Goodness that provides the primary motivation for everyone you've
met? What about Evil? Do you find that Evil exists as a specific
thing, and that it serves as the biggest motivation in every human
being's life?
Inherent Goodness and inherent Evil are both frozen views -
notions, concepts. They don't refer to anything in actual
experience. This is not to say that people don't act in ways that
can be called good or evil, but only that inherent Goodness and
inherent Evil are conceptual inventions - philosophical objects of
our own creation. Both of these views fail to point to Reality.
Reality is far more fluid than either of these extreme views is
capable of indicating. Indeed, any such frozen views is, by
definition, extreme - and, therefore, incapable of reflecting
Reality.
What we generally fail to appreciate is that it's simply by holding
onto a specific view - believing in it, relying on it, clinging to
it - that it becomes frozen and extreme.
The Buddha repudiated all such views. Because they are by nature
conceptual, they attempt to freeze the world into solid, separate
entities, whether those entities are Goodness, Evil, selves,
non-selves, books, light , enlightenment, Buddhism, or any thing or
thought whatsoever. Of course, all such attempts fail. The world of
experience simply isn't frozen. Reality won't be condensed into
concepts. Our immediate, direct experience bears this out.
