Manfred comments on Meditation, insight, and rationality. (Part 2 of 3) - Less Wrong

25 Post author: DavidM 04 May 2011 10:38PM

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Comment author: Manfred 06 May 2011 05:15:27AM 0 points [-]

"Attachment to the world" is not anything I wrote

See here. I read not only this post, but the last one too!

Also, I read the following:

(Will Swain)Didn't you say that enlightenment would fix problems like attachment? Couldn't that kind of result produce an empirical test?

(DavidM)"Attachment" has a specific nonstandard meaning in Buddhist-associated thinking, and I realized after writing Part 1 that it would have been better to omit the word altogether rather than try to explain it. So I would prefer to discuss the testable aspects of enlightenment without talking about attachment.

So I'll not make any more claims about attachment. Would you apply similar "don't test" restrictions to "craving" and "hatred," which you also mentioned in part 1?

Comment author: DavidM 06 May 2011 05:32:27AM 0 points [-]

I used the word "attachment" without explaining it. "Attachment to the world" I've never written, though phrases like that appear constantly in Buddhist literature and are often taught as central to it (as you seem well aware of, given your use of the phrase "Buddhist heritage" in relation to this discussion).

About these terms, I seem to be having enough trouble getting across the basics, so I think triage is in order.

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