Ideas from 'Buddhacarita' by Ashvaghosha [50], by Theme Structure

[found in 'Buddhist Scriptures' (ed/tr Conze,Edward) [Penguin 1959,-]].

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16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 4. Denial of the Self
When the Buddha reached the highest level of insight, he could detect no self in the world
                        Full Idea: The great Buddha passed through the eight stages of Transic insight, and quickly reached their highest point. From the summit of the world downwards he could detect no self anywhere.
                        From: Ashvaghosha (Buddhacarita [c.50], XIV)
                        A reaction: In the manner of Nietzsche, I am inclined to say that they find what they want to find, because that is their value. They want to get rid of the self, and dream of a mode in which existence continues without it. Is Buddhism opposed to human life?
29. Religion / C. Spiritual Disciplines / 3. Buddhism
The first stage of trance is calm amidst applied and discursive thinking
                        Full Idea: The first stage of trance is calm amidst applied and discursive thinking.
                        From: Ashvaghosha (Buddhacarita [c.50], V.11)
                        A reaction: Personally I am not sure that I would want to go any further that the first stage, since the elimination of discursive thinking seems to me to be approaching death. To pursue intense thinking very calmly I take to be the ideal of all western philosophers.
The Buddha sought ultimate reality and the final goal of existence in his meditations
                        Full Idea: Next the Boddhisatva, possessed of great skill in Transic meditation, put himself into a trance, intent on discerning both the ultimate reality of things and the final goal of existence.
                        From: Ashvaghosha (Buddhacarita [c.50], XIV.2)
                        A reaction: The ontological and teleological goals of the Buddha were identical to the goals of the ancient Greek philosophers, and even we have teleological aims in our study of evolution. I would expect better results from the western approach.