Buddhist philosophy and doctrines, based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, give meaningful insights about reality and human existence. Buddha was primarily an ethical teacher rather than a philosopher. His central concern was to show man the way out of suffering and not one of constructing a philosophical theory. Therefore, Buddha’s teaching lays great emphasis on the practical matters of conduct which lead to liberation. For Buddha, the root cause of suffering is ignorance and in order to eliminate suffering we need to know the nature of existence. Also, Buddha insisted that all those who accept his doctrines must accept it only after rigorous reflections and only after all doubts and perplexities are overcome. Here, the philosophical implications of Buddha’s teaching must be taken into serious consideration.
The philosophical system of Buddhism does not assume a systematic form. We cannot make a sharp distinction between the philosophical, religious, and ethical notions of Buddhism. The reason behind it is that the philosophical notions were developed in the background of ethical and religious notions. We may find many overlapping ideas from the previous chapter ‘Buddhism as Religion’, such as the noble truths, the eightfold path, the doctrines of soul, the doctrine of karma, etc. All these imply profound philosophical insights as they imply great religious insights.