"All experience is preceded by mind, led by mind, made by mind." (Buddhism, Dhammapada 1:1)
True, false, good, bad, useful, not so useful, etc.? Discuss.
My thoughts:
I've always found Buddhism fascinating as a "religion" -- in most forms it is non-theistic (although some Buddhist sects to tend to treat e.g. Amitābha as a god figure, and Tibetan Buddhism features "demons" embodying human flaws). Buddhism is really more of a philosophy than a religion in my opinion, and it's an odd one in that its metaphysics and ethics seem to flow from its epistemology rather than vice versa. Almost everything in Buddhism seems to be about "state of mind."
This particular aphorism immediately brought Descartes's "cogito ergo sum" -- "I think, therefore I am" -- to my mind, but they're actually very different.
Descartes presented an elegant metaphysical proof of existence (you can't think if you don't exist), while today's aphorism is epistemiological -- your experience (and therefore your knowledge of that experience) is shaped at all points by your thinking.
If I was looking for a modern/western analog to the aphorism, I'd probably turn to Bayesian integration as applied to how prior experience shapes current perception, rather than to Descartes.
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