Contrast the Buddhist ideal of the self with Rousseau's Essay

Contrast the Buddhist ideal of the self with Rousseau's - Essay Example Although the Skandhas are subject to different interpretations, generally, the first heap is the physical form; the second defines human emotions and feelings; the third human perceptions; the fourth includes human predispositions, prejudices and habits; and the fifth, consciousness. Buddha taught that the ideal self is no self. What this means is that the Skandhas are themselves empty considering that they are not qualities that are possessed by the individual. Better stated, according to Buddhism, the ideal self (atman) comes into existence essentially when the sense world and body are subtracted. According to Buddha, when a fire is deprived of fuel leading to its extinction, the stage of Nirvana is reached. Similarly, the ideal man comes into existence when the desires and boundaries of the finite self are removed (Smith 115). The ideal self in this state is incomprehensible, inconceivable, and beyond description. On the other hand, Buddha proposed that the ideal man is one who li ves midway between indulgence and asceticism. Jean-Jacques Rousseau notes that naturally, a human being is like any other animal, motivated to action by two principles: self-preservation and pity (Rousseau 20). The difference between the two is that man has a sense of unrealized perfectibility. Naturally, according to Rousseau, man is essentially happy, has limited needs, has no reason and respects not the concept of evil and good. In other words, Rousseau postulates that the ideal self is one that independent, happy, peaceful and free; devoid of the delusions of perfectibility and harmful reasoning. However, humans have developed and live in civil societies which present a lot of challenges isolating them from their natural selves. Simply stated, when humans are corrupted and enter civil society, they agree to leave their ideal or natural selves. It is under this condition that social inequalities continue to thrive. From the above