Buddhism and Human Flourishing

This book explores how Western beliefs concerning well-being, happiness, and human flourishing influence the way modern Westerners interpret Buddhist Enlightenment. Seth Zuiho Segall compares Theravada and Mahayana accounts of Enlightenment with Aristotelian and neo-Aristotelian accounts of eudaimonia, and engages in a thought experiment: what if the aspects of Buddhist Enlightenment that are compatible with modern Western thought were fused with Western beliefs concerning eudaimonia? Segall then argues that this fusion has, in fact, already occurred and is deeply reflected in contemporary Western Buddhist rhetoric. He re-evaluates traditional Buddhist teachings in the light of the eudaimonic enlightenment ideal and explores the degree to which they retain their value for modern Western Buddhists, and the degree to which they require reinterpretation. The final chapters investigate the ethical and metaphysical implications of the eudaimonic enlightenment model.