OOO Buddhism

Two people in the last few days have asked, separately, about connections between Buddhism and OOO, having intuited that they might exist. Happily my essay “Object-Oriented Buddhism” is due for a little bit of a retread so I'm going to send it to them and see what they think. Here is the first paragraph:

“How on Earth could you possibly imagine reality without a subject or a sense of self? How can I even imagine brushing my teeth on such a view?” One knee-jerk reaction to OOO proceeds along lines like this. Yet there exist millions of people who go about their business thinking precisely this, every day—and they brush their teeth. They are called Buddhists. Now it may sound strange to both parties that Buddhism and OOO are closely aligned. An OOO philosopher might suppose, for instance, that the way Buddhism talks about “mind” makes it a form of idealism. But by the time you have finished reading this you will see that it is indeed the case that there are deep and fruitful affinities between OOO and Buddhism. I am not asking you to believe this. I am simply asking you to recognize that Buddhism is a kind of OOO. It may not be your kind of OOO.