There are two moments in history that are referred to with the term “Enlightenment”: one in India in the 6th Century BC, and the other in Western Europe in the 18th Century. Each is directly opposed to the other on three metaphysical doctrines.
Whereas the Indian Enlightenment puts forward the doctrine of Dukkha—that pain is an inescapable aspect of existence—the European Enlightenment puts forward the doctrine of Utilitarianism, which states that we can maximize utility (pleasure, profit, etc.) and ultimately export pain from the human condition.
Against the doctrine of Anicca—that nothing is fixed, and everything is always transforming and going out of existence—the West places the doctrine of Sustainability, claiming we can indefinitely preserve human existence without coming into conflict with the world around us.
Finally, opposed to the doctrine of Anatta—that the individual self is an illusion—the West rests its entire moral and political framework on the sanctity of the individual.
