Reflections

Primary Sources

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Stoicism and Buddhism


I was raised as a Roman Catholic, as all good hybrids of Ireland and Austria should be. It remains the faith of my fathers, and it remains my own faith. It will stand.

I also had the good fortune of being raised by people who were interested in a universal sense of human piety and decency, not in tribalism or narrow dogmatism. I was encouraged to learn about Hinduism and Taoism, for example, because my family never thought that this would hinder my search for a good life.

Yet I always struggled with understanding Buddhism. This was never because of its content, but because I never knew quite where to begin. I felt that I had long neglected one of the greatest sources of human wisdom. It took me many years to even get started.

An online friend recently suggested the following link as a place for the beginner:

https://www.dhammatalks.org/

Making sense of the Buddhist Scriptures can be a daunting task. The Pali Canon may seem quite intimidating. It doesn't need to be, because some people would like to help us understand it.

Stoicism helped me from my own background, and there is no reason we can't also be helped by a wisdom from any background. Not only do the Stoic and the Buddhist have so very much in common, but all men of good will have so very much in common.



No comments:

Post a Comment