Buddhism (World Religions: A Whirlwind Tour)

I am glad you're back I'm glad you're back a lot of familiar faces I see some dear friends from life's journey UCC glad you could be with us some students beloved folks from the community our audience from elsewhere today we wanted to talk about Buddhism and I think I might have mentioned earlier that what I would like to do today is tell a story and we know that religious stories we use the term myth in religious studies which does not imply truth or untruth right the most productive question to ask of a religious story particularly an ancient religious story is not did it happen or did it not or did it happen the way that it is told because oftentimes they are told in more than one way but why is it that people tell these stories why do the Buddhists why have they for over 2,500 years told this story and passed it on generation after generation after generation from a scholarly standpoint the story seems to be a mixture of history and let's just say elaborated detail right as our most religious stories and not just religious stories I think we talked about George Washington in that cherry tree didn't we yeah it's a similar situation I think and well so we need to talk about the Buddha but first does anyone know what that name means what does the name Buddha mean is it mr. and mrs. Buddha and their little son SID is that what it is is it the last name would they be under be in the Banaras telephone directory I don't think so what does Buddha mean the enlightened one right that's the way it was that what you were going to say that's usually how I guess translator right the enlightened one so the question becomes what does it mean to be enlightened what does that mean yes it means to wake up thank you very much that at one level that is exactly what it means so the Buddha is the one who woke up well woke up from what woke up from what apparently he is the one who woke up from the daydream that you and I mistake for real life remember last week when we were talking about Hinduism there's this sense that life is at some level illusory and yet we take it so seriously and it is that very seriousness with which we take it that causes us so much pain that throws us off right that messes up if you will our karma right and karma will apply in Buddhism as it does in Hinduism there are some differences but a similar concept so the Buddha is the one who woke up let's talk about how he woke up okay what happened and one of the reasons this story has been passed down I think you will find that it is as my students like to say very relatable it is easy in some ways to relate to it and I wonder if I am the only one in this room who might have had some experiences similar to the Buddhist okay that puts us in rather rarefied company but I think the Buddha himself historically speaking would probably say the same thing he never claimed to be a god don't worship me right now know who's gonna get you to the ultimate and what is the ultimate in Buddhism what is it not having that little old band from Seattle yes it's Nirvana right its Nirvana right who's gonna get you there's the Buddha gonna carry you there like a baby not according to the Buddha as far as we can tell no you're the only one who can get you there it's up to you it's up to you well he as far as we can tell cigar the Gautama is his name siddhartha gautama was born sometime in the sixth century BCE why do I say BCE come on who's doing their homework is going to be on the final exam mm-hmm before the Common Era right not BC because that refers to a different religion right before the Common Era maybe around 560 something like that give or take it's difficult to date exactly in a northeastern province of India he's the son of a lord and his wife as far as we can tell Siddhartha's mother unfortunately passed away shortly after his birth and I don't want to psychologize him but you have to wonder if perhaps that might have had something to do with the journey he undertakes later in his life but what we do know at least mythologically speaking is that shortly after his birth and let's see if this rings any bells with anyone from a different religious tradition some fortune tellers came to see Siddhartha's father right because they had news for him and what they told him was your son is destined to be a great man and he has a choice between two life paths if he follows the way of the world he will become a great ruler but if he chooses the spiritual path he will become one of the greatest religious leaders who ever lived now you're that father these fortune tellers come to you which way are you going to steer little Sid well I'm guessing there are some students in this room whose parents are steering them down one of those two paths right that's probably one of the reasons why you're right here you are here ilan they want you to do well here to get a great job to make a lot of money and you can support them in their retirement years and that how it works right the Karma gets leveled in the end right well that is exactly what Siddhartha's father did and he did it in the in the ways that he could now this is a wealthy man right what he trying to do and I think this is very human okay see if you can relate to this what he trying to do was protect Siddhartha from all of the painfulness all of the ugliness of the world right and so he built him a great palace for him to live in basically quarantined him you might say though it wasn't put across that way and that is where siddhartha grew up and eventually he met a beautiful princess they were married had a beautiful child right in other words he has it made he hasn't made he has the life right he has the life he is truly successful in a worldly sense well that's not the end of the story something happens something happens to Siddhartha and it's in part because his Father's plan backfired I would imagine those of you who are parents did very much the same thing right you try to protect your kids from that which hurts right I mean they're going to go through some pain but any pain you can spare them right on the basis of your own experience you're certainly willing to do so only they will you know hear you and learn in their own way well so Siddhartha has grown up in this palace right and he's unfamiliar with life's dark underbelly I'm gonna embellish a little bit they'll sit us one evening you know he and his friends borrow the chariot from dad you know and they go out for a joyride go into town right go into town where before any time he was gonna go into town his dad would send soldiers ahead of him to clear out anything ugly it's like when the president comes to town right you got to clean the place up okay um well it hadn't happened because see it's out on his own if you will and he comes upon what are known as the for passing sights the for passing sight in other words he sees four things that change him forever the first thing the first thing he saw that caught his eye was this creature who looked like a human but not like any human that Siddhartha had ever seen because he was wrinkly and he was bent over he couldn't even walk on his own he had to help the help of a cane right his hair is all gray right something's gone and Siddhartha looked at his friends and said what is this what can that be and they said Siddhartha that's you that's you I'm looking into the faces of some people who know what I'm talking about and I'm learning it more every day right I'm grateful to still be here learning it but yeah things change don't that and if Buddhism is about anything it's about changefulness right Siddhartha just stick around man stick around it's gonna happen it will happen to you it will happen to you right and I'm fortunate to get to spend my life with young people right with young people and my students will tell you I love my tribe right I love my truck but it is it is daunting to look into the eyes of the young and I know my professors must have felt the same way look be in the classroom right and try to explain to them how different life gets as it goes on it's just a quandary of life isn't it how do you explain to someone who is younger what it's like later on and yet it's what we do and in many ways that's what religions do right it's the culture passing down its lore right this received wisdom this accumulation of experience to generation after generation it's in some ways I guess it's our job here on earth right it's what we do it's what we do and I know that my students in their own day will do the same right and the same and the same it's the great chain of being you might say well this freaks Siddhartha out a little bit because he didn't see that coming didn't see that coming now is it is it okay to say that Siddhartha had never seen somebody who was old I mean we're his grandparents right is that the question we want to ask here not so much right not so much what's the point of the story here what's this morning the story well the next thing he sees is a young woman and she's being carried on a stretcher because she can't walk right and she has these sores all over her and she's coffee and in this look in her eye that is not good that it's not good it's a mixture of pain and fear many of you have looked into that face some of you in the mirror right and he turns to his friends and says what who is that what is that how does this happen and they say Sid it's you it's you sooner or later sooner or later no one is immune right and we do the best we can and Lord knows we are health conscious culture aren't we maybe even obsessed with it but it happens it happens you all know someone right you yourself have been in that dark Valley oh it's just such a part of life right and this one it really shakes him up cuz this is not what he expected right wait this is life this is life but it's the third one that truly undoes him he sees a body I mean he just thinks she's somebody sleeping by the side of the road but they're not it's the courts and it is utterly lifeless it is utterly lifeless and this one just stops Siddhartha in his tracks what is this thing how can this be having this big am I the only one who has stood at a funeral and asked that same question how can this be right the question that drives me every day and every night and there's something about being in a house without power at night and candles lit you get a chance to do some thinking right to think your own thoughts how can this be why are we here if we are going to disappear does that not just suck all of the meaning and the joy out of life maybe not maybe not well Siddhartha certainly started asking that question if he hadn't been already I think all of us do subconsciously whether we face it or not we're a little squirrelly about death in our culture we've talked about that right and we spend a lot of time and energy making sure we don't think about it but I don't think it's unhealthy to sit and ponder it from time to time right and that's part of what this story is about really what is life about and is it possible to live a meaningful life without asking these questions believe me I envy folks who seem like they don't need to think about these things I'm not one of them and I relate to this story on a very personal level and I think as a tribe we know each other well enough that you will allow me to share this I'm about Siddhartha's age when this happened to him in my mid-20s I'm in seminary I am studying to become a Baptist preacher believe it or not my students will tell you every once why that Baptist preacher still comes out right if I get on on about something I'm studying to be a Baptist preacher because I feel God's blessing on my life and I want to share it with everybody I can and I'm just living my life yeah going to class I'm in my first marriage life's pretty good I mean there are some questions rumbling around there always are but then one day I get a call from my mom and she's called to tell me that my grandfather my beloved Papa whose tattoo I wear to this day in remembrance has had a stroke he's in the hospital and I wasn't like my two brothers when I was a kid I mean they would be off tearing through the woods or I play at war or something now whatever you know young guys do I would walk up the street because I wanted to sit on the porch with Papa and that was the thing that he would do right he was a grease monkey auto mechanic he'd come home in the evenings right um roll himself a cigarette right and sit there and watch the traffic go by and if that sounds boring to you you should try it it's kind of fascinating right and there's a music that swoosh swoosh swoosh right it gets kind of hypnotic after a while but just I think I just wanted to be near him cuz I loved him and I knew that in his own gruff way right with that unique smell of tobacco and auto grease and maybe a little bit of whiskey where I blend it in right I in that rough beer I just knew that he loved me right and in he's probably the person in my childhood who said the fewest words to me cuz this he was nothing not a man to talk much but I think he might have taught me more about living than anybody else just by being there right and lasting I mean the guy was just the life that he had lived and the things that he had seen and he he was just uh well so I Drive home back down to South Carolina and I wish I'd never gone into the hospital room because it's a memory that I carry with me always you know this man that I had seen and known and loved what was left of it was lying there on that bed and he's curled up in the fetal position like a little baby and he's got these on Billick eye coming out of him connecting him to machines and and then he passed away right and I stood over his casket you know and I'm looking at what Siddhartha is seeing here and it really shook me out right really shook me out because I had been told you know by folks in my religion right the death is conquered its conquered its victorious over death right you know I death to worry about and they it was right there was all it shook me I didn't know how badly I was shaking I go back to seminary you know back in classes things you going okay maybe one corner of the tent starting to flap a little bit right and I get another call from home to tell me that my pastor the Reverend Haines rivers the holiest man I have ever known in my life right without whom I never would have gotten a college education he took me under his wing drove me over to Furman University co-sign for me to buy my first car I mean it's just this pillar of the community pastor of the First Baptist Church in Union South Carolina he has liver cancer there it is the problem of evil why do good things happen to bad people why why did why do bad things happen to good people and so I Drive back home right and I'm standing in this hospital room with several of the other guys that he was mentoring at the time right and by this time the disease has progressed quite a ways because he his skin looks green he's really I mean just dark brown around his eyes and these little points of light looking out just laser beams like he's looking in the very face of death itself which of course he was right and what he's telling us is it's gonna be okay boys I have prayed for a miracle and God's going to heal me we're gonna get up out of this bed and walk and a week later we were carrying his casket to the graveyard you know what do you do what do you do with that under what do you file that oh I go back to school right living my life and this time things are really starting to get shaky because I'm studying these you know my own religion and what is being said to me and what I'm experiencing there's this cognitive dissonance it doesn't match up and I don't know what to do and it's scary because you know in that tradition if you doubt then you are in sin right you're in big trouble don't think about it too much okay this is where he gets truly weird and just trust me that I'm not making this up okay it just so happened that semester I was taking a course called the problem of evil during which I was studying the the issue that I had presented to you in this class the problem of evil quite a good bad things happen to good people right that was one of the texts that we read written by a Jewish rabbi and I go to class one day like I did every day you know we're all sitting there in the classroom just like you are today and the professor doesn't show up and doesn't show up it doesn't show up finally his TA walks into the room up to the front and says I'm sorry to tell you but last night our professor was killed in a hit-and-run accident on his way to Raleigh riding a moped which was his chosen way of transportation so I'm taking a course on the problem of evil and there it is staring me right in the face right well three strikes and you're out I lost it I didn't know what to do I don't know what to think I didn't know who I was I put all my eggs in this basket and now the baskets just gone you know ripped away what are you doing oh I was angry I was scared I was hurt I was lost right I was truly lost and again I don't think I'm the only one here who's ever had that feeling when that life that you thought was so real right that you had built that you just thought was right is no longer when you're just shaking right down to your very DNA those are heroin moments right there's a harrowing moments and we work very hard to stay away from them we buy insurance in case they come along alright all these things we put in place all the safety features on our vehicles and yet and yet and yet right sure we'll old age illness death right again not the end of the story there's one other sight that Siddhartha encounters and it's a monk it's a monk wearing a robe he's given up everything all he has is his begging bowl and the cane a staff and he is moving through life with this expression on his face of utter bliss bliss bliss and Siddhartha realized she's okay yeah life's not what I thought it was gonna be but there's hope there is hope there is hope in a truly lived life and thus began his journey thus began his journey he left his old life behind and started seeking the bliss that he found on the face of that monk and it took him six years that that's about the length of time it takes to get a PhD okay yeah oh right and can't possibly be any more - any more difficult the six years six years he's journeying right first he's studying philosophy and I mean Siddhartha meant business okay he was serious about this thing he studied in India and philosophy and religion write everything up into that time that didn't do it for him and so he started following and these were the major routes paths if you will available to him in that day and then he started following a group of ascetics right at these people who deny themselves the pleasures of the flesh right and he started eating less and less right meditating more and more and they say it reached the point where he he only ate one bean per day and towards the end he could touch his stomach and feel his spinal column he was so thin right I can't he means business right he means business and of course what happened to it well no he didn't die because if he had we wouldn't have Buddhism right he he did survive it as the story goes he passed out okay he passes out and there are two different versions of what happens next and in these ancient stories anytime you get two versions of the same story chances are you're not dealing the strict historical fact right one of the other might be true but there are two versions one he happened to be by the river and when he fell into the water and that woke him up in the other he falls out by the roadside and a young woman happens along with a bowl of rice and sees him lying there and out of kindness feeds him some of this rice gruel right and that revives him well which was it we're not really sure not really sure and it's probably not the point anyway and so Siddhartha gets up comes back around and he decides okay and it's interesting what he does he goes back to his roots he goes back to his Hindu roots now how is it that Hindu seek the ultimate what ritual what would you say is the main ritual of Hinduism as we've seen it what do they do more than anything else they meditate right they meditate Siddhartha goes back to meditating you notice I'm calling Siddhartha because he's not the booty right he goes back and he starts meditating and what he says is that oh this tree this beloved tree that just went down over the weekend oh that just breaks my heart breaks my heart let's just say that's the bow tree okay it's gonna be known as to the the Bodhi tree because Bodhi is the term for wisdom Bodh eye for wisdom the wisdom tree right he says I'm gonna sit in that tree right there and I'm gonna meditate and not getting up until I find that bliss and as exactly what he does he sits down and he meditates and he meditates any meditation how long he was there you ever meditated yeah I did a little of that on Friday night too right oh yeah how long can you do it is it easy at first especially not for people in our culture good grief we're so you know busy busy busy busy uh-huh oh it's tough right well he sat there they say that he sat any meditating without getting up without moving for 49 days and nights 49 days and nights is that possible of course not is that relevant of course not all right he meant business right I'm going to sit here and I'm gonna meditate right in other words why is it that we just tell themselves this story right hey if he can do it I can do it right if he can do it there's hope for the rest of us so he sits and he meditates any meditates until one night in fact let me read you a count of it from Houston Smith that describes the moment when to quote the doors he broke on through to the other side okay there after a while the beau tree rained red blossoms that full moon may night gall Tamas meditation deepened through watch after watch until is the morning star glittered in the transparent skies of the east his mind pierced at last the bubble of the universe and shattered it to not only wonder of wonders to find it miraculously restored with the effulgence of true being the Great Awakening had arrived call Thomas being was transformed and he emerged the Buddha the event was of cosmic import all rejoicing all created things filled the morning air with their rejoicings and the earth quaked six ways with wonder 10,000 galaxies shuddered in all as lotuses bloomed on every tree turning the entire universe into a bouquet of flowers sent whirling through the air sounds like Mardi Gras here oh wow and when you when you think of Buddhism do you like me think of the paintings of the Buddha or the statues of the Buddha right and there he sits right there he says and unless it's that pop that laughing Buddha that's so popular in the West ordinarily he's just sitting there right just utter equanimity what is he thinking why doesn't he tell us Oh Buddha what is your wisdom all right it's like the Cheshire Cat he's not telling us you know why he's not telling us because there's only one person who can figure it out I guess who that is it's you right it's you it's you you gotta figure it out and sure enough um he wakes up after this experience right and he's been through all of this just grueling process what do you think what was what's the first thing he would do if you had meditated 49 days nights and what's the first thing you'd want well get me a cheeseburger for one thing but that but no that doesn't fit this religious tradition right through vegetarians the devout was are at least you know what he does this is a tough guy okay so he gets up and he walks about a hundred miles okay to the city of Banaras in northeastern India we're in a deer park and I'm happy to report that they're still deer living in this park at least the part that is purported to be the site of his first sermon he he doesn't deliver his message this is what I have learned right he's turned it into a kind of uh I don't know I guess you could call it a system system and they're known as the Four Noble Truths the Four Noble Truths again we have Buddhist doctrine right remember that dimension Buddhist doctrine this is what and again Buddhism is no different from any of the other religious traditions in that there are many Buddhism's right depending on where you find it in which tradition it comes out of but Buddhists basically agree on this basic doctrine the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path which I hope we can get to in a moment um in the first the first thing that the Buddha says maybe maybe someone in here knows do you know the first of the Four Noble Truths anyone yes life is what no life is a bowl of cherries what life is suffering what he sounds like a bummer doesn't he Oh life is suffering I don't know whether I want to follow this guy or not well that's just the first of the Four Noble Truths oh right yeah life is suffering okay here's one way to think about this okay we're sick we suffer from life okay in one form or another we need a doctor we're gonna go see doctor Buddha alright so think of the Buddha as a doctor when you go to the boot when you go to a doctor what is the first thing that he or she asks you for well after what insurance do you have yeah thank you spoken like a true American right huh what is what is she gonna ask you what's eatin ya What's Wrong what are your symptoms right what are your symptoms and I think that's what he's doing right what are your symptoms life is suffering it's hard it's tough right oh yes you can be sailing along right enjoying yourself Oh winters finally gone right happy days are here again boom right boom oh that illness comes along you know that car wreck just whatever right financial distress oh oh it's tough right it's tough and you know even on our best days always those little niggling doubts right and we're really good enough I'm a really smart enough right can I do the right thing why didn't she say that to me why did I say that to her right all this little things right all this little thing it's tough um and I mean I can understand why someone might think the Buddha to be pessimistic but that's not the end of the story right he's really just getting started um but if you think about it if you think about it okay from the moment we are conceived before we even arrived fully on the plan okay from the moment of conception at least as we understand it there are these little things called germs that are out to get you right they want to kill you right and they will if they get a chance if they get a chance isn't that what hiv/aids is right your thing about HIV I use it what happens is your body's defenses are damaged right in the lower they go the weaker they get I mean the germs are already there it's not like they show up right it's just that they've been waiting for that chance and as soon as it happens boom they're in there and they take you out they take you out right one of the many reasons why it's been so crucial to develop some sort of cure for HIV not to mention other diseases from the moment of conception and let's just say you make it through those nine months give or take right and many don't is birth a happy time oh I'm not talking about after the birth I'm talking about the moment itself hmm the build up huh you ever witnessed that or experienced it yourself it's from what I can tell now for what I can tell it's like screaming bloody murder okay in fact if the mother can get her hands on whoever did this to her it might just be screaming bloody murder yes it's all it is so traumatic for everyone involved it ironically one of the moments in life when you were closest to dying is the moment of your birth okay so you made it here right you made it here childhood how many never make it through how many never make a quitters illness accident you know the mess that is going on in Syria today if there's an article in The New York Times about the children who are suffering because of that war and it is always always always the little ones the wee ones who suffer in a war soldiers okay you know governments okay refugees but it's to children it is the children the children right and the ones who survive will live traumatized for the rest of their lives right for the rest of their lives not a big fan of war all right but then who is well some Saint to be anyway you get through your childhood okay you get through your childhood at some of you lost friends in high school teenage years right oh it can still happen young adults is so tragic right there's something sad about an elderly person at you know when they move on but when it happens to someone young then it takes on a level of tragedy might not otherwise have um okay you get through adulthood you made it right middle age great time most of the time most of the time what is happening to my hair I didn't have these racing stripes before right oh I can't do things I once could it's such a weird thing to be involved in this time right in this changefulness that does not stop again our culture youth-obsessed right it's all about being young looking young right oh yeah oh yeah young people enjoy it while it lasts enjoy it while it lasts oh we don't want to get older I mean and some of you in this room know that there are tremendous benefits of being older right Oh it kind of rocks in some ways but it can be tough it can be tough it can be tough right well let's just say and I see some of you out there jogging around and I you know but maybe you want to live forever I don't know what you're running from I only run if something's chasing me actually I think I do know what you're running from um well let's just let's just say you live to be 100 years old okay 100 years old right and you're healthy the whole time you know one of the things gonna happen for you you're gonna end up going well yeah you're gonna die too right but you're gonna end up going to the funeral of everybody you know well every single one of every single one so go ahead stick around right stick around just say it it's not like you're gonna escape it you can postpone it and I'm not saying that we shouldn't right oh but no sooner or later man the Grim Reaper's come for every one of us right that's just a fact it's just the fact how we deal with that and I think what you see here isn't yet another religious tradition yet another cultural way of dealing with that reality right we live in a world that we know we inhabit temporarily and how do we make sense of that how do we make sense of it right I think that's part of what is happening here because if you can make sense of death then you can start making sense of life right I'm happy to report to you that my own story had a happy ending okay with after that tragedy which really just sort of jettisoned me out of my whole life right through the love of a good woman right sheer stubbornness and stick-to-itiveness right and just hanging on like Papa just hanging on for a while until I started getting some perspective in my life right things turn around for me went back to school right and the rest as they say is hysterical um and I'm there was a while there right and I don't say this easily but again you know it's the tribal thing right it's the tribal trust for a while as a young man I wasn't sure I wanted to be here this world is hard and it hurts people and it sometimes doesn't seem to care it just doesn't seem to care right oh but I mean i sat with it i sat with it and I thought it through right some of you have been there right and if you haven't stick around right stick around but if you do ever walk that dark Valley the last thing you should do is beat yourself up about it it's taboo and our culture even to think about right much less talk about but no it's part of life we're here by choice right we're here by choice every morning we choose to stay we choose to stay right and I have to tell you I understand why I was in that place back then but I am so glad that I decided to stay here now granted I would I would have spared myself a lot of pain in my life if I had checked out but I would have missed so much joy so much joy so many cool things right like getting to hang out with you all oh right yes yes well again the unexamined life is not worth living then the examined life might well be worth living right to know why we're here where we're headed what we're up to so after you tell your doctor your symptoms what does she or he come up with for you a diagnosis you people are just right on and yes a diagnosis will what's the diagnosis doc all right what's the diagnosis in other words what's causing my symptoms what causes that suffering oh you're not gonna like this no so unamerican oh no especially if you're in the advertising business its desire its craving craving causes suffering I need that car I gotta have that car I don't just want it I need it that shirt I need that shirt it's an awesome shirt gotta have it I gotta have it right Oh work the job make the money buy the stuff right he who dies with the most toys wins nice - Oh what did somebody say the other day I've never seen a hearse pulling a trailer you can't take it with you right desire right desire desire oh we live in desire I mean how many commercials have you lived through in your life how many millions all right how many how many they just keep coming and they just keep coming you can't walk down the street drive down to the highway without hey you need this you gotta have this right um but I think this desire goes even deeper in some sense you might say the design it is the desire to the wish for private fulfillment the thought that somehow it is all about me and if I can just get my needs met everything's going to be okay that's so much of what causes our pain not thinking in terms of us right and I mean us as broadly defined as possible not just the ones and this is where for me the circle of compassion comes in how big is your circle of compassion how many people do you care about right and I mean really care right is it just you I know some people like that I don't hang out with them right is it your loved ones okay maybe a few neighbors some friends right is that your circle of compassion does it go beyond that does it go I don't know to your community does it go even beyond that right how how big is it who do you care about who do you spend your time and energy on how big is it what about people who are different from you are they in your circle of compassion hmm what about people who are not just different but different in a way that you don't approve of compassion or are they out in the cold right it's that desire that shrinks the circle right and again let me take it one step further cuz the Buddhists would okay it's not just about humans it's not just about the two-legged ones all right no all creatures all creatures all creatures right circle of compassion how big is it that's what causes our suffering is that desire to think that in fact the moment as a child you first use the word my you cut yourself off from everybody else mocking and you know a two-year-old loves that word almost as much as the word no and I don't mean being sucked old no I mean saying oh right why it's mine it's mine craving right craving how do we let go because the more we hold onto the more we hurt there's another story it's not from Buddhism but it is from India at the same time about the dog who found the bone right oh it was awesome I'm ever loving this bone right and it was great until the other dogs found out about it and they chased the dog down killed him took his bomb right well the bone the dog who ended up with bone really happy same thing happened same thing happened same thing happened right you chase what you love and that very chasing is what throws you off course so well we have our diagnosis right life sucks it won't matter spooky right and it sucks because we desire we crave I think craving might be a better word right so after the diagnosis what's not going to give you I always have a question for the doc after the diagnosis and we're gonna make it right and we're gonna what's the prognosis what's the prognosis well that's the third of the Four Noble Truths right the news is good the news is good craving has a cure craving has a cure if craving is what causes suffering what's kind of what's going to get get us out of this mess you got to stop craving you got to stop craving right that's the thing it's the thorn in the side right you got to stop craving how you going to do that how you gonna do that well that's the fourth noble truth it's called the Noble Eightfold Path I don't have time to walk us down that path today I wish I did but you can google it that's still a funny expression for me to Google it right yes Google is the Noble Eightfold Path and what it is and it is think about it for a moment okay think about it for a moment out of all the metaphors that Siddhartha Gautama could have used he chose the term path path right path and again if you look at him in his historical context he is not saying I'm going to carry you like a baby to Nirvana he's saying this is the path that I walked perhaps you should walk it too and see if it takes you to Nirvana and if it doesn't you might have to chart your own path hmm I can show you the way but you're the one who has to walk you're the one who has to walk it um and I think actually at some level that is what we are doing here today we are looking for a path in life are we not oh just give me some light in this darkness through which we stumble all too often right oh we're trying to figure out what's going on so that we can figure out how to live in that what is going on crucial to step outside your own we've talked about this before outside your own bubble right to look through a window other than the one that was has been presented to you right so that for the first time perhaps you can understand your own window right and to draw on this wisdom this collective wisdom that humans have put together over so many centuries in millennia right in order to carry it forward in order to carry for here ilan we prize living the life of the mind but one of the things that I'm most loved about elon it isn't just about the mind right it is actually living that life in the real world right how does this information change the way that you live to change the way that you see yourself that you understand yourself your world and others how does it change the way that we treat others right maybe with a little more kindness a little more understanding right a little more empathy yeah and I think that's pretty much it for this week I hope you'll come back next week unless there's a blood

Channel: Elon TLT

Views: 79,191

Rating: 4.7604976 out of 5

Keywords: Buddhism (Religion), ld russell, world religions

Id: 2JkLNx0WtYE

Length: 52min 30sec (3150 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 12 2014