Episode 88, Buddhism (Part III - The Cycle of Life)

<p class=""><strong>Introduction</strong></p> <p class="">Jack was walking down a street. It was a day like any other. As ever, his mind was a flurry of thoughts, worries, and anxieties, stimulated by coffee and the bright light of his phone. In a bid to relieve his stress, he put his phone in his pocket, and tried to notice the details he would usually ignore. </p> <p class="">As he walked past the pharmacy, he saw a sick man coughing and spluttering; he was throwing medication back to stop his disease from decaying his body. Jack kept walking and came across an old woman waiting at a bus stop. She was fragile, crooked, and anxious; clearly age had taken much from her. Crossing the road away from the bus stop, he waited for the traffic to pass. Driving slowly past him was a hearse: a coffin on full display, surrounded by flowers, proceeded by a stream of weeping mourners. </p> <p class="">Jack fell to his knees, overwhelmed with despair, "we all get sick, we all age, and we all die. We cannot escape this fate!" His head against the pavement, he didn't move for almost an hour. When he got up, he was approached by a homeless man, to whom he said, "sorry, I don't have any change." The man replied, "It is you who needs a little <em>change</em>, young monk. I know why you fall to your knees in despair: the inescapable suffering of life weighs on us all. Let me tell you of someone who was once like you, who tried to remove suffering from our minds… let me tell you the story of Siddhartha Gotama, The Buddha."</p> <div class="yui3-widget yui3-block-base yui3-block-parent-base sqs-block-html sqs-block html-block" id="block-ec934a9b1d63f76544d9"> <div class="sqs-block-html-content sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1602934576673_6222"> <div class="sqs-dd-invalid-handle yui3-widget sqs-html" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1602934576673_6239"> <div class="sqs-html-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1602934576673_6241"> <p class=""><strong>Contents</strong></p> <p class="">Part I. The Life of Siddhārtha Gautama</p> <p class="">Part II. The Four Noble Truths</p> <p class="">Part III. The Cycle of Life</p> <p class="">Part IV. The Eightfold Path</p> <p class="">Part V. Further Analysis and Discussion</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="yui3-widget yui3-block-base sqs-block-horizontalrule sqs-block horizontalrule-block" id="block-baa83411b9995d81026c"> <div class="sqs-block-horizontalrule-content sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1602934576673_6304"> <hr /></div> </div> <div class="yui3-widget yui3-block-base yui3-block-parent-base sqs-block-html sqs-block html-block" id="block-67487137cdc776e86f77"> <div class="sqs-block-html-content sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1602934576673_6364"> <div class="sqs-dd-invalid-handle yui3-widget sqs-html" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1602934576673_6381"> <div class="sqs-html-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1602934576673_6383"> <p class=""><strong>Links</strong></p> <p class=""><a href="https://www.veryshortintroductions.com/view/10.1093/actrade/9780199663835.001.0001/actrade-9780199663835" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction.</a> Book.</p> <p class=""><a href="https://www.veryshortintroductions.com/view/10.1093/actrade/9780198850052.001.0001/actrade-9780198850052" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction.</a> Book.</p> <p class=""><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Why-Buddhism-Is-True/Robert-Wright/9781982111601" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Why Buddhism Is True, Robert Wright.</a> Book.</p> <p class=""><a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-foundations-of-buddhism-9780192892232?cc=us&amp;lang=en" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Foundations of Buddhism, Rupert Gethin.</a> Book.</p> <p class=""><a href="https://www.thegreatcourses.co.uk/courses/buddhism.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Buddhism, The Great Courses.</a> Lecture series.</p> <p class=""><a href="http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/What%20the%20Buddha%20Taught_Rahula.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">What the Buddha Taught, Walpola Rahula.</a> Pdf.</p> <p class=""><a href="https://aeon.co/essays/mindfulness-is-loaded-with-troubling-metaphysical-assumptions?utm_campaign=7f5fb438e6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_07_22_02_14&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=Aeon%20Newsletter&amp;utm_term=0_411a82e59d-7f5fb438e6-70614473" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Problem of Mindfulness, Sahanika Ratnayake.</a> Online essay.</p> <p class=""><a href="https://iep.utm.edu/buddha/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Buddha, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.</a> Webpage.</p> <p class=""><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/buddha/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Buddha, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.</a> Webpage.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div>