Re: [Pen-l] Religious atheism [was: Charter schools

[ravi <ravi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Feb 28, 2009, at 11:16 AM, Carl Dassbach wrote:
> Nor was Buddha part of the Hindu
> pantheon.  Instead, Buddhism represents a "solution" - based on the  
> Four
> Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path - to the "problem" of samsara -  
> the
> endless cycle of death, birth and rebirth -  posited by Hinduism.  
> <...>
> It rejects all these because these are forms of attachment and  
> attachment
> causes suffering.



Samsara does not mean just the cycle of rebirth (in which I have no  
interest and which I do not consider a significant or well-defined  
problem), but also the issue of the worldly aspects of one's life  
(samsara also means a family life, and in certain usages ("samsaram),  
means spouse). The problem with this, as seen through Gautama's eyes  
is the attendant miseries ... the young prince's reaction to this  
messy, gritty real world is to seek detachment from the whole business.

Now, I am not a Buddhist and I do not know the more intricate details  
of the matter, so I will not comment further on what I see as a form  
of escapism. Rather, I will return to Hinduism's response to this  
problem which is defines quite well, before Gautama's crisis occurs.  
Krishna, both in the Gita and in one of his parables to his devotee  
Narada, addresses the issue of attachment. In all cases, Hinduism  
rejects escapism from one's dharma (the Shankaracharya suffers this  
very weakness in a debate), but instead advices, in a line that many  
of us as children were made to memorise blindly ;-): karmanye  
vadhikarasthe ma phaleshu kadachana, ma karma phala hetur bhurmate  
sangotsva akarmani", which I will translate here, thus: always perform  
your actions (duties), but perform them with detachment.

I think Kierkegaard and Heidegger echo quite well what Hinduism  
describes/prescribes. As also the fellows in Brooklyn and NJ, who say  
"What can I say? You gotta do what you gotta do".

	--ravi

--
Support something better than yourself ;-)
PeTA       => http://peta.org/
Greenpeace => http://greenpeace.org/
If you have nothing better to read: http://platosbeard.org/

_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l