Sunday 15 April 2007
Gautama was a spoilt kid
I have often wondered how to what extent things which are good for one person can be generalised to others. For example Gautama (the Buddha ) gave some advice to others as to how they could overcome suffering. Well ok it worked for him but then he was a spoilt prince who had a wake up call when he encountered suffering in the world. Why should it be assumed that his way and methods should be appropriate for say an abused kid or even an abused kid who was later on in life spoilt.
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2 comments:
I'd say the reason his teachings have endured so well was because his way and methods were appropriate for everyone.
I'm not a buddhist myself- just thought I'd be devil's advocate. You have a good point, but you assume that Siddartha Guatama wasn't wise enough to psyhcologically "transcend" his own history. I think we're only the product of our own childhoods up to a certain point. Being a spoilt/abused kid does not necessarily hinder our ability to connect with others.
Thanks for the response. In a way I suppose I am also being a bit devils advocate. The reason for this being that there seem to be a wider variety of responses and change within different people when the start to meditate for example. So much so it is difficult to understand exactly what are the best conditions or state of mind to have to begin with.
My own view is that much of out sufferings in life we can usually do something about them. Although I would not like to say all things or all people or all the time as that would be dogmatic. I can say for myself that practicing meditation has helped me enormously and perhaps dare I say it transformed how I see the world and myself.
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