Article - The Happy Overlap Between Stoicism and Buddhism

[bayamo]

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/buddhist-psychology-east-meets-west/202207/the-happy-overlap-between-stoicism-and-buddhism

#sattoday
Edit- (Sorry bout the typo in the title, can a mod fix that? Thanks)
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[Artien]

Thank you for sharing, a very nice read.

Gassho

Artien
SatToday

[Gareth]

For me there is an error - it says “Not found”.

Edit: I was not annoyed though, as this is part of nature

Gassho,
Gareth

Sat today, Lah

[Artien]

For me there is an error - it says “Not found”.

Edit: I was not annoyed though, as this is part of nature

Gassho,
Gareth

Sat today, Lah

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/buddhist-psychology-east-meets-west/202207/the-happy-overlap-between-stoicism-and-buddhism

Gassho

Artien
SatToday

[Tai Do]

Thanks, Bayamo and Artien.

Mateus
Sat/LAH

[Shoki]

A good read. The only thing that kind of threw me was the question; What would you miss about this life and the world if you were gone? I'm not convinced that there is any kind of consciousness or awareness as we know it once we're dead so I don't know if this question can be answered.

Gassho
ST-lah
Shoki

[Jundo]

Hail Marcus Aurelius.

I agree, based on this and some other study I have done in the past, that there is much overlap between the basic attitudes of stoicism and our Zen way. Accept, even feel gratitude for, all which life hands one ... include the unwanted and sometimes bitter. Do not be overly attached to outcomes even as one strives. Want what one has, not what one does not have, as the secret to contentment. I think that the stoics got a bad rap for being cold and detached (so did many Buddhists), when it is possible to practice both with an attitude of having emotions and savoring life, but without falling into excess, harmful emotions or overly clinging.

There are some differences, however, in what Buddhism offers that stoicism does not ...

- For example, the best way to satisfy the wants of the human self is to drop the human self into emptiness, thus becoming the wholeness of the universe just as it is.

- One can strive and want AND not strive and be fully content with what is AT THE SAME TIME, IN THE SAME MOMENT.

- We not only accept death ... we also do not believe fully in it.

... and more.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Tom A.]

Seneca, Letters to Lucilius:

A short space above, I remarked that a tiny fire does not add to the sun's light. For by reason of the sun's brightness any light that shines apart from the sunlight is blotted out. "But," one may say, "there are certain objects that stand in the way even of the sunlight." The sun, however, is unimpaired even in the midst of obstacles, and, though an object may intervene and cut off our view thereof, the sun sticks to his work and goes on his course. Whenever he shines forth from amid the clouds, he is no smaller, nor less punctual either, than when he is free from clouds; since it makes a great deal of difference whether there is merely something in the way of his light or something which interferes with his shining. Similarly, obstacles take nothing away from virtue; it is no smaller, but merely shines with less brilliancy. In our eyes, it may perhaps be less visible and less luminous than before; but as regards itself it is the same and, like the sun when he is eclipsed, is still, though in secret, putting forth its strength. Disasters, therefore, and losses, and wrongs, have only the same power over virtue that a cloud has over the sun.

Sounds a little like Jundo eh?

There are some differences, however, in what Buddhism offers that stoicism does not ...

- For example, the best way to satisfy the wants of the human self is to drop the human self into emptiness, thus becoming the wholeness of the universe just as it is.

- One can strive and want AND not strive and be fully content with what is AT THE SAME TIME, IN THE SAME MOMENT.

Those are there in Stoicism (view from above, Seneca, Epictetus were very much for being content and striving in the moment). The Buddha, Dogen and Shikantaza offer ways that are sometimes more powerful IMO

I like Stoicism’s extreme directness, they don’t mince words. Im a prokopton (someone on the Stoic path). And I practice Soto zen. Being a good Buddhist is the same as being good human being which is the same as being a good Stoic, Christian, Muslim, Jew… etc…



Gassho,

Tom

Sat

[Jundo]

Seneca, Letters to Lucilius: ...

Sounds a little like Jundo eh?

Funny you should say that. A rare statue of Seneca from the Louvre ...

Gassho, J

STLah



Roman Jundo.jpg

[Tom A.]

Funny you should say that. A rare statue of Seneca from the Louvre ...

Gassho, J



STLah



[ATTACH=CONFIG]7713[/ATTACH]

I always knew you guys were one and the same.

Some say Pyyrhonian Skepticism is close to Zen, some say Cynicism is, some say Stoicism is, the truth is that it is probably similar to a mixture of all three. I gave up hankering for dumb facts about the similarity of these things: they are ALL VERY similar because they are all based on some form of reasonable methods of becoming a better/good human or just a better whoever you already are. They all have a cosmology like Indra’s net of cause and effect (Moirai is the Greek version). There was a considerable amount of travel between the ancient Hellenistic people and India and that is probably how Socrates got his notion of reincarnation (he wanted to be reincarnated as an ant or a bee btw ) and how the Pyyrhonian skeptics got their philosophy.

I learned late that all of these religions/philosophies based on reasonableness (Nagarjuna, Dogen, Epictetus, Socrates etc etc) want us to actually be good people, and that is the rub. It all means nothing if we don’t honestly practice being good. It’s what the swing is to 1920s-40s Jazz (to keep the ‘Zen Masters Dance’ jazz metaphor going): Duke Elllington would say, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.”

Sorry to run long. Both Zen masters and Stoic Sages frown on this much talking.

Gassho,

Tom

Sat