Transcending Obligation: Buddha and Christ

After a nice group meditation session tonight, I was thinking a bit about Buddhism, and watching several documentaries on "his" life. I thought I'd make a little joke:

1. 2 hrsMythos Media ‏@Mythos_Media

   People often overlook the part of the story of the Buddha where he abandons his wife & child. The Buddha was a total dick.

   
   

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   1. 1 hrMad Scientist Mclean ‏@IDMclean

      @Mythos_Media The wife he had an arranged marriage with and who was a blood relative. Not saying that doesn't make him a dick.

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   2. 6 minsMythos Media ‏@Mythos_Media

      @IDMclean the story goes that he was deeply in love with her, cousin or not. But it was a joke too. Buddhas life is best seen as myth

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   3. 5 minsMythos Media ‏@Mythos_Media

      @IDMclean in the context of myth...well, his son was called "fetter." Ball and chain.

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   4. 5 minsMythos Media ‏@Mythos_Media

      @IDMclean it was the cultural dimension he had to transcend, that we have to transcend to be ourselves

After transcending that dimension presented by his child and wife, he was presented by Maya with his future: he would become a great king of men. This too he had to go beyond, and at this point he entered the spiritual realm and was then presented with temptations there after demonstrating his attainment.

The tests under the Bo tree are almost beat for beat similar to the tests of the Christ. It is the way that the Christ and Buddha myths were differently interpreted that spelled the primary differences between these narratives. The cultures that bore the stories into existence were different, and the future mutants of those stories were also different. It is interesting then that there is so much overlap between these redeemer/savour myths, though of course that cultural different winds up producing such different practices. 

It's also worth noticing that if you're planning on marrying someone that is to become a religious figure, you're pretty shit out of luck. Cause it really didn't go well for the women in Siddhartha's life, nor Jesus'. 

I think it had been well covered on both this site and in the media we've linked how myths can be, even should be read - I would not propose that any of us can tell someone what that meaning is, myths can be unpacked in an almost infinite number of ways - but the method itself presents some uniformity. 

Myths are public dreams

I'm sure that is understood by the person I was speaking with, but I thought this might be a good time to share some old videos that were once useful for me. If you can get past some of the cheesiness, there is some material in here quite worth it if you are new to mythic studies / symbology, or if you just feel like smoking one and trancing out.

[Where is the fucking counterculture? Mythos Media.]