The previous post in this series introduced the Eightfold Path, which outlines the eight basic elements of Buddhist commitment and life that they believe lead to freedom from the cycle of attachments, suffering, and karma, and discussed the first of these elements, right (or, skillful) understanding. This is about the way we understand the world … Continue reading The Eightfold Path, Part 2: Right Resolve
A few weeks ago, towards the start of this series, we looked at the Fourth Noble Truths, which are the most basic distillation of Buddhist thought. As a reminder, they go something like this: Dissatisfaction or suffering is everywhere; the cause of this suffering is our attachment; suffering can end by severing those attachments; and … Continue reading The Eightfold Path and the Gospel: 1. Right Understanding
Today is Thanksgiving Sunday here in Canada, one of my favourite holidays. And, because our National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was just a couple weeks ago, this theme has also been colouring my thoughts the past few days in the lead up to Thanksgiving. As such, I thought I’d throw back this week to … Continue reading Thanksgiving and Reconciliation
So far in this series exploring Buddhist thought as a mirror to better understand Christianity we’ve seen just how central the idea of attachment/non-attachment is in Buddhism: We are dissatisfied with the world, thereby suffering and acting to cause others to suffer, because we are overly attached to the transient things of the world around … Continue reading The Gospel and the Three Poisons
Matthew Root 