Masters and Gautama: A Synthesis of Buddhist Philosophy

Masters and Gautama: A Synthesis of Buddhist Philosophy

Regardless of who we are or where we come from, we are unlucky enough to be subject to a world consisting of modifiers, pre-established social elements, systems of opinion and belief, which, though we may be unaware of them while they work their magic on us, ultimately serve to wrap us in a prison of thought. At the same time, there exist modifiers which may serve to free us. Depending on the right conditions, the time, we can be fortunate enough to see through the shroud pulled over our head at birth, to the true explanation of why we’re here, the truth of our existence. It’s for this reason that I’ve chosen to bring together two articles which, in their own way, relate the story of just such an occurrence- where a person comes to the realization that the world is absolutely different than what their influences in life have led them to think of it as.

The first is an excerpt from a book, which acquaints us with the history of the Buddha, his exposure and realization of the vagaries of life, and his subsequent pursuit of enlightenment thereafter. The second is the story of a man on death row in San Quentin prison who, very comparatively, through the study of meditation and spiritualism, raises his perception of life to a new level and begins to see through his own veil of thought, recognizing the horrible falsehood of his past.

These two texts clearly illustrate the potential every person has to change themselves, their lives, by simply turning around and evaluating the way they see and interpret the world. Together they demonstrate how anyone can rise over the problems of their past, reject what they’ve grown accustomed to thinking of as normal, in an effort to better themselves.

From the book “The World’s Religions,” the excerpt “Buddhism” by Huston Smith gives us an informative, yet summarized look, into the life of a man named Siddhartha Gautama. Born of a king into a life of luxury, in what is now Nepal around 563 B.C., Gautama was prophesized to be the “world redeemer”(par. 9), the one who would see the truth of existence and eventually lead people from Brahmanism and the vagaries of life. This story has been told by many authors countless times, there is no real unique quality in Huston’s telling, but this version of the narrative, with it’s clarity and straightforwardness, makes it a perfect selection to use for the telling of the Buddha’s past.