Reading & the Good Life
Join the conversation! Every Friday at Noon EST, Perennial Meditations readers are welcome to gather for Reading & the Good Life (Register here), a casual space for connection, contemplation, and conversations on the art of living.
Who was the Buddha?
The Buddha (c. 450 BCE) is the individual whose teachings form the basis of the Buddhist tradition. These teachings, preserved in texts known as the Nikāyas or Āgamas, concern the quest for liberation from suffering. While the ultimate aim of the Buddha’s teachings is thus to help individuals attain the good life, his analysis of the source of suffering centrally involves claims concerning the nature of persons, as well as how we acquire knowledge about the world and our place in it. […]
Source: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The following video briefly explains The Four Noble Truths:
Dear Readers,
This Friday, we continue our search for Buddhist wisdom through the Dalai Lama’s book The Four Noble Truths. The passages below will help guide the discussion at our next meetup (Register here). As you read these passages, consider reflecting on the following questions:
(1) How can you embody these lessons in daily life?
(2) What might stand in the way of implementing these ideas?
(3) How can the following insights help you live the “good” life?
Now, in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the Four Noble Truths, I think it is also necessary to be familiar with the Two Truths, conventional or relative truth and ultimate truth. … By coming to know our everyday world of lived experience, we appreciate what is known as the world of conventional reality, where the causal principle operates. If we accept the reality of this world as conventional, then we can accept the empty nature of this world which, according to Buddhism, is the ultimate truth. The relationship between these two aspects of reality is important. The world of appearance is used not so much as a contrast or an opposite to the world of ultimate truth, but rather as the evidence, the very basis on which the ultimate nature of reality is established.
Only when you have an understanding of the nature and relationship of these Two Truths are you in a position to fully understand the meaning of the Four Noble Truths. […]
— Dalai Lama, The Four Noble Truths
