Careful there. Treat anything too abstractly and it will inevitably become everything else. "Knowledge of Good and Evil" as an evil itself is a pretty good link between the two, but Genesis falls pretty hard on the side of 'What's done is done, let's talk about genealogies', where Buddhism verbosely strives to overturn such an injustice. Basically polar opposite endpoints, right? Not to mention that God himself (an omniscient being who can be trusted to accurately gauge these sorts of things) declares all of creation to be "Good", while Buddhism, as you suggested with the Jhana comparison, values an ongoing nothingness as "Good". Once again, polar opposites.
Hope I'm not too far off the mark here, I'm not crazy well versed in Buddhist beliefs, but if Genesis truly is a narrative form of Buddhism, you'd expect it to draw similar conclusions, set similar goals for the reader. Even a pretty cursory engagement with the text seems to dispel this belief. Also, ah, sorry if this piece was more intended as a romanticized analogy than a genuine proposition. Religious imagery complements your prose quite nicely, as it has many before you.
Technically, Buddhist concepts were available when the Old Testament was composed (Seleukid era; check the Elephantine papyri), as the emperor Ashok was a Buddhist. However, I don't see any hard evidence Genesis relied on the Indians; it seems generically chin-lifty with Babylonian characteristics.
You seem to rely too much on the conscious mind.
For all we know, suffering arises from chemistry.
I am not a fan of Buddhism. Focus out, not inward.
Why is Buddhism your starting point? Personally I'm more familiar with Christianity here, so maybe you're just reaching the other way. But if you think that they tell similar stories, why is Buddhism the template for Genesis, and not vice versa?
Great post! I had a half formed thought along similar lines once, where original sin is the illusion of self and hence the source of suffering. The moment of eating the apple is a metaphor for the moment the self is fabricated. I think this also fits with what you’ve been saying. The Jhanas are often thought of as the progress of defabrication, for example.
Incredible. What is your IQ? Do you consider yourself intelligent? What about your peers? I wish to write like you one day but I suspect that you may be too far ahead.
Holy shit, this is good.
Careful there. Treat anything too abstractly and it will inevitably become everything else. "Knowledge of Good and Evil" as an evil itself is a pretty good link between the two, but Genesis falls pretty hard on the side of 'What's done is done, let's talk about genealogies', where Buddhism verbosely strives to overturn such an injustice. Basically polar opposite endpoints, right? Not to mention that God himself (an omniscient being who can be trusted to accurately gauge these sorts of things) declares all of creation to be "Good", while Buddhism, as you suggested with the Jhana comparison, values an ongoing nothingness as "Good". Once again, polar opposites.
Hope I'm not too far off the mark here, I'm not crazy well versed in Buddhist beliefs, but if Genesis truly is a narrative form of Buddhism, you'd expect it to draw similar conclusions, set similar goals for the reader. Even a pretty cursory engagement with the text seems to dispel this belief. Also, ah, sorry if this piece was more intended as a romanticized analogy than a genuine proposition. Religious imagery complements your prose quite nicely, as it has many before you.
Technically, Buddhist concepts were available when the Old Testament was composed (Seleukid era; check the Elephantine papyri), as the emperor Ashok was a Buddhist. However, I don't see any hard evidence Genesis relied on the Indians; it seems generically chin-lifty with Babylonian characteristics.
You seem to rely too much on the conscious mind.
For all we know, suffering arises from chemistry.
I am not a fan of Buddhism. Focus out, not inward.
Why is Buddhism your starting point? Personally I'm more familiar with Christianity here, so maybe you're just reaching the other way. But if you think that they tell similar stories, why is Buddhism the template for Genesis, and not vice versa?
Great post! I had a half formed thought along similar lines once, where original sin is the illusion of self and hence the source of suffering. The moment of eating the apple is a metaphor for the moment the self is fabricated. I think this also fits with what you’ve been saying. The Jhanas are often thought of as the progress of defabrication, for example.
Incredible. What is your IQ? Do you consider yourself intelligent? What about your peers? I wish to write like you one day but I suspect that you may be too far ahead.