The Buddha vs. The Fully-Realized Man [Closed Captioned]

Author and scholar Chungliang Al Huang pokes fun at Western culture with his satirical comparison of "The Thinker" by Rodin and The Buddha.

Since turn about is fair play, he lampoons the ideals of Rodin's thinker through comparison with "The Enlightened One."

However, since his psyche is ultimately Asiatic, as he shows the reader in his comparison, Chungliang fails to grasp the epic work's place in the Western Psyche.

As German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche pointed out : You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.

However, since the lampoon, is appropriately and, perhaps, unintentionally racist on the part of the Chinese author Chungliang, we let this funny comparison slip.

However, I would like to hold equal footing as the author and quote Jack Nicholson's character Buddy Rydell in "Anger Management." Buddy said (at a Buddhist monastery):

How does a guy who weighs over 600 pounds have the balls to teach people about self-discipline?

Touche Chungliang, Touche!

As I see you have chosen a rather svelte Buddha for your book, you may have already been aware of this.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Buddha
• Fully Realized Man
• Wheel
• Rolling
• unto
• itself
• Chungliang
• Al
• Huang
• Quantum Soup
• Western
• Occidental
• Oriental
• Asian
• Asiatic
• Buddhism
• Awakened
• One
• Rodin
• The
• Thinker
• Poet
• Enlightened
• Satori
• Gates of Hell
• Dante
• Beautific Vision
• Divine Comedy

[josephischristian]

What can i do to have a "tremendous affect on the world"?

[TheFaustianMan]

@josephischristian You start by asking that very question. The other part, is something only you can figure out do yourself. :)

[StylinKaos]

How about the best of both worlds?

[TheFaustianMan]

@StylinKaos

The danger is one method wants you to submit, and does not have any notion of individuality and more importantly Love. As you can see, this had an appeal to the despotic rules of the East at the time (such as Ashoka) and flourished. It subjugated whole races as "sacrificial stock" and kept them from rebelling too often because of ideas like Dharma, Maya, and Caste.

So, love is more seen as Eros, consequently a woman would hold you back from enlightenment. Hence, not possible really

[TheFaustianMan]

@StylinKaos

...if you believe in the uniqueness of the individual. The idea of our soul's counterpart. Again, these ideas have only been crudely understood in places like Japan, India, and China.

Women in the aforementioned are seen as the embodiment of the cosmos, more than being seen as a human. The idea of a "soul" or "soul mate" is that idea of the uniqueness of the love in eternity and brought into time. Where in the East that would be childish. And husband and wife is more of a role.

[kellybw23]

Great comparison. Just wondering how long this unique western psyche has existed. Seems the "fully-realized man" as you describe him is a relatively recent phenomena in the history of humanity. I speculate we were all once more collective and with the rise of markets and industrialization (along with corresponding political systems) we have turned selfishly inward, becoming overly individualized, competitive and obsessed with what "mark" we can leave in the world. Guess balance is key

[TheFaustianMan]

Hi Kellybw23. I am going to say it is a fairly new event. That had originated with hunting culture, as opposed to agricultural societies. In a hunting culture there is a distinction between individual viz. the tribal mentality. Where in agricultural societies, especially in the tropics, there is no emphasis on individualism. Hence in these areas you tend to see more scarifies and cannibalism. The idea being increase life = increase death. However, these are only crude notions. text limit =)

[enigmaofsmoke]

@1111MANA

Find another enlightened bodhisattva.

From one aspiring bodhisattva to another:

Cultivate beginner's mind.

Let go, let go, let go.

[TheFaustianMan]

@1111MANA

And you as well!

[1111MANA]

Cheers mate,best wishes to you, brother.