Platos The Republic and The Old Testament Essay -- Philosophy Buddhis

Plato's The Republic and The Old Testament A Buddhist teaching suggests that practicing Buddhism is like taking a raft over a great river. One riverbank represents the realm of ‘samsara,’ the cycle of suffering that we are all spinning around in. On the other side is ‘wakefulness,’ or ‘nirvana,’ an enlightened state of awareness characterized by an infinite sense of unity and bliss. The raft symbolizes Buddhism; its purpose being to help us cross over from samsara to nirvana. According to the teaching, however, a curious thing happens to the individual who manages to reach the ‘banks of enlightenment.’ Having climbed off of the raft, she turns around to discover that she cannot now see any riverbank on the side from which she departed. In fact, she realizes that there is no river, no raft, and – to her pure astonishment – no Buddha at all! (Zimmer, 82-90) The story is a way of reminding us that the state of wakefulness involves an experience of reality so utterly beyond linear comprehension, so overwhelming and indescribable, and so categorically unlike anything one could possibly imagine or articulate in finite terms, that even the means of achieving it are, at best, illusory roadmaps – roadmaps that use boundaries in an attempt to help people grasp a condition of being that has no boundaries. Thus, in essence, it would never be possible to attain a complete understanding of wakefulness using Buddhism or any other practice or paradigm arising out of the substrate of finite consciousness. It could be said that systems like Buddhism are limited to pointing us in an appropriate direction or helping us to look in places where we might be more likely to become enlightened. They may embody or convey truth in one form or ... ...ntext, but this does not prevent us from encountering the Ultimate in the writings of the Old Testament as well. The texts each approach the subject from foreign perspectives, describing unique facets of the same idea. If we work from that point of view, we can see unity between them, and develop a broader, more encompassing understanding of the world. Works Cited: Plato. â€Å"from The Republic.† In: Benton, Janetta Rebold and DiYanni, Robert. 1998. Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 152-154. Wilber, Ken. â€Å"The Perennial Philosophy.† In: Wilber, Ken. 1998. The Essential Ken Wilber: An Introductory Reader. Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications. 7-8. Zimmer, Heinrich (trans). â€Å"Buddhahood.† In: Eastman, Roger. 1999. The Ways of Religion. 3rd Ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 82-90.