I've only read the play, McCarthy's crushing despair and nihilism still brings unpleasant memories in mind, most of all that he allows White last word, but this is far from the essence of Buddhist thought.
The realization of nothingness, emptiness, transience, these all happen in this life. Nirvana is a state of mind not an afterlife and the Buddha didn't promise it as a reward. Beings who leave this world in suffering (like a man who takes his own life) return to it, to struggle for another lifetime, until they're set free. This may appear a moral lesson of mythical quality, but it's an abstraction. Peace of the soul is possible in this world, not a next one, the task is to achieve it not demand it at the end of the counter.
If nothing else, Buddhists don't hope for nothingness, they become aware of it, and in doing so they're set free. Look up at the photo of the Vietnamese monk burning alive to see the essence of that.
Above all, they're set free to become productive, helpful, better human beings. The idea of the boddhisatvas ties in to this, beings who have reached enlightnment yet choose to remain in the cycle of human suffering to assist other beings in their path. Again a myth but it communicates something. White, by contrast, is miserable, selfish, cynical.
McCarthy's sensibilities, as much as I like him as a writer, couldn't be further from Buddhist thought. His god is the vengeful one of Old Testament, or is absent.
-I really find difficult.. dialogue with mosquito and my pain.
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Adolphe_Menjou
10 years ago
I've only read the play, McCarthy's crushing despair and nihilism still brings unpleasant memories in mind, most of all that he allows White last word, but this is far from the essence of Buddhist thought.
The realization of nothingness, emptiness, transience, these all happen in this life. Nirvana is a state of mind not an afterlife and the Buddha didn't promise it as a reward. Beings who leave this world in suffering (like a man who takes his own life) return to it, to struggle for another lifetime, until they're set free. This may appear a moral lesson of mythical quality, but it's an abstraction. Peace of the soul is possible in this world, not a next one, the task is to achieve it not demand it at the end of the counter.
If nothing else, Buddhists don't hope for nothingness, they become aware of it, and in doing so they're set free. Look up at the photo of the Vietnamese monk burning alive to see the essence of that.
Above all, they're set free to become productive, helpful, better human beings. The idea of the boddhisatvas ties in to this, beings who have reached enlightnment yet choose to remain in the cycle of human suffering to assist other beings in their path. Again a myth but it communicates something. White, by contrast, is miserable, selfish, cynical.
McCarthy's sensibilities, as much as I like him as a writer, couldn't be further from Buddhist thought. His god is the vengeful one of Old Testament, or is absent.
^This.
Que Sera Sera
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ManFromSanFernando
9 years ago
>>McCarthy's sensibilities, as much as I like him as a writer, couldn't be further from Buddhist thought. His god is the vengeful one of Old Testament, or is absent.
exactly, according to Wikipedia he grew up a Catholic and allegedly is no longer one.....I don't necessarily believe that. I've read one of his books and picked up on what you're claim.
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