3 ms·

It is very beautiful and interesting to me that Stoics and Buddhists arrived at very similar conclusions despite being thousands of miles apart and having littl

It is very beautiful and interesting to me that Stoics and Buddhists arrived at very similar conclusions despite being thousands of miles apart and having little to no contact.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
astrophysics 5y ago
They did have a lot of contact. I read about it from some Buddhist scholar, but I can't remember where.
stevofolife 5y ago
Seems like mainstream folks tend to give credits of life wisdom to Buddhism and Stoicism but let’s not forget the Bible also mentioned the same in the book of Luke: “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭17:33‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/114/luk.17.33.NKJV https://bible.com/bible/114/luk.17.33.NKJV
- tingol 5y ago
  That's because they did it centuries before Christianity?
- salt-thrower 5y ago
  As others said, Buddhists and Stoics were earlier. Some Christian writings were definitely influenced by those lines of thought though, yes. Speaking for myself, another reason I enjoy Buddhism and Stoicism is that they feel more like pure, distilled wisdom. Especially Zen Buddhism. Christian writings are filled with excessive moralizing and mythology, which enables all sorts of problems.
rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
There was some interaction between Greece and India, and it's possible some thought from the Indian subcontinent may have influenced the founders of scepticism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism While there isn't much direct evidence to support this theory, both philosophies have some ideas related to mindfulness that are too similar to me to be a coincidence.
MaxBarraclough 5y ago
Christianity has the same idea too, at least if you count the Serenity Prayer. Probably not an independent discovery though, I imagine its creator (a theologian) took the idea from Greek philosophy. > God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, > courage to change the things I can, > and wisdom to know the difference. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer#Genuine_precursors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer#Genuine_precur...
- salt-thrower 5y ago
  Yes, this is the most stoic/zen prayer that I've ever heard from a Christian context. I like it a lot. Unfortunately Christianity suffers from excessive moralizing and mythology, which turns me away from it. But it definitely has lines of thought that descended from stoic thinking.

It is very beautiful and interesting to me that Stoics and Buddhists arrived at very similar conclusions despite being thousands of miles apart and having little to no contact.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

astrophysics 5y ago

They did have a lot of contact. I read about it from some Buddhist scholar, but I can't remember where.

stevofolife 5y ago

Seems like mainstream folks tend to give credits of life wisdom to Buddhism and Stoicism but let’s not forget the Bible also mentioned the same in the book of Luke: “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭17:33‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/114/luk.17.33.NKJV https://bible.com/bible/114/luk.17.33.NKJV

tingol 5y ago
That's because they did it centuries before Christianity?
salt-thrower 5y ago
As others said, Buddhists and Stoics were earlier. Some Christian writings were definitely influenced by those lines of thought though, yes. Speaking for myself, another reason I enjoy Buddhism and Stoicism is that they feel more like pure, distilled wisdom. Especially Zen Buddhism. Christian writings are filled with excessive moralizing and mythology, which enables all sorts of problems.

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago

There was some interaction between Greece and India, and it's possible some thought from the Indian subcontinent may have influenced the founders of scepticism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism While there isn't much direct evidence to support this theory, both philosophies have some ideas related to mindfulness that are too similar to me to be a coincidence.

MaxBarraclough 5y ago

Christianity has the same idea too, at least if you count the Serenity Prayer. Probably not an independent discovery though, I imagine its creator (a theologian) took the idea from Greek philosophy. > God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, > courage to change the things I can, > and wisdom to know the difference. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer#Genuine_precursors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer#Genuine_precur...

salt-thrower 5y ago
Yes, this is the most stoic/zen prayer that I've ever heard from a Christian context. I like it a lot. Unfortunately Christianity suffers from excessive moralizing and mythology, which turns me away from it. But it definitely has lines of thought that descended from stoic thinking.