The Man from Earth: Holocene Page #3

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became a Buddhist, went home

and started spreading the religion.

The Chinese mixed in Taoism.

Their monks introduced

the head shaving, the robes,

the fat, happy Buddha named Hotei.

The actual Buddha was a regular man,

with a normal body and a full head of hair.

But he was a god.

No, never claimed to be.

Just a man who thought long and

hard about the human condition

- and achieved enlightenment.

- Like Jesus.

Only without the long blond hair

and blue eyes.

(LAUGHS)

Uh, but Jesus wasn't just a man.

No?

He claimed to be the son of God.

He died, and was resurrected.

So we know he was divine.

You know, or you have faith?

You can only know what you can prove.

God is beyond proof, logic or reason.

You can believe in God

or Jesus through faith

but that's different from knowing.

I know that Jesus existed;

there's historical evidence of that.

And, uh...

I have faith that he was divine.

Aquinas said faith is a divine act

supernaturally bestowed.

"Ask and ye shall receive."

Kierkegaard, on the other hand,

said that we must leap to faith.

It's an act you must choose to perform.

Kierkegaard was more demanding.

Okay, he was sick of people

sitting around talking

about religion all day and

not doing anything about it.

I hope he didn't mean this class, though.

(LAUGHTER)

JOHN:
But, uh,

weren't we supposed

to be talking about Buddha?

They had a lot in common, Jesus and Buddha.

How so?

Well, there's a lot of overlap

in their philosophies.

They both taught that golden rule

that we should be charitable

and not judge others.

But the Buddha said you shouldn't believe

in something just 'cause

it's written in scripture.

The whole premise with Jesus

is to accept on faith.

That's a pretty huge difference.

Also the purpose of suffering.

Jesus suffered for us.

While the Buddha's whole thing

was to eliminate suffering.

Eliminate desire.

Which is what causes suffering.

I know. I listen. I was listening.

(LAUGHTER)

Okay. Next time, we will

cover the path to Nirvana

and we will wrap this

semester up with Jainism.

It's like Buddhism, but less fun.

Jain women have to be reborn as men

to achieve enlightenment.

Ugh.

We all know it should be

the other way around.

(MILD LAUGHTER)

Thank you.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

- Great lecture.

- You never use any notes or anything.

- You just, like, know all this stuff.

- I've been at it a very, very long time.

So, in honor of wrapping up the unit,

we're having a Buddhist vegetarian dinner.

- Think you could come?

- Um... Thank you, but I don't think so.

Busy?

I appreciate the invitation.

Oh, and for what it's worth,

the Buddha ate meat.

He never said you had to be a vegetarian.

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