Buddhist Thoughts in Russian Lit?
I'm not sure if finishing War and Peace is a big load off my chest, but it's certainly a big load off my Timbuk2 bag! The 1443-page epic novel has been tugged into the bag for three weeks and puts an extra few pounds to it. While Tolstoy, who is more a moralist than a mystic, makes frequent allusion to Christianity, I find the novel stippled with Buddhist thoughts and ideas:
"While imprisoned in the shed Pierre had learned, not through his intellect but through his whole being, through life itself, that man is created for happiness, that happiness lies in himself, in the satisfaction of simple human needs; and that all unhappiness is due, not to privation but to superfluity. But now, during these last three weeks of the march, he had learned still another new and confronting truth--that there is nothing in the world to be dreaded." [4.3.12]
"The absence of suffering, the satisfaction of elementary needs and consequent freedom in the choice of one's occupation--that is, of one's mode of living--now seemed to Pierre the sure height of human happiness. Here and now for the first time in his life Pierre fully appreciated the enjoyment of eating because he was hungry, of drinking because he was thirsty, of sleep because he was sleepy, of warmth because he was cold, of talking to a fellow creature because he felt like talking and wanted to hear a human voice. The satisfaction of one's needs--good food, cleanliness, freedom--now that he was deprived of these seemed to Pierre to constitute perfect happiness; and the choice of occupation, that is, of his manner in life, now that choice was so restricted, seemed to him such an easy matter that he forgot that a superfluity of the comforts of life destroys all joy in gratifying one's needs,..." [4.3.12]
If love is among human needs, then recently I have for a very long time tasted love and basked in the happiness of love. The suffering from the past relationship--the chilly reception, the days when I looked at my phone raptly to see if he (the ex) had called {I know that was pathetic), the deprivation of intimacy--all constitute my happiness now.
Reading Update
What I am reading for my classes: The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky and The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and Ethics of Queer, Michael Warner Life
What I am reading for summer: Four Tragedies, William Shakespeare
What I am reading for fun: Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me, Michael Thomas Ford
The last book I purchased: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov for John.
"While imprisoned in the shed Pierre had learned, not through his intellect but through his whole being, through life itself, that man is created for happiness, that happiness lies in himself, in the satisfaction of simple human needs; and that all unhappiness is due, not to privation but to superfluity. But now, during these last three weeks of the march, he had learned still another new and confronting truth--that there is nothing in the world to be dreaded." [4.3.12]
"The absence of suffering, the satisfaction of elementary needs and consequent freedom in the choice of one's occupation--that is, of one's mode of living--now seemed to Pierre the sure height of human happiness. Here and now for the first time in his life Pierre fully appreciated the enjoyment of eating because he was hungry, of drinking because he was thirsty, of sleep because he was sleepy, of warmth because he was cold, of talking to a fellow creature because he felt like talking and wanted to hear a human voice. The satisfaction of one's needs--good food, cleanliness, freedom--now that he was deprived of these seemed to Pierre to constitute perfect happiness; and the choice of occupation, that is, of his manner in life, now that choice was so restricted, seemed to him such an easy matter that he forgot that a superfluity of the comforts of life destroys all joy in gratifying one's needs,..." [4.3.12]
If love is among human needs, then recently I have for a very long time tasted love and basked in the happiness of love. The suffering from the past relationship--the chilly reception, the days when I looked at my phone raptly to see if he (the ex) had called {I know that was pathetic), the deprivation of intimacy--all constitute my happiness now.
Reading Update
What I am reading for my classes: The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky and The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and Ethics of Queer, Michael Warner Life
What I am reading for summer: Four Tragedies, William Shakespeare
What I am reading for fun: Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me, Michael Thomas Ford
The last book I purchased: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov for John.
3 Comments:
Perhaps Dostoevsky tried to piece together how similar relgions might be and knew more about Buddhism than we might suspect.
Dostoevsky is one of those authors whose works teachers loved to assign during college but no one ever made the time to actually read. Crime and Punishment hides somewhere in my stack of bedside books; I will get to it. And if I enjoy it, I will eventually check out War and Peace from the library.
The first of the three is the best. Are you talking about the novel written by Naguib Mahfouz?
I've got reviews on Amazon.com :)
Happy reading.
I think love is definitely among human needs, both the need to give and to receive love.
I've been trying, in my own life, to be aware of the many contexts for love, and to break from the modern focus on romantic love with one person as the singular outlet/source for compassion, understanding and companionship. Not that I'm against romantic love, I just realise that when I come to let it dominate my attentions, I experience what I've heard Buddhists call "attachment" in a way that precludes true compassion and promotes suffering.
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