Birth versus Death
Chapter 18
In this chapter Shlain talks about the creation of Buddhism, how it evolved, and then how it diminished away. First he starts off by talking about how rapidly Buddhism spread in India and how many people quickly joined this new religion, but by A.D 500 it was practically extinct. This new religion was quickly taken up by Siddhartha Gautama, a prince who was very observant of the outside world and the trouble caused to the ordinary people. Watching the troubled people made Siddhartha very sad, so in turn he decided to explore the outside world leaving his family behind. He traveled to a forest where he “encountered a group of ascetics” (Shlain 170). As soon as Siddhartha approached the group he asked a question but in order to get a response from the people he had to join the group. He decided to deprive his body even more than any other person to feel the full effects of how it felt to be in poverty. As the story proceeds he observes this endless cycle of “birth, pain, loss, and death” (Shlain 171). This cycle works on Siddhartha pretty hard and he decides to figure out a way to eliminate this type of suffering. One thing Siddhartha notices is that the ego is the main focus; it’s very selfish and demanding. He goes on to say that the “ego prevents one from combining the soul of the world within each of us with the soul of the world at large” (171). Siddhartha believed that the ego would need to be “awakened” if you wanted to see enlightenment. This is how “Buddha” came about also known as the “Awakened One.” Siddhartha (Buddha) believed that everyone lives a busy short-lived life and no one sees the real bliss in live and that is what he would to preach. He’d rather his people speak than write anything down, and have his words carried on through stories from their elders. Buddha also believed in non-violence, universal love way of life but failed to give any woman respect in it. He then goes on to give his Aunt, who raised him because his mother died during child birth, no status. She tries to join his group and he refused each time until finally Ananda a follower of his, decided to overrule Buddha and let her join their group. There were stiff rules she had to follow, and he made sure she and all other females were second class and were made to bow down to all monks.
I feel Shlain’s rhetorical appeal was mostly Pathos because he is telling this story about Buddhism and how it came about. It plays with your emotions in several ways. First it talks about how he starved himself to see how the other people lived. Then he has this awakening where he sees that the ego is all bad and makes you do selfish things. Following that he tries to say that child birth is the source of all pain when in most people’s mind it is all happiness and joy. I think Shlain makes some good points about this religion but he also degrades women a lot stating on page 176 “women could join, but they must accept second- class status.” To me I feel like every religion has this downgrade towards women and that somehow we aren’t good enough to be a head of any sort of religion.
Question: According to Shlain on page 174 he says that “Could birth, the quintessential female gift, really be the source of all the world’s pain?” Do you agree with Shlain or disagree with Shlain’s statement?
Shlain, Leonard. “Birth/Death.” The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image. New York: Penguin / Compass, 1998. Pp. 168-178
Penitence Verse. Photograph. A Buddhist Journal. 5 Oct. 2007. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.
Shlain's words, "Could birth, the quintessential female gift, really be the source of all the world's pain?", a summarization of the beliefs of Buddha, are tough words to swallow. It is upsetting to think that someone, Buddha, could suffer so much pain to think it would have been better to "never have been born" (Shlain 174). Of course I disagree with these sentiments. Buddha had suffered in his life; his mother died during his birth. However, I agree with Shlain's statement when he says, "Despite its disappointments and unpleasant surprises, most people would vote yes on the proposition that the joys of living outweigh its sorrows" (175). This one sentence sums up my beliefs on suffering. Being born is not the source of all the world's pain. It is refusing to see the beauty in life and allowing one's sorrows to overcome that person that causes pain.
ReplyDeleteI don’t believe that birth is the source of all the world’s pain. I think that there is joy in human life, also on page 174 and 175 Schlain poses the question “But what of the joys?” Like walking along the beach, seeing flowers in the spring, the smell of a Thanksgiving meal, or a job accomplished, and lunch with a good friend. Yes, there is pain in the world but there is joy too. Generally, people think the joy in life outweigh the pain. (If not there probably be a lot more suicides) And to experience life’s joys you have to be alive.
ReplyDeleteI also don't believe the theory of the world's pain because of life in general being of "happy" itself. Life for the most part is filled with more happiness than sadness or defeat. Now don't get me wrong there is indeed pain, but not even close to what happiness and joy one can bring itself over that of pain itself.
ReplyDeletedo not agree with Shlain's statement “Could birth, the quintessential female gift, really be the source of all the world’s pain?”. To me this is a very immature way to look at the world and life in general. I feel that Shlain does this a lot throughout the book. He takes particular statements from religious and philosophical texts and focuses only on statements made to arouse negative emotions in women who feel that they are equal in society to men. In my opinion Shlain needs to take a deeper look at the philosophies he is in my opinion bashing to bring these seemingly degrading statements into something logical that in my opinion would make more sense. At this point I feel that Shlain is a very ignorant person who doesn't look into what he is studying with very much depth. And I also feel that the worlds pain has a lot more to do with human interactions than in the way we as humans are born.
ReplyDeleteI will also have to agree that the statement “Could birth, the quintessential female gift, really be the source of all the world’s pain?” does not make much since to me. I think it is a very powerful statement and question to make. I think there are very many other things that affect the world's pain. Child birth could be one thing, but I think that Schlain is just looking for things to blame on women and isn't really taking anything into consideration. I think his arguments are starting to become very unjustified and really quite lame. There are many factors that could cause pain, and I just don't think that child birth is high up on the list.
ReplyDeleteI would say that when taken literally, birth would be the source of all pain. This rings true only because, without birth there would be nothing, there would be no people and therefore no pain nor would there be anything else, such as joy. So one could just as easily say that birth is the source of all of the world's joy. The only way to make this statement by Schlain make sense is to take it as literally as possible, which may be the way in which he intended to have it taken.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the statement that birth is the source of all pain, although birth is the source of everything. Obviously without birth there would be no life, without life there would be no pain, joy, or any other emotion. This statement is ludicrous and once again Shlain is going off on tangents. I agree with statements above in taking the quote literally, thats is the only way to make sense out of it.
ReplyDeleteThink of it this way, if you were never born you would experience pain, or loss of any kind. I think that this is what he was trying to say. It seems as though he is a pretty depressed guy. Shlain talks about Buddha inherently is saddened in large part because of his birth, "his mother died as a result of it" (175). Shlain talks about how it affects everyone that loses their mother at such a young age. Granted if you were never born you would never get to experience life and happiness either so it is kind of a catch 22.
ReplyDelete