Part 3: Buddhism & Marcus Aurelius' Meditations

Part 3 of a new 23-part series where Silas looks at the themes and messages throughout Marcus Aurelius' meditations and comparing/ contrasting them with the teaching of the Buddha and Buddhism as a whole. In this lesson, we begin by looking at the theme of “your mind should sit superior to your body and its sensations."

Transcript

Hello and welcome to part three of looking at the themes and ideas from Marcus Aurelius' meditations and the teaching of the Buddha.

These lines and themes are taken from the wonderful boiled down version of Marcus Aurelius' meditations created by the YouTuber Vox Stoica,

And he has so kindly allowed me to use them for my comparison and contrasting.

Section three covers the topic of your mind should sit superior to your body and its sensations.

I think this is a very obvious thing that generally we forget.

It's very hard to follow,

But with a little practice I think we can.

I know that the body,

Through sensations,

Feelings,

And biochemistry,

Does have a lot of sway in the way that we think and what we do,

Being the system which is most connected to our instinctual nature,

But we do have the capability to rise above it.

And same goes for the mind.

So,

What does Marcus Aurelius advise here?

Through these lessons I am going to take lines from Vox Stoica's boiled down meditations,

And then talk for a good length about its comparison or contrast with the Buddhist way of thinking.

If this causes any confusion,

Please let me know.

To start,

Marcus Aurelius says,

You have a mind and a body.

Your mind,

Your rational faculty,

Is the advantage you have over other animals.

To follow nature means to recognize this,

And to use of what nature has given you.

Buddha and I think Buddhism as a whole would agree.

Within Buddhism,

Being born within the human realm and getting the chance to live a human life is the best possible thing.

The reason is that we have the faculty of mind fully and completely capable to understand the nature of existence,

Being,

And our life.

We are not yanked by mere instinct as animals are,

Which gives no hope for awakening,

And we understand and experience the necessary amount of dissatisfaction,

Suffering,

And change fast enough to have an advantage on the so-called godly realms,

Where they experience so little negativity or pain that they never even consider getting off the wild ride of the wheel of life and death.

We have a body,

This kind of meat vehicle that we all inhabit.

We are not just the body.

It is a system with which to interact with this realm of being.

Buddha would agree.

We have a mind.

We are not a mind,

But we have one.

Again,

Buddha and Buddhism as a whole I think would largely agree.

There is a style of training in the Tibetan Buddhism,

Which kind of is colloquially referred to as yoking the mind,

Or not letting the mind drive you,

But taking the reins away from the mind and body and using them as tools and servants for you.

The mind makes a lovely servant,

But is a dreadful master,

The body making an even worse one.

To recognize the body-mind complex and then be able to absolutely rise above it and act in the world,

Not driven by base instinct and not driven by the dreadful master of the mind,

Is to follow nature.

I think both Marcus Aurelius and Buddhism are in good agreeance here.

Next,

Marcus Aurelius says,

Deep down you already know the things you should be doing,

And yet you are not doing them.

That's because you do not have control over your mind.

If you determine to do something and don't do it,

It's because your body has given you some reason not to.

Do not allow pain,

Drowsiness,

Fever,

Loss of appetite,

Or whatever.

When you are bothered by things like that,

Remind yourself,

I am giving in to pain.

Yes,

To allow the body and mind to rule the republic of your being with an iron fist is to do yourself a massive disservice.

The mind and the body do not follow your commands without pushing back against you.

This is resistance.

We face it every single day.

It is one of the first things that we must be able to overcome in meditation.

In the study and practice of Buddhism,

And in life in general,

I did an entire lecture just on this that you can find on my YouTube page or on Insight Timer,

But I will speak about it briefly here.

Buddha and Marcus Aurelius are in good agreeance here again.

If you really don't want to meditate because of mild discomfort or worry or stress,

But you know it is the thing you should be doing in that instance,

You have to have the will,

Way,

And courage to push through that resistance and do the task anyway.

The more we are able to push through and actually do the tasks that we do not wish to do,

Whether it is something as small as doing the dishes,

Meditating and taking care of ourselves,

Or something as large as,

Say,

Ruling the Roman Empire and fighting off the Germanic tribes,

Then,

Yeah,

The more easily we are able to sweep aside the resistance the next time it rises.

In some ways,

Too,

We can use resistance as a guide to see what we should really be doing.

Do you really not want to clean your room?

Then you should probably clean it.

Do you not want to wake up early and go for a run to keep your heart healthy?

Then you should probably do it.

It is important.

Do you not want to eat healthy,

Stay active,

And try and stay balanced to the best of your ability and life situation?

Then you probably should be trying to work towards doing that.

It's what needs to be done to live a healthy,

Productive,

And proactive life.

Your life is what you make it,

Beyond and well beyond the efforts and well wishes of others.

We are the masters of our own destiny in all things,

Whether it's studying and practicing Buddhism or Stoicism.

Your life is as you make it.

You can either fight the resistance to do that,

Which you know to be important,

Or you can give in and find yourself waking up one day quite miserable.

And that is the most dreadful thing.

You know when you have given in.

You know when you haven't done your best.

You know when you have made ridiculous and meaningless excuses.

The next thing that Marcus Aurelius says in meditations on this is,

When you give in to these sensations,

You make your mind the slave of the body,

Which leads to unhappiness,

Endless suffering,

All from not allowing the mind to do its job enough.

Absolutely.

Buddha would agree.

Do not be a slave to the cravings of existence,

Because all it will do is cause you suffering.

Though there would be some semantical disagreements between the teachings and systems,

I think they teach the same thing.

Or theme,

Excuse me.

This is basically Marcus Aurelius' version of the second noble truth.

The second noble truth approaches the question of what the causal nature of our suffering is.

In his teachings,

The Buddha was explicit upon this subject,

And it is considered one of the central axioms of the Buddha's teaching.

All of the other instructions went with,

Or were influenced by this idea that giving in and attempting to constantly chase craving is what causes our suffering,

Or desire,

As it likes to be so translated,

Is what causes the unsatisfactoriness in this existence.

We trick ourselves into believing that we are independent from all that exists in nature,

And the universe at large.

We see ourselves as separate from the world,

And as a single,

Self-existing entity contained merely within the skin-encapsulated ego.

Buddha said,

Perhaps in a more modern manner,

That we are an aggregate of aspects,

And utterly interdependent to all things that are,

Have been,

And will be.

Losing touch with this,

We cling to,

Or get attached to,

The viewpoint of solidity about who we are,

What we are,

And where we stand in the universe.

From that point on,

Clinging to that perception of self becomes a self-validating way of life.

The subtle negative emotions of ego arise from adhering to the view that we are independent and entirely separate beings,

Rather than a part of everything that is,

And are already fully awakened Buddhas,

If only we would realize it.

The state of mind we dwell in sees ourselves as independent,

And thrives on the inner turmoil of subtle emotions,

Thoughts,

Perceptions,

And actions that arise from ignorance.

This is the mind and body creating that resistance,

And injecting itself into the experience of being,

In hopes of solidifying itself,

Only to discover,

As soon as it thinks it does,

All of its work disappears.

That mental process is the thing that loves and creates struggle,

Self-criticism,

Aggression,

Addiction,

And drama of all kinds,

So as to cling more firmly to that desire and suffering from which it arose,

Hoping that through all of this clinging,

The ego that we are might exist forever.

All of those things are self-reinforcing to that false ego-self,

And keep it going by its own sustained spinning.

Round and round the wheel of samsara,

Attached to the hope of a permanent ideal and a continually changing universe in which all things are impermanent.

The desire to hold on is like trying to catch the wind with a butterfly net.

It just passes through,

Always leaving in a state of suffering.

Instead of trying to capture the wind,

Feel it flow around you,

And know that at that moment,

There is no separation between you and it.

If we are able to overcome this craving,

Overcome this slavish instinct to allow the mind and the body to yank us around,

Then we can live a happier and more pleasant existence,

Just as Marcus Aurelius is saying in Meditations.

The next thing that Marcus Aurelius says on this topic is,

It's only by gaining control that you can begin to act virtuously,

And it's only by acting virtuously that true happiness,

Eudaimonia,

Will be reached.

Here we see Marcus Aurelius kind of writing his own version of the third and fourth noble truths,

That the insight,

Understanding,

And wisdom that comes with the control over the body and mind in a compassionate but firm way allows one to act and live in a way that not only benefits your own life,

But all the people that you come into contact with,

That through our control we rise above just being apes with smartphones,

In one way,

And take hold of that control,

Virtue,

And ability which being a human being offers us.

And lastly on this,

From Meditations,

It says,

If you were able to wake up and do everything you needed and wanted to do not only to improve yourself,

But to be more balanced,

Understanding,

Intelligent,

And wise,

The difference that those 240 hours would make are astounding.

Now,

Buddha lays out a far more detailed system in the Noble Eightfold Path on how to do this,

Which is kind of Marcus Aurelius explaining what all of this would come to,

And even just getting started and doing what you can and pushing yourself just a little,

Whether it's meditating a little longer,

Lifting a little more at the gym,

Or taking the time to read for 20 minutes a day,

Making an effort to be better not only to yourself but in your relationships and interactions with the world,

All of this will seem astounding and not only you will recognize it,

But others around you,

By recognizing these principles of reason and touching in to exactly what you could be.

So this is it for part three.

In the next part,

We will be looking at how Marcus Aurelius' meditations and the teachings of Buddhism talk in and around the subject of how you should stay mindful and take deliberate actions,

Which already sounds to me very Buddhist in origin.

But anyway,

I'll see you next time,

And I hope you have a wonderful day.

Reviews

Excellent Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Namaste 🙏🏽

Excellent.

Thank you 😊

More wonderful insight. Thank you.

Really enjoyed this talk. It's very interesting to see how Buddhist teaching can be echoed in other philosophies . Looking forward to rest of course