Saturday, November 19, 2011

What is the difference in how Confucius, Buddha, and Aristotle view a good life?

It seems they all view the good life as the pursuit of knowledge.|||Confucius believed that a good life was led by someone who walked the path of The Way, which meant being a benevolent, kind, filial and humane person.





Buddha more than likely agreed with Confucius on that since, though my Buddhist knowledge is limited, a Buddhist is usually someone who practices right action.





As for Aristotle, it's a little tricky. From my knowledge of Aristotle, pursuing knowledge was probably one of the best ways to lead a good life. I haven't read as much Aristotle as I would have liked, but I have a good amount of his stuff. If you're looking for particular passages, I'd look in the Nichomachean Ethics treatise.|||Buddha said that wanting things was the thing that caused pain. I don't know about the rest.|||I'll try to make it simple. Pretend that you are new in town. You discover one road to the mall...and as you stay in town longer you discover more roads that leads to the same mall.





Then as you explore these roads... you will find one is better lighted at night, some wider, some narrower, some with traffic...some looks deserted. Until you just take the most practical and easy to follow road to the mall.





The roads are Confucius Street, Buddha Avenue, and Aristotle Road.





The mall is the Goal, happiness, Transcendence, Heaven, Pure Land.





You Driving is the learning part of life which is the most important because it is your journey. They are all good roads, one is better than the other is relative to the user.





Find what is best suited and comfortable for you comprehend and appreciate.

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