So yesterday was insane. Players leaving, players coming in, the whole schedule dropped, a new playoff format was introduced. It was a lot to handle. Assuming (which is always a bad idea) that today is going to be a bit more quiet, I’ve decided to talk a bit about the Buddha.

Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, lived sometime between 400 and 600 years before Christ in northern India. He was reputedly influenced by a long list of Indian thinkers, most of whom we’ve probably never heard of. It’s interesting that most of us who grew up in schools in the US have heard of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, and the like, but never of any philosophers that were prevalent in India or Persia or China or anywhere else. Civilization existed in those places for thousands of years, too, we just don’t learn about it. It’s also interesting that a lot of the longest-surviving “eastern” religions don’t have a whole lot of concern for a “supreme being” or “where did we come from” and are much more focused on the self. I’m not sure how influential that sort of thinking has actually been on Asian civilization, which has dealt with just as much socio-political upheaval as anywhere else, but it’s an interesting contrast.

Anyway, not a lot is actually known for sure about the Buddha, though there are several different biographies about his life. His mission while alive was to find an end to the cycle of human suffering and rebirth back into that suffering. Buddha’s mind might have been blown to learn that there are so many more humans on Earth now than there were 2,500 years ago, but that’s neither here nor there. He first tried to find an answer via simple meditation and studying ancient philosophy (what qualified as ancient back then, I wonder), then moved into asceticism (strict self-denial), yoga (okay), and then reverted back to some kind of much more intense meditation which ultimately led him to true enlightenment. Buddha’s core teachings focused on the idea that nothing in physical human life is permanent and one shouldn’t cling to tangible things. Once people stop clinging to material things and self-pleasure, the cycle of karma ends and you reach nirvana.

Buddha was probably onto something but we want USL Cups around here, so let’s worry about that for now and save nirvana for later.

LINKS!

• There are no links today. Yesterday was insane. The USL news cycle has worn itself out until further notice, so probably Friday.