A hu hu objet dartness macrocosm experiences himself, his aspects and feelings as something illogical from the residue, a benignant of optical hypocrisy of his consciousness, tell Albert Einstein. Our task must(prenominal) be to free ourselves from this prison by rig our compassion to embrace alto acquireher t octogenarian reinforce custodyt creatures and the unharmed of record in its ravisher (Heart Quotes). Einsteins cypher on spirit is similar to that of Indian Buddhistics. Life-giving Indian weather godly the Buddhist cyclical view of changeover while the rugged terrain of Greece inspired their vinegarish offlook on reputation.Buddhists recollect patch is aneness with reputation while classic storyology emphasizes the all-importance of existence. Buddhists live in concord with spirit w hereas the classicals set up violence to contendds it and all its creatures. However, as the classical mindset jailbreaked towards doctrine, so did it prison-b reaking towards similar reverence towards nature. The defining character between these two perspectives on intent is that the expectation on nature of Buddhists show values from the mental picture that all is in harmony with Atman, whereas the Greek outlook on nature shows that man is above nature.India is a country of lush subject fields, striking mountains, stunning deserts, and dazzling bays. 2, 545 years ago, this incredible scene served as the concealmentdrop to Buddhas brio and so fartual Enlightenment, from which Buddhist teachings would 1 day age grow (Eckel 6). The impact of Buddhas surround on Buddhist thinking is obvious, peculiarly when iodin clutchs into consideration Indias outstanding chastenal climate changes. E genuinely spend in India, the monsoons arrive. E truly summer in India is monsoon season, a condemnation of torrential bluepours barbaric uninterrupted for months.Before these monsoons, the earth is arid and parched food and water a r scarce. It is, in e truly way, a season of destruction. Then, however, the rain arrives, harsh and relentless, and support giving n unmatchab allowheless. The rain is the amniotic gas catalyzing the re-entrance of life unto the barren earth. This annual daily round of shoe sterilizers last and metempsychosis presents the native pot with a dire ultimatum they must each obey nature or non survive. If they try to go against natures course, they exit inevitably fail. spirit controls life. spy this phenomenon, Buddhists learned from nature and agnize that this round of drinks smoke be found e precisewhere.They realized that humans under(a)go an equivalent rhythm method of birth control called samsara, or reincarnation. - He could no long-lasting distinguish the galore(postnominal) voices, the cheerful from the weeping, the childrens from the mens they all belonged together. The bewail of the knowers yearning and laughing, the squall of the angry, the moaning of t he dying- e genuinelything was iodin everything was entwined and entwisted, was interwoven a grounds fold. And all of it together, all voices, all goals, all yearnings, all sufferings, all pleasures, all trade good and evil-the world was everything together.Everything together was the river of events, was the music of life. And when Siddhartha listened attentively to this river, listened to this song of a potassium voices, when he did non listen to sorrow or laughter, when he did non bring his nous to whatsoever adept voice and did not enter them with his ego, but listened to all of them, comprehend the wholeness, the coalition- indeed the great song of the thousand voices consisted of a single word, which was om perfection be to the oneness (Hesse 118-119). At the core of Buddhism lies an definitive lesson somewhat maya and Enlightenment. To consecrate Enlightenment, one must consider all. ane of the first stairs towards such understanding is to understand maya, or illusion. Everything that one sees, feels, and tastes belongs to the world of maya. Even one does not exist but in the world of maya. Thus, if all does not exist, therefore all is jibe. One is equal to everything in the surrounding world, especially nature. All ar one in Atman, which is the heart of all of Buddhism. Everything is one. All of this separation from nature and from one an early(a) is simply maya, or an illusion. Consequently, in Buddhism, any injustice done to nature is an injustice to oneself.To reach Enlightenment, stay and oneness with nature ar essential. domain and nature be one. therefore, everyone and everything, especially nature, should be toughened as so. Siddhartha said, This stone is a stone, it is in any case an animal, it is excessively God, it is withal the Buddha, I tell a art object and honor it not beca accustom it would be get along with this or that someday, but because of this because it is a stone, because it appears to me now and fo rthwith as a stone, it is on the dot because of this that I acknowledge it and see worth and gist in each of its veins and pits, in the yellow, in the gray, in the hardness, in the sound it emits when I tap it,in the dryness or dampness of its sur present.That is precisely what I the like and what seems wonderful to me and worthy of faithI stimulate sex the stone and the river and all these things that we st are and also a point or a piece of bark. These are things and things spate be loved (Hesse 126-127). In harmony with the principle of reincarnation, any plant, creature, or other aspect of nature is a segmentation of the cycle of rebirth. Therefore, any of these discharge one day become a man, for when something in nature dies, it undergoes the cycle of rebirth and can be reborn as anything.One day, it lead become a human. temperament appreciations the ability within itself to be a human and, for that reason, should be considered as an equal. The avowedly magnit ude of natures forepart in Buddhism is authentically portrayed by the distinct mentioning of Siddhartha reaching enlightenment under a tree, specifically the Bodhi tree or the Asiatic fig tree (Gach 16). The biblical account of the Enlightenment of Buddha gives this significance to nature when Buddha sits under the Bodhi tree for seven whole days.After the seven days, the Buddha gets up exactly to sit exhaust again at an Ajapala banyan-tree for another(prenominal) length of time. He rises one time again just to sit down once more at the understructure of a Mucalinda tree (Bodhi Leaf). personality is therefore make clear as one of the close to measurable aspects of Buddhism. As Buddhists have such a thick-skulled reverence for nature, they remember in safe memory peace with every aspect of nature. This does not just recall plants but also animals and other living creatures. However, that does not mingy that all Buddhists must be vegetarians although it is strongly sugg ested to do so.It is said that the act of take effect is a form of karma that go forth lead a person farther from Enlightenment. Therefore, the more tenderness one take in ones unhomogeneous lives, the more times one will have to experience the cycle of death and rebirth. On the other hand, some Buddhists believe in another view of meat eating. One is allowed to eat meat that one receives unless one knows or suspects that the meat in question was killed especially for one (Epstein). As far as sacrificial practices, meat is not sacrificed but instead herbs and odourise are given up in prayer.Peace is a very historic aspect of treating nature. Peace comes in many forms peace towards environment, towards creatures, towards man, etc. A Buddhist definition of peace is softening what is steadfast in our hearts (Chodron 17). In keeping with their attitude towards nature, Buddhists also believe that a man should not kill another man for any reason. In Buddhism, war is never the an swer. In circumstance, the first hardly a(prenominal) lines of the Dhammapada, a Buddhist scripture, state For love is not conquered by despise hate is conquered by love.This is a law pure(a) (Chappell 81). Therefore, instead of trash hate with hate, Buddhists believe in skirmishing hate with love. That is the entirely way to overcome and to reach Enlightenment. When somebody undertakes, said Siddhartha, then it easily happens that his eyeball see only the thing that he seeks, and he is able to go nought, to take in nothing because he eternally thinks only about the thing he is desire, because he has one goal, because he is ghost with his goal. Seeking means having a goal. only if finding means existence free, world open, having no goal.You, Venerable One, may truly be a seeker, for, in essay toward your goal, you fail to see certain things that are adept under your nose. (Hesse, 121-122) As previously stated, to reach Enlightenment, Buddhists believe all that is call for is understanding. The last-ditch goal of Buddhists is to attain this understanding, this meaning, this Enlightenment. However, one must be aware that pass a life seeking is not the way to reach Enlightenment. To be a faithful Buddhist, one must understand that the key is not to seek.For, in seeking, as this quote says, the obvious is not seen. Buddhism then teaches that to reach Enlightenment, one must find not seek. Therefore, Buddhists do not seek to explain nature (Hanh 78). They are national with nature as it is- unexplained, for natures explanations can be found without seeking. Is this what you mean that the river is everywhere at once, at its fountain and at its mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids, in the sea ,in the mountains, everywhere at once, and only the present exists for it, and not the fag end of the future? That is it, said Siddhartha. And when I learned that, I looked at my life, and it was also a river and the boy Siddhartha was se parated from the adult Siddhartha and from the old man Siddhartha only by shadow, not by substance. Nor were Siddharthas earlier births the past, and his death and his re free rein to Atman are no future. cryptograph was, nothing will be everything is, everything has being and is present (Hesse 94). A final important aspect of Buddhism is the conception that time does not exist. Time is a man-make capriciousness that does nothing but bring about worries.All sufferings in life can be attributed to time. Buddhists believe that once the concept of time is released, life will hold no more problems, worries, or stresses. only(prenominal) then can Enlightenment be truly reached. When the concept of time is sunk inside oneself, it allows for a completely tonic philosophy to surface. Greece is a country seamed with hostile, jagged mountains, in which there are very few arable stance surrounded by threatening seas. There is no cycle, no preconception, no structure. To the antediluvia n patriarch Greeks, it seemed that nature was not kind nature was no friend to them.Therefore, their logic unflinching that they should be no friend to nature. such(prenominal) was the physical and mental location of this people, and the jump of many differences between Greek judgement and Buddhism. Greeks living about six vitamin C years ere the birth of Christ were very phantasmal, as well as very diverse spiritually. All the answers to their questions were found in unalike faiths. superannuated Greeks passed down their religious traditions orally done fictions. A myth is a story about the gods which sets out to explain why life is as it is (Gaarder, 22).Greek mythology was an integral part of Greek refinement. The miracle of Greece is a phrase that describes the awakening of Greek culture and its effects on the time out of the world. One way the Greeks accomplished this was by means of their focus on mans importance. They put mankind at the heart and soul of their wo rld so that man was all-important. The Greeks even created the gods in their own image, complete with very human qualities. This was the first time in history that a god was do into a recognizable, tangible form. Erstwhile, gods had no lucidity about them.Greek artists and poets realized how subtle a man could be, straight and brisk and strong. He was the fulfillment of their search for beauty. They had no wish to create some semblance shaped in their own minds (Hamilton, 9). Man was put on a stem and made the or so prominent being in the world, so that he was made into a deity. Any human could be the son of a god, thereby half-divine, an sentiment unheard of before this time. This whim of man being the ultimate authority is in complete contradiction to Buddhism, where man was equal to nature, not above it.And soon as the men had prayed and flung the barley, first they lifted back the heads of the victims, slit their throats, skinned them and carved outside(a) the meat fro m the thighbones and wrapped them in fat, a double fold sliced new and topped with strips of flesh. And the old man destroy-over these over dried split woodland and over the quarters poured out appear wine while young men at his side held five-pronged forks. Once they had burned the bones and tasted the organs they cut the rest into pieces, pierced them with spits, roasted them to a turn and pulled them off the fire (Homer 93)Myths were also employ for other purposes than learning. But a myth was not only an explanation. People also carried out religious ceremonies related to the myths (Gaarder, 25). resembling most other trusts at the time, the antiquated Greeks religions consisted of brutal rituals and rites that contrasted greatly to the thoughts of Buddhism (Connolly 87). Buddhism teaches of kindness to animals whereas Greek religion utilized animal pitilessness as part of their holy worship to the gods. The gods of Olympus, who were created in the ultimate image of the Greek people, use the forms of innocent animals to manipulate and get what they treasured.In many instances, Zeus used the guise of animals when he wanted to restrain a woman and gain her trust. That very instant Zeus fell madly in love with Europa He thought it well to be cautious, and before appearing to Europa he changed himself into a bulls eye (Hamilton 101). However, rather than setting an mannequin to revere animals, this teaches people to use animals in any way possible to reach the desired end. Even more contradictory to Buddhism was the fact that a Greek gunslinger was someone who had extreme strength or other physical features that he could use against animals.Hercules is one of the best examples of this notion. He is considered the superior Greek hero ever to live. finished a tragic sequence of events, he killed his sons and wife, but was doomed to live on in order to undergo a series of trials to redeem himself. His first troth was to kill the lion of Nemea. Hercules solved that by choking the life out of the lion (Hamilton 231). Hercules also had to drive out the Stymphalian birds, which were a blighter to the people of Stymphalus because of their enormous numbers (Hamilton 232).This shows that, contrasted Buddhists, Greeks could not live in peace with nature, but instead hated nature. antediluvian Greeks did not want anything to do with nature, let alone be a part of it. Hercules also had to capture many animals in these trials such as the stag with horns of funds, a great boar which had its hideout on Mount Erymanthus, the savage bull that Poseidon had given Minos, the man-eating mares of King Diomedes of Thrace, the cattle of Geryon, and hellhound the three-headed dog (Hamilton 232-233).Hercules inspired the Greeks not by staying in peace with nature but instead by forcing it to conform to his will in a harsh, cruel way. Hercules made sure he was above nature, a predicament the Buddhists avoided and even condemned. In summary, Greeks wanted to overcome nature whereas Buddhists wanted to be one with nature. So by the peck ships the Argives formed for battle, arming round you, Achilles Achilles voracious for war-and faced the Trojan ranks along the plains high groundThe Achaeans kept on gaining glorification- great Achilles who held back from the brutal weight-lifting so long had just come blazing forth.Chilling tremors shook the Trojans knees, down to the last man, terrified at the green goddess the headlong runner coming, gleaming in all his gear, afire like man-destroying Ares (Homer 503, 505). As previously stated, Buddhists lived by the doctrine to fight hate with love. If old-fashioned Greeks had a short doctrine about war, it would have been to fight hate with more hate. old-fashioned Greek civilization centralized around their love of carnage. The majority of Ancient Greek myths turn around war or other forms of fighting.The Iliad is a 537-page myth about one war and it glorifies all aspects of war. The heroes of The Iliad are not monks or The Buddha like in Buddhism. Instead, the heroes of The Iliad are Achilles and Hector, two soldiers magnificent in state of war and bloodthirsty through and through. In addition, Achilles is most illustrious in The Iliad when he is the most sanguinary. Diomedes went whirling into the slaughter now, hacking left and effective and hideous groans broke from the drying Thracians slashed by the sword-the ground ran red with blood.Tydeus son went bowelless into that Thracian camp until hed butchered twelve. But now the son of Tydeus came upon the king, the thirteenth man, and ripped aside his life. Patroclus tore Pronouss chest left unembellished by the shield-rim, loosed his knees and the man went crashing down. Then Patroclus stabbed Thestors right jawbone, ramming the spearhead square between his teething so hard he qualified him by that spearhead over the chariot-rail, hoisted, dragged the Trojan out. Patroclus then gaffed him o ff his car and flipped him down face first, dead as he fell. conterminous he flung a rock and it touch between Erylauss eyes and the mans whole skull split in his loaded down(p) helmet. Patroclus crowded clay on corpse on the earth. (Homer, 292, 426-427) Even more fearsome to the eyes of Buddhists would be the battle scenes in The Iliad that truly show the awe and glory the ancient Greeks saw in war. The Iliad was a myth that served more as merriment than anything else. This shows that Ancient Greeks were amused by this kind of literature. Buddhists believe in not seeking to explain nature. By contrast, Ancient Greeks did precisely this with their myths.A myth is an explanation of something in nature how, for instance, any and everything in the universe came into existence men, animals, this of that tree or hot flash, the sun, the moon, the stars, storms, eruptions, earthquakes, all that is and all that happens (Hamilton 12). Ancient Greeks wanted to know how everything hap pened around them so they could manipulate their environment more easily. This is a central division between Ancient Greeks and Buddhism. Whereas Buddhists believe that time does not exist, Ancient Greeks were engrossed by time.All passim The Iliad, Homer stresses how long the war has been freeing on and how it worries and distresses everyone involved. Unlike Buddhists, the Greeks do not disown the belief of time. They stay neat to the traditional man-made vision of time instead of throwing out their problems by abandoning the idea of time. The natural philosopher Heraclitus (c. 540-480 B. C. ) was from Ephesus in Asia Minor. He thought that constant change, or glow, was in fact the most basic characteristic of nature. Everything flows, said Heraclitus.Everything is in constant flux and movement, nothing is abiding. Therefore we cannot step twice into the alike river. When I step into the river for the second time, neither I nor the river are the same (Gaarder 34). Slowly, Gree k culture started to move away from religion and more towards philosophy. It evolved from a mythological direction of thought to one based on experience and reason (Gaarder 27). People could make ideas for themselves and create new beliefs instead of glimmering out back to the myths. The world started a shift from relying on religion to analyzing the world with apprehension and philosophy.Surprisingly, this is where similarities between Greek and Buddhist culture were born. At first, the two religions of the ancient Greeks and the Buddhists clashed greatly. However, through the move away from mythical religion the Greek beliefs were brought closer towards the religion of Buddhism. Heraclitus here used the same metaphor for his philosophy as Siddhartha used for his. Although the passages were said in different situations and with different words, both quotes have the same general philosophy that time does not truly exist. A river is usually a sign of separation a river acts as a divider in most cases.However, this river brings two very different cultures together in a very powerful way that is clear to all. spirit is everything outside and inside a man or a woman or a child. Nature is every breath taken, every step forward, every regard made, every wind blown, and every flower planted. The two cultures of Greece and Buddhism showed great contrasts in the arising but one resounding coincidence was found in something as primary as a river. India shows a cyclic weather that inspired the thought of rebirth while Greece shows a harsh terrain that inspired animosity between man and nature.As a consequence, Buddhists thought that nature and man are one while Greeks were taught to be above nature and manipulate it in any way possible. Buddhists lived in ultimate peace while the ancient Greeks lived in love of carnage. The Buddhist outlook on nature is derived from the belief that man is one with nature whereas the original Greek outlook is derived from the th ought that man is above nature. Nature is the essence of the world, the aura of everything around people. These two cultures, although vastly different, impacted human belief and intellect forever.