Tolkien spiritualty... A hint of Buddhism? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Baran · 01-14-2005, 08:42 PM

I consider myself a follower of Lord Buddhas teaching, and I've read much of Tolkiens work. I've never drawn any parallels beetween Buddhism and Tolkiens books, rather I've found Tolkien to oppose with much of Lord Buddhas teaching. More of that later.

First I want to point out that the whole idea of a persons soul passing on to another body when he dies is a harsh simplification and common misunderstanding of Lord Buddhas teaching. In Buddhis the consept of an eternal, everlasting soul does not exist. Everything is momentary and impermanent. The human mind (soul) is purely a product of the body and the perception of the sense organs. There no mind without body, like there is no fire without air or firewood. This is quite complicated matters wich I am not even close to comprehend, and trying to interpret what little i know is a task far beyond my school-taught English. To get to the point, the kind of re-incarnation the elves are going trough clearly is influated by the Christian (or any other major religion) view of soul. The soul (fear) of the dead elf passes on to another "host"body (hroar). Still it is certainly possible for readers of the book to find a connection beetween their knowledge of Lord Buddhas teaching and LOTR, and there is nothing wrong with that. But I would guess that they would not find the same connection if they had some more knowledge of Buddhism.

When I wrote that I find Tolkien's writing to oppose with much of Lord Buddhas teaching, I meant the escapist-aspect of it. I really like the books, but the concept of making a kind of parallel world disaccords with the Buddhist attempt to live in the present. That goes of course for all kinds of escapism, like tv-shows and entertainment flicks. The thing with LOTR is that it's so well-written that through the books you can almost move to M-E on a permanent basis. I am a big consumer of popular culture, but I believe that loosing yourselfe totaly in a book like LOTR might not be good for you. But that a different discussion, fit for its own thread.

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01-14-2005, 08:42 PM	#7
Baran Haunting Spirit Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Mordor/Lothlorien Posts: 71	I consider myself a follower of Lord Buddhas teaching, and I've read much of Tolkiens work. I've never drawn any parallels beetween Buddhism and Tolkiens books, rather I've found Tolkien to oppose with much of Lord Buddhas teaching. More of that later. First I want to point out that the whole idea of a persons soul passing on to another body when he dies is a harsh simplification and common misunderstanding of Lord Buddhas teaching. In Buddhis the consept of an eternal, everlasting soul does not exist. Everything is momentary and impermanent. The human mind (soul) is purely a product of the body and the perception of the sense organs. There no mind without body, like there is no fire without air or firewood. This is quite complicated matters wich I am not even close to comprehend, and trying to interpret what little i know is a task far beyond my school-taught English. To get to the point, the kind of re-incarnation the elves are going trough clearly is influated by the Christian (or any other major religion) view of soul. The soul (fear) of the dead elf passes on to another "host"body (hroar). Still it is certainly possible for readers of the book to find a connection beetween their knowledge of Lord Buddhas teaching and LOTR, and there is nothing wrong with that. But I would guess that they would not find the same connection if they had some more knowledge of Buddhism. When I wrote that I find Tolkien's writing to oppose with much of Lord Buddhas teaching, I meant the escapist-aspect of it. I really like the books, but the concept of making a kind of parallel world disaccords with the Buddhist attempt to live in the present. That goes of course for all kinds of escapism, like tv-shows and entertainment flicks. The thing with LOTR is that it's so well-written that through the books you can almost move to M-E on a permanent basis. I am a big consumer of popular culture, but I believe that loosing yourselfe totaly in a book like LOTR might not be good for you. But that a different discussion, fit for its own thread.