Transparent Eye

A commenter at Doug Muder’s Free and Responsible Search points out The Stoic Registry, a site that hosts an online Stoic community. I’ve long admired Marcus Aurelius (though I wish his meditations displayed more of a sense of humor). I’ve more recently read Epictetus and Seneca. I’ll be interested in delving into what this site has to say.

Doug and I have discussed the similarities between Stoic and Buddhist thought, and Doug referred me to The Shape of Ancient Thought, a very interesting scholarly work which identifies cross-fertilization of Greek and Indian thought. Even before Alexander the Great’s conquest of part of India, the author finds interchange between Greeks and Indians who were subjects of the Persian Empire.

Stoicism and Buddhism share a practice of focusing on the present moment without judgment. One different I see is that Stoicism is popular among the military, whereas contemporary Buddhism emphasizes non-violence. Of course, the participation of Buddhists in the Japanese war effort during World War II suggests that this distinction may be limited in time and place.