People love to pair Stoicism and Buddhism. Both blame suffering on desire. Both teach a kind of meditation. Both are about 2,500 years old. So how similar are they, really?
Michael and Caleb run a Buddhism 101 for Stoics. They start with the Buddha: a prince who had everything, saw old age, sickness, and death for the first time, and walked away from the palace to figure out why we suffer. From there it’s the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the Middle Way.
(00:00) Introduction
(06:28) The Buddha’s Founding Parable
(14:24) The Four Noble Truths
(19:59) The Middle Way and the Eightfold Path
(31:30) The Evolutionary Case for Buddhism
(40:09) Where Stoicism and Buddhism Overlap
(48:02) Where They Split Apart
Download the Stoa app (it’s a free download): https://stoameditation.com/pod
If you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we’ll set you up with a free account.
Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/
Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations:
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