Buddhist Romanticism

another, and to test our own honesty again and again. Otherwise, if we
simply trust the impulses of our hearts and of those who offer us an
appealing Dhamma, we become suckers for counterfeit. And if we become
counterfeiters ourselves, we’re making things that much harder for
succeeding generations.
THE IRONIES OF BUDDHIST ROMANTICISM
The radical differences between Buddhist Romanticism and the
Dhamma can best be summarized by restating Buddhist Romantic
principles in the framework of the four noble truths: what might be called
the four Romantic truths.
1) Suffering is a feeling of separation: within oneself, between oneself
and other people, and between oneself and the universe at large.
2) This feeling of separation is caused by the mistaken notion that one is
a separate entity with a separate identity.
3) Suffering never totally ends, but relief from suffering can be
occasionally glimpsed in a feeling of Oneness that temporarily overcomes
that sense of separate identity.
4) There is no one right path for glimpsing a sense of Oneness, but all
effective paths consist of cultivating an attitude of enlarging one’s
perspective to embrace all of life, to transcend ideas of right and wrong, and
to maintain an attitude of open receptivity to all experience.
Compare these four Romantic truths with the four noble truths:
1) Suffering is clinging to—feeding on—the aggregates of form, feeling,
perception, fabrication, and consciousness.
2) This clinging is caused by the craving that leads to becoming: craving
for sensual passions, craving for becoming, and craving for the destruction
of becoming.
3) This craving can be ended once and for all through dispassion for it.
4) This dispassion can be induced only by following the path of right
view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort,
right mindfulness, and right concentration.
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