The Tiger in the Depths (eSingle)

Description

For the Christian it makes a difference whether the savior did actually live, but not for the Buddhist. The Buddha, whether he is a mythological image or a fact, is a rendition of the mystery of Buddhahood in life, and he doesn’t have to have been there at all for you to find the Buddhahood in yourself. He can serve just as a mythological figure, as a shadow on the wall, as an inspiration to you to find it in yourself, and then you are in. You become one with the eternal, the source of being. — Joseph Campbell

In this wonderful, thought provoking extract from Myths of Light, his exploration of the underlying myths of the great Asian philosophies and religions, Joseph Campbell presents two characteristic stories: one of the Buddha’s birth, and the other the Hindu parable of the tiger orphan raised by goats. In his exploration of these two tales, Campbell unlocks the core mythological values of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism.