Float On and Suffer Well

Buddhism transcends religion. It can, and really must, be pursued individually. Anyone can benefit from a glancing consideration of the Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering; (2) Suffering is caused by an ignorant attachment to things and ideas, all of which are transient; (3) Suffering can be ended with nirodha, which involves the elimination of desire and conceptual attachment to stuff; (4) A specific path, which has a goal (enlightenment) and which might take many lifetimes, is the way. Also many Buddhists believe Heaven is a place that can be visited by the living, but not physically. The "spirit" must leave the body, fly to Shangri-La, and then return. Flight has inspired enough art to fill an exhibit -- like the one at New York's Rubin Museum of Art -- and a book. One of the greatest writers about Buddhism and Tibet, Glenn H. Mullin, can explain all of this much better. The author of more than twenty books about Tibetan Buddhism will talk about his latest, an art-driven collection called The Flying Mystics of Tibet.
Mon., Jan. 8, 6 p.m.