The Buddha Show

PG heard that a PBS show,“The Buddha”, was available for online viewing. He watched a bit, and realized that the story was being told through spoken words. The drawings, and talking heads, did not add to the story. PG began to edit pictures, while listening to the story.
At the 43 minute mark, Gautama Siddhartha ( pronounced sid HART ha) turned away from asceticism. He accepted a bowl of rice pudding from a lady, and was a step farther on the path to enlightenment. At this point, PG put the show on pause, put his shoes on, and went for a walk around the block. This is something that PG has learned will help him to feel good.
Buddhism has always seemed “too asian” for PG, or perhaps he is too western/christian to follow. There are some things, confirmed by this video, that PG finds appealing about the practice.
The stories of Buddha are understood to be legends, with no one (that we know of) claiming them to be literal history. This is a welcome contrast to the book worship of Christians, where stories about Jesus are claimed to be literal, perfect truth. And does it matter… the ideas that Buddha taught are not changed by any mistake in telling the story of his life.
There is a story about Buddha seeing his ascetic buddies, after he ate the bowl of rice pudding. He got the ascetics to listen to him, until he won them over. From what PG has seen of humans, especially spiritually charged ones, he finds it tough to imagine these people listening that long. The average Jesus worshiper cannot be quiet long enough for you to finish a single sentence.
The focus is on the life of Buddha, not his death. The focus is on this life, not on life after death. Buddha lived to an old age, teaching thousands up until his departure. Maybe if Jesus had been better at human relationships, he would not have been executed.
Maybe PG is so scarred by Jesus that he cannot benefit from any other source of wisdom. Pictures for this feature are from the Library of Congress.