{"id":8864,"date":"2017-03-26T05:05:13","date_gmt":"2017-03-26T09:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/?p=8864"},"modified":"2017-03-26T17:09:09","modified_gmt":"2017-03-26T21:09:09","slug":"purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is The Purpose Of Life (Episode Three, A Hindu and a Buddhist Walk Into a Marriage)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Brad and I are\u00a0back! This time we\u2019re talking about what the purpose of life is. And attempting to be a little shorter so we\u2019ve got a video that\u2019s closer to eight minutes than nineteen!<\/p>\n

Buddhist<\/a> Walk Into A Marriage)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uvJn3geiCZE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<h1>Transcript<\/h1>\nAmbaa: So what do you think the purpose of life is?<\/p>\nBrad: Oof<\/p>\nAmbaa: To start with an easy one [laugh]<\/p>\nBrad: Yeah, to start with an easy one. It\u2019s kind-of a\u2026a loaded question. I think it depends on your perspective, because last time we talked about ultimate reality and conventional reality. When we were talking about\u2026Oh what were we talking about? The nature of reality.<\/p>\nAmbaa: Yeah, that\u2019s the first episode.<\/p>\nBrad: Okay, in episode one [laughter] we talked about ultimate reality v.s. conventional reality and I think in ultimate reality there is absolutely no purpose whatsoever but conventionally I think there are lots of small purposes.<\/p>\nAmbaa: I guess I would also divide it up that way. To say [baby babbling] What is your opinion, Garrick? What is your opinion? Um, to say that in ultimate reality the goal is moksha, unity with the divine, and in conventional reality the goal is <a href='https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/library\/buddhism' target='_blank'>dharma<\/a>, performing your duty the best that you can.<\/p>\nBrad: I actually think that the goal of oneness is a conventional goal because once you\u2019ve achieved oneness there is no\u2026achieving oneness anymore.<\/p>\nAmbaa: How does that make it conventional?<\/p>\nBrad: So, you can only aspire to oneness when you are not one. Once you are one there is no aspiration to oneness. You have already achieved the purpose and therefore the purpose is not present anymore.<\/p>\nAmbaa: So it can only be ultimate if it\u2019s eternal, it\u2019s always something you\u2019re striving for and you can never get?<\/p>\nBrad: Um, yes? But that is only because I think of moksha, or enlightenment, as final. At least as final as we in our finite time can understand.<\/p>\nAmbaa: So does that mean you believe time is linear?<\/p>\nBrad: No. So we humans we operate on a time scale that is not compatible with the eternal.<\/p>\nAmbaa: Yes.<\/p>\nBrad: And so I think as far as we\u2019re concerned, moksha is forever and enlightenment is forever. Because you are freed from the bounds of our present time.<\/p>\nAmbaa: That sounds pretty ultimate to me.<\/p>\nBrad: It is. But it\u2019s a concern of non\u2013 Only non-enlightened people want to be enlightened. Enlightened people no longer desire or have to practice enlightenment.<\/p>\nAmbaa: They don\u2019t desire anything!<\/p>\nBrad: Exactly.<\/p>\n[laughter]<\/p>\nAmbaa: So you\u2019re using that to prove your point that there is no ultimate goal?<\/p>\nBrad: Yes, because\u2013<\/p>\nAmbaa: Because once you achieve it, it\u2019s not a goal anymore?<\/p>\nBrad: Exactly.<\/p>\nAmbaa: I\u2019m feeling like there\u2019s some circular-ness to this argument.<\/p>\nBrad: I like circles. So do Taoists.<\/p>\n[laughter]<\/p>\nBrad: But, I mean, I guess the thing is there are lots of small, I mean non-ultimate, duties that we have that I think are very important.<\/p>\nAmbaa: I don\u2019t think that moksha is a small duty!<\/p>\nBrad: Well, no, it\u2019s the ultimate goal of our whole existence as finite beings, but once we\u2019re no longer finite beings it\u2019s not a purpose anymore.<\/p>\nAmbaa: Okay, okay, I see what you\u2019re saying. So once we\u2019re existing in this ultimate plane, then that is not our goal and we have no goals because we are eternal and One.<\/p>\nBrad: Exactly.<\/p>\nAmbaa: Okay.<\/p>\nBrad: So, I mean, I think that practically we have a very important task of becoming enlightened and then we have the perhaps less important but still important tasks of having families and doing the right thing on a daily basis. But, you know, ultimately this is maya and there is no particular point to it. [baby crying] And that\u2019s so hard to say when holding a baby. He wants to crawl off the bed.<\/p>\nAmbaa: I know. It\u2019s true.<\/p>\nBrad: He wants to explore the unknown. [laughter]. So I don\u2019t think that anything, whether finding enlightenment or loving your family and supporting them is unimportant. And I don\u2019t think it\u2019s made less important because it\u2019s not ultimate and forever.<\/p>\nAmbaa: So I guess rather than saying\u2013I mean, the purpose of life really is the purpose of us as human beings, in this embodiment, in this finite time. It\u2019s about our purpose as beings who have a body and embodiment.<\/p>\nBrad: Yeah.<\/p>\nAmbaa: So, in that sense, the purpose of our human life, or human existence, \u00a0is to realize Oneness and in the process of realizing Oneness is how you also practice the dharma of helping others and seeing God within them and all these other practices that kind-of help you along the way towards ultimately realizing that they are your Self.<\/p>\nBrad: Yes. I would agree with\u2026all of that.<\/p>\nAmbaa: Okay. We got it. Shorter videos!\u00a0[laughter] Shorter videos and putting the baby to bed! Can we agree with that?<\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.patreon.com\/whitehindu\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8880\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/317\/2017\/03\/new-patreon-ad-for-blog-1.jpg\" alt=\"new patreon ad for blog\" width=\"700\" height=\"300\"><\/a><\/p>\n<script src=\"https:\/\/cdn6.patreon.com\/becomePatronButton.bundle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=5436996\" data-patreon-widget-type=\"become-patron-button\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Become a Patron!<\/a><script src=\"https:\/\/cdn6.patreon.com\/becomePatronButton.bundle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brad and I are\u00a0back! This time we\u2019re talking about what the purpose of life is. And attempting to be a little shorter so we\u2019ve got a video that\u2019s closer to eight minutes than nineteen! \u00a0 Transcript Ambaa: So what do you think the purpose of life is? Brad: Oof Ambaa: To start with an easy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1305,"featured_media":8884,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[134,603,1771,6,53,1769,2794,5],"class_list":["post-8864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy-corner","tag-american-hindu","tag-buddhist","tag-enlightenment","tag-hindu","tag-hinduism","tag-moksha","tag-purpose-of-life","tag-white-hindu"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>What Is The Purpose Of Life (Episode Three, A Hindu and a Buddhist Walk Into a Marriage)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brad and I are\u00a0back! This time we're talking about what the purpose of life is. And attempting to be a little shorter so we've got a video that's closer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is The Purpose Of Life (Episode Three, A Hindu and a Buddhist Walk Into a Marriage)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Brad and I are\u00a0back! This time we're talking about what the purpose of life is. And attempting to be a little shorter so we've got a video that's closer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The White Hindu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-26T09:05:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-26T21:09:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/317\/2017\/03\/Snapshot-1-3-24-2017-6-20-PM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"433\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"244\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ambaa Choate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ambaa Choate\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/\",\"name\":\"What Is The Purpose Of Life (Episode Three, A Hindu and a Buddhist Walk Into a Marriage)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-26T09:05:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-26T21:09:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/#\/schema\/person\/2444b196e56ca64da3c3a54965312ef1\"},\"description\":\"Brad and I are\u00a0back! This time we're talking about what the purpose of life is. And attempting to be a little shorter so we've got a video that's closer\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Is The Purpose Of Life (Episode Three, A Hindu and a Buddhist Walk Into a Marriage)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/\",\"name\":\"The White Hindu\",\"description\":\"The journey of an American convert to Hinduism.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/#\/schema\/person\/2444b196e56ca64da3c3a54965312ef1\",\"name\":\"Ambaa Choate\",\"description\":\"Ambaa is an American woman of European ancestry who is also a practicing Hindu. She is fascinated with questions of philosophy, culture, and the meaning of life. Join her in the journey to explore how a non-Indian convert to Hinduism experiences her religion.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/author\/whitehindu\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Is The Purpose Of Life (Episode Three, A Hindu and a Buddhist Walk Into a Marriage)","description":"Brad and I are\u00a0back! This time we're talking about what the purpose of life is. And attempting to be a little shorter so we've got a video that's closer","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Is The Purpose Of Life (Episode Three, A Hindu and a Buddhist Walk Into a Marriage)","og_description":"Brad and I are\u00a0back! This time we're talking about what the purpose of life is. And attempting to be a little shorter so we've got a video that's closer","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/","og_site_name":"The White Hindu","article_published_time":"2017-03-26T09:05:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-26T21:09:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":433,"height":244,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/317\/2017\/03\/Snapshot-1-3-24-2017-6-20-PM.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Ambaa Choate","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ambaa Choate","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/","name":"What Is The Purpose Of Life (Episode Three, A Hindu and a Buddhist Walk Into a Marriage)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-03-26T09:05:13+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-26T21:09:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/#\/schema\/person\/2444b196e56ca64da3c3a54965312ef1"},"description":"Brad and I are\u00a0back! This time we're talking about what the purpose of life is. And attempting to be a little shorter so we've got a video that's closer","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2017\/03\/purpose-life-episode-three-hindu-buddhist-walk-marriage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Is The Purpose Of Life (Episode Three, A Hindu and a Buddhist Walk Into a Marriage)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/","name":"The White Hindu","description":"The journey of an American convert to Hinduism.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/#\/schema\/person\/2444b196e56ca64da3c3a54965312ef1","name":"Ambaa Choate","description":"Ambaa is an American woman of European ancestry who is also a practicing Hindu. She is fascinated with questions of philosophy, culture, and the meaning of life. Join her in the journey to explore how a non-Indian convert to Hinduism experiences her religion.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/author\/whitehindu\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}