I think, due to misconceptions, mainly driven by a twisting of Stoicism into mere platitudes to gain external career success by Silicon Valley types, Stoicism has gained a reputation for being uncaring and cold. I really, really believe Stoicism can inform Soto Zen because it ultimately IS wisdom and truth, and wisdom and truth, no matter where they’re from fit into Soto Zen like a hand fits into a glove. I feel that in many ways Soto Zen is closer to Stoicism than Theravada “classical” Buddhism, so this is my impassioned posting informing those with misconceptions what Stoicism is really about. (It will run longer than three sentences, I am sorry.)
Stoicism has a very interesting concept called “indifference” and its not as negative as it sounds at first glance (I don’t know what the Greek and Latin original of “indifference” or any other of these words is and am too lazy to look them up at the moment.) let me explain:
It’s very much the serenity prayer but more specific: there are things that we can control and things that we can’t control.
The things that we can control are our deliberate beliefs, values, goals and decision to act or not to act in the present moment.
That is it.
We don’t have control over anything else. We don’t have control of any of the “external” “vicissitudes of life”: our gain or loss of reputation, employment, money, health, our pleasure or pain, praise and blame.
We can influence them but their outcome is ultimately 100% beyond our control:
the classic example is of an archer and her target, she can train, choose her bow, choose the arrows, choose her target, choose when to let go of the arrow (or everything that involves deliberate beliefs, values, goals and decision to act or not to act in the present moment.) After that nothing is up to her, not the gust of wind, the movement of her target or anything else that could make her miss.
Therefore, anything that is not something we can control, anything that is not our deliberate beliefs, values, goals and decision to act or not to act in the present moment is something that is “indifferent.”
We still value certain outcomes over other outcomes but they are ultimately indifferent and beyond our control, thus we attach the prefix: preferred, denoting that the outcome is valued or the prefix: dis-preferred, denoting that the outcome is not valued so much.
In all, there are “preferred indifferences” and “dis-preferred indifferences.” The goal is not to be indifferent to anything (in the negative sense), but to shift our locus of control to what we actually can control and therefore to where our attention is most effective, namely our deliberate beliefs, values, goals and decision to act or not to act in the present moment AKA our character and to accept the rest.
Stoicism is not a cold, emotionless turning away from society and social issues, it is the opposite. Stoics from the very beginning of Stoicism realized that we are social animals and therefor happiness and flourishing require us to be pro-social. They were so pro-social that they had a concept called cosmopolitanism, that we are all part of the same cosmos and therefor despite political parties, status, country, continent or planet, we treat each other with respect and fight for each other to flourish and be happy.
The Serenity Prayer is:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
The Shantideva version is:
“If there's a remedy when trouble strikes,
What reason is there for dejection?
And if there is no help for it,
What use is there in being glum?”
I feel like Dogen was trying to get at the sense of only being able to control some things in Genjokoan with:
“blossoms fall (even though we love them), and weeds spread (even though we dislike them)”
Stoicism is a tool that shines a light on what can control and can’t control.
This is all a wordy way to say it is wise to focus on this verse from the Dhammapada:
Avoid evil
Do good
Cleanse the mind
That is the end of my “PowerPoint” presentation hope you enjoyed.
PS For the nit picky, I am not suggesting that Soto Zen is 100% based in Virtue Ethics (ethics that emphasize personal character over outcomes or commandments) as there are the Precepts (which is complicated because they are not the same as “commandments”) someone else that is much smarter and has a training in philosophy can discuss and parse the differences between Stoicism and Soto Zen, I am only trying to note the benefits of Stoicism.
Gassho,
Tom
SAT/Lah