Everyday Buddhism 32 - Buddhism, Baseball, and Life

Join me and round the bases for a look at baseball as a metaphor for the Buddhist teaching of the Three Marks of Existence: Impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and the lack of a discrete self.

Life, like baseball, is a team sport. In baseball, it's not just about the pitcher. In life, it's not just about me or you. All the players and contributing causes and conditions come together to score runs in a dominating offensive win or through a defensive no-hitter. In life, we can't do anything on our own.

Baseball can break your heart and fill you with hope. Life can turn from bad to worse in a day, minute, or hour, because of the impermanent and sometimes unsatisfactory nature of it. No matter the pitch, we keep swinging until we get a hit. And we keep playing through the season.