VERSION|0.5.1|SUBJECT|Vishvapani (formerly Simon Blomfield), member of the Triratna Order (formerly the Western Buddhist Order) - I'm ordained you know! |CONTENT|[b]Rating[/b] 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)

[url=http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap130208.html][img=images/2013/02/pic130208.jpg popup=false float=right][/url]I'd just like to start off with one of those wonderful quotes from William Shakespeare's great play, Julius Caesar: "Exeunt all the Commoners."

Shakespeare wrote another play, this time about Richard III. I'm not going to quote from Richard III. Somehow, "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse," delivered in a melodramatic squeaky voice doesn't sound terribly relevant. That's why I included a quote from Julius Caesar instead. 

Anyway, they've just dug up [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21328380]Richard III's skeleton[/url]. It turns out he had a spinal problem just like the Tudors said he did. So it wasn't all propaganda after all. How about that!

That brings me neatly onto the Buddha. Just like Richard III, he's dead, which is an amazing coincidence if you think about it. Even more remarkable, people wrote about him after he died, again, just like Richard III. True, the Buddha lived many centuries earlier, on the other side of the world. He wrote about how to shed attachment to material possessions and so achieve earthly happiness, while Richard murdered his nephews whom he was sworn to protect, usurped the throne and fought the battle of Bosworth field to try and hold onto the crown, but otherwise I think the parallels are pretty obvious.

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p014v1mz]Listen/Read[/url]|CATEGORIES|57,64|IP-ADDRESS|94.168.119.214|CREATEDBY|admin|DATE|1360311706
