On the easy marriage between computer games and spirituality

While dabbling in Eastern Spirituality I've encountered this idea of "Transcendental Truth". That is; Truth which is imparted using a particular form (eg speech, sound, words etc) but is not bound by that form. The form literally describes the outline of the Truth that is being communicated but is not itself the thing being described. Once grasped, the form can then be left behind.

I (imperfectly) recall a Sutra in which one of the Buddha's disciples asked him a question about form. In the answer the Buddha likens his teaching to a canoe and the disciple needing the canoe in order to cross a river. Once the river is crossed, the canoe can be safely left behind. No need to carry a canoe into the desert where it will only be a hindrance.

Anyway - All of this only to say that the Transcendental Truth is described by the form you encounter it in, without being contained by it.

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

According to the Buddhist tradition, the Buddha first taught the four noble truths in the very first teaching he gave after he attained enlightenment, as recorded in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. Within this discourse, there are four key verses which present the four noble truths:

Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.

Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving which leads to re-becoming, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for becoming, craving for disbecoming.

Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it.

Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: it is this noble eightfold path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

I am also a fan of computer games and have spent quite a bit of time on a game called Trackmania. A few weeks ago I felt inspired to "formulate" the four Noble Truths of the Buddha using gameplay videos. Here is the playlist containing four videos, each expressing one of the Noble Truths.