Status Updates From Die Rückkehr des Buddha

“He would soon be in his sixties, and presently those cruel hardships he had endured would begin taking their toll; there would be ailments, illnesses, doctors, all the burdens that old age brings, and the irreversible awareness that money had come too late: instead of desire there would be pain, instead of appetite an aversion to food, instead of deep sleep lingering insomnia.”

“I saw myself as a composer, a miner, an officer, a labourer, a diplomat, a tramp: there was something convincing about each transformation, and so I began to believe that I really had no idea who I might be the very next day or what distance would separate me from this night after the darkness had passed. Where would I be and what awaited me? I had lived what seemed like so many different lives…”