Week 11 Storytelling: Buddha and Archaeology

Once upon a time thee lived a graduate student that had just received their PhD in Anthropology. This PhD’s name was Buddha and he was so happy because he had just attained perfect knowledge. He was so happy that he wanted to tell the world so he did a live feed on Twitter for one whole week. The second week after his got his PhD Buddha wanted to travel the world with his new knowledge. The third week Buddha, PhD again did a live feed on Social Media, but this time on Facebook so he could reach even more people.

“Wow,” exclaimed an onlooker, “You are so brave for getting all this knowledge. You should go an be an archaeologist.

“No,” Buddha said, “First, I must teach everyone in the world about the knowledge of archaeology. I cannot go on to work full time as an archaeologist, because people will not know about this knowledge if I do not show them.”

Buddha set out on his adventure to educate the world about his knowledge, but he encountered some problems along the way.

First, he went to a small town in western Oklahoma. It was here that he discovered problem number one.

“People of this fine small town. Listen to my story as I tell you the truth about archaeology. Let me educate you on the wisdom I have to offer,” Buddha exclaimed.

Buddha’s words fell on death ears. The people of the small town were too busy doing their daily chores to listen to the words Buddha had to offer.

Archaeology Mammoth (Image Source)

“What am I going to do,” thought Buddha, “how am I going to get people to listen?”

Buddha moved to a larger city. He thought, “Maybe if people aren’t busy farming they will have time to listen.” Again Buddha, PhD attempted to have people listen.

“People of Dallas, I am here to tell you about my ultimate knowledge. Archaeology is awesome and has a lot to teach us about life,” but again the knowledge of Buddha fell on deaf ears as the people of Dallas could not afford to spend time to listening to crazy people on the side of the road.

Buddha went back to his alma mater, not educating anyone. He was sad in his heart, but he discovered that in his heart he was truly passionate about doing archaeology.

Authors Note:
I based this story off of the Life of Buddha. In the original story, buddha attains ultimate knowledge and finds himself unable to convince people of his teachings. He refuses to enter nirvana, in my story nirvana is being an archaeologist, until he persuades people of his teachings. In the end of the story he finally does convince two people of his teachings, but in my story I thought that modern people may have been less willing to hear the story of Buddha. So mine has a sadder ending.