YOLO: Not if you’re Buddhist

We looked at contemporary Buddhism in the UK during my last year of uni. Some students asked why the Buddhists did what they did and why they lived how they lived. Others said these actions led to better reincarnations or even Enlightenment.  

One of the class comedians responded, “Yolo.” Then I piped up, “Not if you’re Buddhist.” Like Hindus, Pagans and other religions/denominations that believe in reincarnation, Buddhists live more than once which contradicts the ‘you only live once’ of yolo.

There is, of course, more to it than that. One of the central tenants of Buddhist is that there is no self: the idea of a ‘you’ and a ‘me’ are illusory. If there is no ‘you’, there can be no yolo. You can’t only live once if there is no you to begin with.

Without this, an individual cannot fully understand Buddhist teachings and thus cannot achieve Enlightenment. It is only once someone realises that they’re not an individual that they are enlightened.

Sure, this is a bit of semantic play with casual internet language but I’ve found it useful to introduce the no-self doctrine of Buddhism to others.

Besides, seeing as I’d never spoken in front of those students before, I was glad they took my joke at face value.