Death Of Ivan Ilyich Analysis

The death of Ivan Ilyich, explored by Leo Tolstoy is comparative to the Buddhists concepts of suffering. I shall begin to explain this through breaking down each Buddhist concept of suffering and comparing it to Ivan Ilyich. The first Buddhist concept we learn is from the Four noble truths. “All life is Dukkha” Dukkha is usually interpreted as suffering but is means more then this. It can be referred to the basic fact that something about human existence is ‘out-of-wack’. Furthermore, as we break Dukkah into categories, we can see that the first four types of Dukkah is called ‘ordinary dukkha’ due to being built into the very nature of our biological existence. Firstly, there is Birth, Ivan Ilyich just like every other human being is brought into this

Decrepitude is the third type of dukkha, as we see with Ivan we generally do not think of ourselves as the old person sitting on the park bench. This is due to we as humans see life as being too rich with possibilities we are ‘too full of our own importance to think that we too will become old. Ivan lived a life of success, he used his success to inflate his ego, hoping to gain respect from those around him. Death is the fourth type of dukkha. This being because we all know that someday we too will die but there is always the lingering thought of how, when and what happens after. We see through the process Ivan goes through as he becomes ill. He is essentially trying to reject the idea of his own death as a way to cope with the bitter reality. He expresses to himself that he will get better unfortunately for Ivan no one is immortal and we must all die. The fifth type of dukkah is ‘Being unable to avoid difficult of painful situations’ No one has complete control over their circumstances and therefore unenviable situations