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the Jesus Manifesto
following the way of Jesus in the land of our captivity
There has been a cry ringing in my heart over the past few weeks, “Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!” I hear it on the television, look at the faces in the newspaper, read the stories on the blogs. “Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!”
... Continue reading »
1 year ago
Thanks for your balanced look at Tibetan Buddhism as well. I've been blown away by media's glaring bias towards the religion and even the overlooking of the oppressive nature of Buddhism within emerging Christian circles as well. Even though I've often said "that if I wasn't a Christian, I'd be a Buddhist", we have to see the omissions and errors of that system as well. Again, thank you.
1 year ago
this is very very true
1 year ago
1 year ago
(2) I'm not implying that God should literally apologize. You are missing the point. The point is that the U.S. is in just as bad of a spot (or perhaps even worse) as Sodom and Gomorrah. There have actually been studies done on the U.S. when it comes to sexual sins, social injustices, murder, etc... that demonstrate its relationship to those ancient cities. Don't dismiss the point by playing a sovereignty trump card.
1 year ago
The collection Everything You Know About God Is Wrong from Disinformation has a brilliant article on pre-Chinese occupation Tibet that should be required reading. Yes, there are some wonderful things about having an independent Tibet, but it's not nearly as cut-and-dried of an issue as people make it out to be.
Besides, how about "Free the Kurds! Create Kurdistan", if we're on this topic...?
1 year ago
shalom
ryan miller
1 year ago
On the other hand, people are entitled to be free and to take the costs. When the British said to Gandhi that Indian independence would bring all kinds of problems, he said something like 'ah yes, but then they'll be our problems and not yours'. I'm not sure what he would think of today's India which reveres a statue of a great leader in every town centre yet has forgotten his message and as a system is riddled with corruption.
I've never seen the attraction of Tibetian Buddhism. Sounds like the usual self-seeking, self-important, self-improvement kind of religion that we see everywhere now, particularly within the church. Maybe that is the attraction - everyone is so connected into the cult of celebrity that they think that the point of life is to be All About Me.
1 year ago
Perhaps those of us outside of the US have not been grateful enough for the benefits we enjoy as a result of American influence. And perhaps we have not been strong enough in defining faith on our own terms, instead of allowing the American religious right to define it for us.
It is heartening to see how the religious conversation in the US is deepening and become more nuanced. It is also heartening to see how this is shifting the faith conversation in my own country.
The truth is - as you say - we are not free. In some nations it is painfully obvious, and in some it is more hidden. If only we can acknowledge this, as you have, and begin to live in the freedom Christ brings - not just for ourselves, but for the sake of the world.
1 year ago
1 year ago
I suggest that fewer than 2% of Americans actually live by the teachings of Christ; perhaps .05% would be more accurate. If as many as 85% really lived the Gospel of the Kingdom of God that Jesus preached and lived into and out of, we would not be at war; we would not have elderly people and children starving; we would not have 20,000 people or more dying because they cannot have adequate health care; we would not have an economy where the largest export is weaponry and items created for killing people; we would not have an economy where $400 million a day is spent to destroy and kill others; we would not have an economy where th 1% of the population has seen an increase in wealth from $186billion to $816 billion and their combined income is $3.5 trillion while others are standing in line to be fed and finding shelter under bridges and in boxes. This is not a country where actual Christians form more than a small minority, a tiny minority of the population.
How else could we have allowed out government to commit war crimes paralleled by Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939 when it invaded both Afghanistan and Iraq? An 85% Christian population. Only in name and I don't call that Christian at all. I call it false to the Gospel and faithful to Caesar.
1 year ago
Why, then, is it that the world is not enamored with faith in Christ?
Why is it that the world seems so taken by Tibetan Buddhism?
Why isn’t Christianity the religion of peace?
These are important questions to answer.
1 year ago
Why is it that the world seems so taken by Tibetan Buddhism?"
My guess:
1. The world doesn't want the kind of freedom Jesus offers.
2. Christianity isn't associated with COOL people, or, contrarily, is too closely associated with people who are UNcool. The Tibetan Buddhists may have their beggars hoping for better karma for the next life, but they're not on TV, or don't live next door. All we see is the Dalai Lama - a nice - and mysterious - guy.
1 year ago
Kimberly Roth has mistakenly tried to apply an overly literal reading of Buddhist myths in the way many Christians apply overly literal readings of God’s wrath in the Bible. Buddhists do not earn salvation through “works”. I’m sorry you have that misconception of their faith. Any type of “work” is for the elimination of the suffering in others not your own salvation. Like all religious rituals, they are symbols meant to cultivate character changes. But the transformation is never for your own benefit. The purpose is so that you no longer cause suffering. Rituals help you become a more compassionate being and more capable of relieving the suffering of others.
Christianity is not the religion of peace because it has become a religion of division. Its point has become the quest to define who is in and who is out. You can’t be a religion of peace when your purpose is inform people they are going to hell and the only way out would be to reject their own religion or they will burn.
The reason Buddhism is widely revered is because it was founded on principles that allow its practitioners to be free of the literal interpretation of its myths. Its growth is not tied down by pre-modern views of the supernatural world. Buddha was clear about that. Certain sects of their pre-enlightenment ancestors may have invented particular deities and even had them perpetuate vengeance, but Jewish and Christian authors have done the same with our God (read the book of Joshua or listen to an Evangelical pastor talk about atonement).
1 year ago
1 year ago
Buddhism is seen as the religion of peace because Buddhism isn't as tied to global imperial movements. It isn't because Buddhists aren't literalists. That is just silly. Every religion has its fundamentalists. And, for the most part, fundamentalists are the majority because it is easier to control fundamentalists.
In the end, I do believe that Buddha and Jesus have some common points. As a Christian, my vote goes for Jesus. But even from a sort of secularist anthropological perspective, Jesus' teachings focus more on compassion and the Buddha's teachings focus more on wisdom. I firmly and truly believe that the best of Christianity demonstrates compassion even more than the exemplary actions of the Dolly Llama (misspelling intentional).
1 year ago
We don't have to vote and declare a winner. I think that is the point. I would suggest voting for Buddha is voting for Jesus. There is only one way, but any metaphors to point the way. It is called self sacrificial love.
The Buddha's teaching have nothing to do with wisdom accept as a METHOD to gain compassion and through our compassion ending suffering. I feel you've approached what some might see as religious bigotry. I hate to see that.
I do think the literalism is a key catalyst for problems because it diverts attention away from compassion and toward supernatural power and a preferred status in afterlife.
1 year ago
One can be, in a sense, exclusivistic and yet not a bigot. For me, the issue isn't about who is "in" or who is "out." It is an insecure system that cannot handle having differing, somewhat irreconcilable belief systems at the same table. This is the difference between, as Ken Wilber suggests, postmodernism (which wants to make all religions one pluralist goo of tolerance) and post-postmodernism (which allows completely different belief systems to sit at the table with some respect but without the need to agree).
I may be a bigot. But it isn't because I look down on other faith or feel like I can't be hospitable to people of all faiths. But because I believe my loyalty and allegiance is to Jesus as the living God-man. And while I can learn from the Buddha, I don't have to believe in him in the religious sense.
By the way, my "vote for Jesus" comment was tongue-in-cheek...for the most part. But I in a way I believe it stands as a serious comment as well. For me, to say that I can vote for both is a way of making myself the Transcendant One who can choose from all faiths to construct My Own Faith. This is contrary to the teaching of Christ. Jesus isn't merely One who shows us a Way...and that any way we find that Path is ok. Jesus is, himself, the way. Not to an afterlife primarily, but to participation in the Divine. To a complete and holistic relationship with God.
1 year ago
The great thing about Buddha is that he doesn't ask anyone to believe anything about him. Jesus didn't ask this either. Unfortunately, other people have twisted his message by assuming following him means believing doctrines bout him. This is what I mean about moving beyond literalism. To believe in Jesus (or buddha) does not mean, and has not always meant, to believe things "about" them, instead it means to trust their path will work. This is not an decision about which path is best, because they both speak about the one true path. They use different metaphors. The buddha talks about anatta or "no self". Jesus talks about a transforming rebirth and demonstrated this through a self-sacrificial death. The apostle paul picked up on this by using the metaphor of "dying to self". These are NOT seperate paths. They are one path with different terms and metaphorical pictures to show the way.
There is no need to see any of these as competitive. It is one common path from selfishness and individuality to selflessness and community. When we get caught worshipping the symbol over the path, then we've lost the way.
1 year ago
Your understanding of Jesus and his message seems to be porting modern notions into ancient times. Even the idea of abstracting Jesus' message to a selfless path to community seems to be worshipping the path rather than worshipping YHWH...which transcends a way to being the end of the path. My understanding of Jesus is that he understood himself as YHWH in a way that caused Jewish authorities to be complicit in his death.
1 year ago
Worshipping Christ is worshipping the way. Christ is the way. Nobody is in or out. We are all incomplete and in need of transformation. As long as anyone is "out" none are "in".
Jesus wasn't killed because of WHO he claimed to be. He was killed because he was training people to resist the empire and undermining the authority of the temple by forgiving debts(sins) and declaring people healed (restoring community to outcasts). Those were tasks that only the temple had the authority to do (and made good money doing it). He did it himself and trained others to do it too. That is why they asked him "by what authority do you do these things?" That is why they wanted him dead.
Jesus suggested their reign of authority would soon be over and the temple would fall. It had nothing to do with metaphysical claims. Jesus didn't make any claims to be YHWH. He claimed to be in agreement (one) with YHWH in much the way I am one with my wife. Inseperable and yoked in agreement and purpose. Nobody comes to YHWH except through the way.
The path is to be lived. It is Christ. It is visible in Buddha's teachings too. It is a concept not a person just as Christ is a concept not a person. It is his spirit lived out in many forms. We are its living body. Christ is the incarnation of God in the world. It is God's wisdom (logos) lived out in the flesh and it existed since the beginning of humanity and was manifested clearly in Jesus. It is a complete transformation from selfishness to compassion and it has many forms and many symbols that represent it, but no symbol can contain it.
Jesus' followers were called people of the way long before we were called Christians.
1 year ago
Inclusivity can only work if it embraces exclusivity: if you do not embrace my exclusivity then what does it really mean to be inclusive? Is it not another form of bigotry than dictates to others that by having a more 'narrow-minded' view they are being bigots?
I confess that I know little about Buddhism, but to me it is fundamentally different to Christianity in many ways. For me, one of the most obvious differences is the implications of anatta - that the desirability of becoming nothing. In Christianity, the individual is not called to be nothing. Christ came to save sinners, which does not imply that they are worthless, but are worth saving.
Second, it seems to me that Buddhism implies that spiritual perfection is achieved on the mountaintop, through rituals, and the wearing of silly hats.
I think Christ fairly clearly demolished this impression of religion, by showing that whilst mountaintop experiences are sometimes wondrous, the real work is done in the pigsty, at the street corner, the execution ground and kneeling in the dirt. By replacing organised rituals with eating with friends. By showing the silly-hat-wearing brigade that names and titles and impressive clothing is worthless.
As Kierkegaarde said:
"In the magnificent cathedral the honorable and Right Reverend Geheime-General-Ober-Hof-Pradikant, the elect favorite of the fashionable world, appears before an elect company and preaches with emotion upon the text he himself elected: “God has chosen the base things of this world, and the things that are despised” – and nobody laughs."
If the Buddhist has truly given over his selfish desires to the service of the divine through humble sacrificial giving to his neighbour, that is great, he is not far from the kingdom of God. Unfortunately like everyone else, I suspect there are few who are able to break through the binds of religion to do that.
1 year ago
You said: Second, it seems to me that Buddhism implies that spiritual perfection is achieved on the mountaintop, through rituals, and the wearing of silly hats.
I doubt you really think that. At least I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Their rituals (and ritualistic clothing), just like ours are made to help form character transformation and create community. Do people take them literally and get off-base? absolutely! Do some people mistake the symbol with the meaning? absolutely!
you said: "I think Christ fairly clearly demolished this impression of religion, by showing that whilst mountaintop experiences are sometimes wondrous, the real work is done in the pigsty, at the street corner, the execution ground and kneeling in the dirt."
Brilliant! I completely agree. Thank you for that comment. I find it hard to believe that came from the same person that made fun of another cultures ancient clothing. I bet your designer tennis shoes and hair gel looks pretty silly to them.
1 year ago
1 year ago
Good T-Shirt slogan, there.
1 year ago
1 year ago
The Buddhism that we are most familiar with is Western Buddhism, which does not have the cultural trappings of Tibetan Buddhism. The Dali Lama has done a good job of distilling out Buddhism's core beliefs. And by doing so has attracted many adherents from disenchanted Christians, who are not comfortable with American cultural baggage in Christianity.
Christianity was very much a popular resistance to the Empire in the Eastern and Soviet Block countries. In fact, the new governments after the fall of the Berlin wall invited many Christian organizations to do work in their countries.
I am concerned with American foreign policy that supports governments based on ethnic unity. One of the strengths of the American system is the "melting pot" phenomenon. As we become more and more a global economy, there is a need to transcend cultural identity to achieve unity. My fear is that by supporting ethnic nationalism we encourage situations where there is an ethnic class system such as in Kuwait or at worse ethnic cleansing such as was in Rwanda.
At the moment, the Dali Lama is an archetype "David" and the Chinese government looks like "Goliath" in comparison. People like to root for the under dog. As an example the Chicago Cubs has a very loyal fan base even though it hasn't won the playoff in a very long time. But the Dali Lama has been working for this moment for a very long time -since he was a young man. What seems to us like a new struggle or a crisis has been going on for quite some time.
What I like about Christianity over Buddhism is the language of forgiveness. A language that is embodied in the person of Jesus, and the actions of the cross and resurrection. I like the community oneness that Buddhism describes, but I think that Christianity incorporates the same oneness without loosing our individuality.
The more I try and become Christ-like the more I am aware of how un-Christian I am. If you wanted to use percentages to describe who's living a Christian life, I would suggest that 0% might be accurate. But thankfully, being a Christian is a process and we don't have to decide who is and isn't a Christian -that's God's job, which if I recall correctly he's not going to do until the end of time.
In the mean time, we can try and be aware of the cultural baggage that we have and how it affects our understanding of the gospel. We can make ourselves open to the cultural interpretations of the gospel that others have in that no one interpretation can completely communicate God's relationship with his creation. And with openness we can have a unity which is a witness of God love to the world.
1 year ago
So we are to move "beyond literalism" to what appears to be nothing more than pure pragmatism. I just have a hard time imaging that Jesus, or even Buddha, really desires to see their lives placed at the lowest common denominator just so we can build bridges that "work." The idea that Jesus didn't ask us to believe anything about him is odd to me. Where do you get that from? Absolutely, Jesus did not ask his followers to simply believe without acting or to grasp cognitively divorced from lived passion, but he did demonstrate himself in a way that begged the question: Who am I? Or put in another way, "who do you say that I am?" If Jesus didn't want us to hold a certain view of who he was (i.e. "believe something about him"), wouldn't he have rebuked Peter's answer?
1 year ago
I have great respect for Buddhism. I think Christians can learn a lot from their religious perspective. However, I don't view them as the same path.
1 year ago
I believe you can be a Buddhist and a Christian in the same way you can be a Jew and a Christian. The question you have to ask yourself is what takes prescedance circumcision or grace? If it's circumcision, you're just a Jew, if it's grace then you're a Christian.
(I don't know if that makes me a bigot, inclusive, or exclusive.)
1 year ago
I think you've created a fictitional limited set of choices. You've assumed their are only the two modernistic alternatives:
A) reject modern knowledge of the Bible and universe because it invalidates a literal reading of our stores (fundamentalism)
or
B) reject the stories because we realize they are not historically accurate (secularism/atheism)
You've missed a third choice. You've missed the POSTmodern response that can embrace narrative, symbolism, and myth as MORE-than-literal while also recognizing the realities of modern knowledge. Truth is often more available in myth than it is in history.
Yes, Jesus probably would have rebuked Peter, BUT we don't have Jesus' answer we have a description of the conversation by later followers of Jesus who had already decided the point of Jesus life was a belief in things ABOUT him. I could also suggest that if believing something about Jesus was the point, then he sure wasted a whole bunch of time talking and doing things that were "off topic". I also wonder why even in these later writings, the certainty and detail of "who" Jesus was is left a bit ambiguous. He certainly could have made it abundantly clear if he wanted to.
1 year ago
1 year ago
I'm not on the same page with him about trying to integrate the two paths. To me, the way of Jesus is sufficient, though I truly believe that learning from Buddhist and other eastern thinking may help me find freedom from those Western thought tendencies that enslave my mind and keep me from embracing Christ more fully.
And so, I don't think we should be down on Buddhism. But we certainly shouldn't be naive. Most Westerners that I meet who think Buddhism is a golden path free from division have had such bad experiences with Christianity that they see all of its flaws and few of its virtues, and have at the same time had a positive experience of Buddhism where they see most of its virtues and few of its flaws.
The truth is, people are flawed. And that flawedness finds its way into all religions. And each of those religions has unique was of exploring how humanity experiences the divine.
But, and I believe this with all of my heart, Jesus is the One who brings the Divine into human existence in full. That isn't to diminish other faiths. But it is to extol Jesus as the One I worship. The eternal incarnate God who loves me and died for me and rose from the dead.
I can still appreciate Buddha. But asking me to somehow put him on par with Jesus out of some misguided, albeit well-meaning, desire to avoid bigotry is silly.
1 year ago
After a few days of reflection, I'm in pretty solid agreement with you. It is crucial to discern the important distinctions between buddhism & christianity, yet appreciate each tradition for it's uniqueness. When I was in the process of converting to christianity I came across the following quote from the martyred russian orthodox priest Father Alexander Men.
" It seems to me that everything that is valuable in christianity is valuable only because it is from Christ. What is not from Christ could belong as well to islam or buddhism.
Every religion is a path towards God, a conjecture about God, a human approach to God. It is a vector pointing upwards from below. But the coming of Christ is the answer, a vector coming from heaven towards us. On the one hand, an event situated in history, on the other hand, something quite outside history. That's why christianity is unique, because Christ is unique. "
I was for a time a starry eyed buddhist who thought that pre-invasion tibet was paradise & vajrayana buddhism the golden path as you describe. I also know some orthodox converts who feel much the same about pre-revolutionary tsarist russia. Ah, the delusions we weave, & what a hard fall when they come undone.
There are many americans who have been burned or disillusioned by christianity, turned to buddhism in search of some kind of coherent spiritual practice, & like your friend eventually turn back to Christ. There is a zen priest at a well known meditation center here in northern california who has been connecting with Mark Scandrette & Reimagine in SF. (He was a Jesus freak in the 70's). I know of another zen practitioner of 30 years who does not have a christian background, but who prays the psalms daily, lectures on the works of Dionysius the Areopagite, & publicly advocates prayer as an important spiritual practice. I know of yet another zen teacher who left buddhism & joined the catholic church amidst great scandal after being befriended by a woman who is a catholic contemplative. Things being what they are, I dare say there are probably a lot of buddhist-christian hybrids out there. And I hope that those who try to follow Christ can find ways to reach out to them in friendship.
peace
joseph
1 year ago
" The Tibetan people serve multiple deities, some of whom are full of vengeance. Their religious practices are in part, to appease the deities en route to obtaining enlightenment."
Vajrayana buddhism is a complex system & is not theistic as we understand it. The deities are not gods but representations of the qualities of mind, in both a cosmic & personal sense. The practices of vajrayana work directly with these qualities as a skillfull means to purify ones own mind. When you look at a representation of a wrathful deity, you're looking directly at the wrathful qualities of your own mind. In Nepal, where tantric buddhism & tantric hinduism have been practiced side by side for centuries, the alters in the the temple of the wrathful hindu goddess Kali run red with the blood of sacrificed animals. This doesn't happen in the buddhist temples because the point is not to appease the gods but to work directly to tame & purify ones own nature.
"Why is it that the world seems so taken by Tibetan Buddhism?"
Because Tibetan teachers offer an approachable, holistic, ethically & mystically oriented form of praxis.
"Why, then, is it that the world is not enamored with faith in Christ? Why isn’t Christianity the religion of peace?"
Because christianity in the west has become a simplistic & shallow cult of personal salvation that clings to a strange, persistent dichotomy between works & faith.
Because christianity in the west is proclaimed by the materially prosperous, well fed, middle class citizens of a corporate/military/industrial empire that has obtained their prosperity at the cost of untold human misery at home & abroad.
Because there are far too few christians who follow Christ by example.
In the end, I stopped practicing vajrayana buddhism. I was disillusioned by how I & many other western students approached this tradition. American consumerism taints our approach to any true religious practice. A few years ago I was gracefully drawn to the eastern orthodox church. Eastern christianity still preserves the holistic christian praxis that was devastated in the west by the politics of the reformation & by modernity. But it is clear to me that I never would have been able to practice orthodox christianity if I had not known my tibetan teacher. He is an examplar of devotion, humility, & kindness, & I believe that God works through him despite the fact that he would never use the word God.
I see some glimmer of hope for western christianity in the emergent conversation. But many (not all) of the comments here exhibit the self-righteous, self-satisfied, & shallow understanding of other traditions that is characteristic of american evangelical christianity. If our society is becoming pluralistic & post-christendom (God willing!) then taking up the practice of true interreligious dialogue just might be worthwhile for emergents & missional types. American christians would do well to look at the habits of mind that obscure our vision. If George W Bush & the christian right had understood that much of the darkness that they projected onto others was their own, then we might not have been led into the destructive crusade in Iraq that has cost many thousands of lives.
A good book on Tibetan buddhist & christian dialogue is The Good Heart, a series of conversations between the Dalai Lama & christian monks.
a website that has a couple of good accounts by western buddhists who became eastern orthodox:
http://www.strannik.com/watchful_gate/index2.html
peace
joseph - former yogi
1 year ago
Thanks for sharing that! I don't know how other people here feel, but I appreciated it.
1 year ago
Just so no one here thinks they are in any position to throw stones, what about American complicity in the destruction of the native christian communities in Israel & Iraq? George W's little war has devastated what was the largest remaining christian minority in the middle east.
If you want to educate yourself on the invasion of Tibet, read In Exile From The Land Of Snows by John Avedon. It's a little dated, written in the 1980s, but tells the story to that time in detail.
A good book about the state of christians in the middle east is From The Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple
peace
joseph - ranter & enthusiast
1 year ago
Cultural Christianity is full of its own trappings. From plastic WWJD bracelets to designer rosaries, "by His stripes we are healed" (insert image of American flag) t-shirts to priestly collars, testamints to communion wafers - we have all kinds of items to help us feel like we are moving toward a deeper faith. A dear friend even bought me a "Christian" coffeemug for Christmas (sarcastically intentional). It is also steeped in customs, which vary from tradition to tradition (everything from Monday night "Visitation" to "stand-sit-kneel"). Naturally, this is what is being held out to the world.
However, that was my whole point for writing this piece? Why is that what we are holding out? Why do we buy things and perform rituals and allow this to be enough? Why do we satisfy ourselves with less than what was offered to us (or add things to what is needed)?
The world sees US American Christianity as consumeristic, selfish and arrogant.
Why doesn't the world see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? These are the fruits of abiding in Christ and the presence of the Spirit in our lives.
They see this from Buddhism, Tibetan or otherwise.
They have every right to expect it, authentically, from the Church.
1 year ago
What a great thing to read while ducking out from my bomb shelter over at my post. :)
1 year ago
" It seems to me that everything that is valuable in christianity is valuable only because it is from Christ. What is not from Christ could belong as well to islam or buddhism.
Every religion is a path towards God, a conjecture about God, a human approach to God. It is a vector pointing upwards from below. But the coming of Christ is the answer, a vector coming from heaven towards us. On the one hand, an event situated in history, on the other hand, something quite outside history. That's why christianity is unique, because Christ is unique. "
I was for a time a starry eyed buddhist who thought that pre-invasion tibet was paradise & vajrayana buddhism the golden path. I also know some orthodox converts who feel much the same about pre-revolutionary tsarist russia. Ah, the delusions we weave, & what a hard fall when they come undone.
There are many americans who have been burned or disillusioned by christianity, turned to buddhism in search of some kind of coherent spiritual practice, & like Mark's friend eventually turn back to Christ. There is a zen priest at a well known meditation center here in northern california who has been connecting with Mark Scandrette & Reimagine in SF. (He was a Jesus freak in the 70's). I know of another zen practitioner of 30 years who does not have a christian background, but who prays the psalms daily, lectures on the works of Dionysius the Areopagite, & publicly advocates prayer as an important spiritual practice. I know of yet another zen teacher who left buddhism & joined the catholic church amidst great scandal after being befriended by a woman who is a catholic contemplative. Things being what they are, I dare say there are probably a lot of buddhist-christian hybrids out there. And I hope that those who try to follow Christ can find ways to reach out to them in friendship.
peace
joseph
1 year ago
Honestly though, the Dalai Lama is a political ruler, as well as religious leader. A Tibet free of Chinese rule would be theocratic in nature... much as many fundamentalist Christians are currently attempting to create theocratic American structures of government... aaahh the religious right.
The thing that comes back to me as most salient in looking at the Path of Jesus as our path is the need to discern between that which belongs to Caesar, and that which belongs to God...
the world mistrusts American Christianity because it habitually renders ALL to Caesar... the "one nation under God" myth too often eclipses the will of God and the examples of Jesus... For example: giving one's life for others has somehow been confused with taking the life of an enemy...
Luckily, if Buddhism of any type is in America long enough, it too can become branded and marketed just like so much of main stream American Christianity...
We really need to decide that "Caesar's" had enough...
1 year ago
The only thing I want from Caesar is salad. ;)
1 year ago