UNPOSSESSIVENESS

There is the historical Buddha, Guatama

and there is the living Buddha within us all

who, like the Image of God/Cosmic Christ within

transcends all space/time/concepts

and is constantly Present.

 

Saint Pope John Paul II wrote that Buddhism

is “negative atheism” but the Second Vatican Council

saw that “Buddhism recognizes the radical insufficiency

of this shifting world, and teaches a Way

to absolute freedom and supreme enlightenment

through our own efforts and higher assistance” –

presumably help from Bodhisattvas.

 

Buddhists practice detachment

but Meister Eckhart taught liberation

thru “unpossessiveness” –

detachment involves rejecting the world

but unpossessiveness makes us lighthearted

and free to follow God.

 

Even in our daily sufferings/frustration/pain

we can experience God’s action transforming us

if we are faithful to the Inner Calling

of the living Buddha/Image of God/Cosmic Christ.

 

Canadian poet/singer Leonard Cohen:

“There is a crack in everything –

that’s how the light gets in.”

Canadian folk legend/activist Bruce Cockburn:

“You have to kick at the darkness

till it bleeds daylight.”

You must fight to create the cracks

that let in the light.

 

But the 81 stanzas

of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

suggest the Way of Peace and Surrender

is always superior to the Way of Force.