Buddhism – Page 2 – Intelligent Christian Spirituality

“ENLIGHTENMENT”

The new cosmology does not contradict Christian faith

but resonates with it –

God is neither reduced to the creation event

nor to the universe

nor is separate from the universe

but God’s Presence is in and flows through ongoing creation –

God is in the world but not entirely of it –

everything is made of the same stuff as God – divinity

but is not the fullness of Divinity

God flows thru the universe

and thru the progressive stages of human ethics:

ego-centric care (for me)/ethno-centric care (for my group)/

world-centric care (for all humans)/universe-centric (care for all beings) –

each stage has a higher compassion

so not all hierarchies are bad

the more mature religious mind has developed

an alternative/wider way of seeing –

Buddhism/Hinduism/the Gospel of John

call it “enlightenment” –

“you are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14) –

the light of Christ shines thru all who belong to him

and is meant to shine into every dark corner of the world –

Christians call enlightenment “conversion”

Jesus calls it “salvation” or “the kingdom of God”

which is not a place or only exists in the afterlife

but is a new way of seeing and thinking

here and now

“In the early church ‘believe’

meant to ‘belove’ something –

to give your heart/soul/trust to it –

but now society has become so ‘enlightened’

that to ‘believe’ something means

‘to hold an opinion about it’

so formerly ‘to believe in God’ meant

you gave your whole self/heart/soul to God

now, ‘to believe in God’ is to be of the opinion

that God may exist”

– Wilfred Cantwell Smith

BUDDHA’S DILEMMA

Science has discovered that chaos is everywhere

and has a necessary role in universal life –

chaos creates creativity –

and the consequent struggle to survive

results in unexpected benefits

when you ask “Why is my life not working?”

and discover your shadow beneath the “persona” –

the mask you and everyone wears – the “smiley face”

you can discover your True Self beneath the mask

the pharisaic equation: holiness = perfection

results in denial of the shadow

so the shadow functions autonomously

and, having a mind of its own

comes out sideways and causes scandals

when those attempting to be righteous

least expect it – they find themselves

with their pants down

in the glaring light of publicity

which exposes their shame

for all to see

Descartes was a philosopher

who never faced his shadow –

he lived totally in his head –

nothing is more alien to shadow-work

than Descartes’ famous dictum –

the foundation of western philosophy –

“cogito ergo sum” – “I think therefore I am” –

the statement of an alienated being

so divorced from his True Self

that he must seek proof of his own existence

in the fact that he thinks

Buddha long ago went a step further –

feeling the idea of “atman” (self) –

the foundation of Vedic beliefs –

was responsible for the corruption of Vedic priests

and the underlying caste system

which caused untold suffering of millions –

so Buddha taught “anatman” (no self) –

there is no separate/individual/independent self –

and so Buddhists started worshipping “emptiness”

until Buddha found that was worse than worshipping atman.

YOUTH BASE COMMUNITIES

Christianity is moving from being a religion

of belief about God

to being an experience of God

whereas fundamentalism is a reaction against this –

trying to shore up belief about God

which is eroding – as the pounding of ocean waves

causes more and more cliffs along the shoreline

to collapse

as Christianity spreads in waves thru Asia

rooted in scripture and Xian tradition

it will include the mysticism of Ramakrishna/

Aurobindo/Ramana Marshi/Lao Tzu/Chuang Tzu/

Vedanta/Upanishads/Bhagavad Gita/I Ching

which will enrich and renew Xianity

far beyond what Plato and Greek philosophy did

however, because of rapid change in every society

Buddhist and Christian leaders lag behind

Buddhist and Xian youth

and no longer speak their language –

as at the Tower of Babylon

people are scattering in confusion

and youth have nothing good/true/beautiful

to ground their beliefs in

and abandon their parents’ Churches and Sanghas

but youth are more awake/more woke

than previous generations –

more interested in serving the poor

than in attending musty/dusty church rituals

but they need to wake up even more

to the Eucharist of Service as Mother Teresa said:

“In holy communion we have Christ

in the form of bread and wine

and in our work we find him

in the flesh and blood of the poor –

it is the same Christ”

youth also need to re-discover/re-invent “theology of liberation”

which first dawned like a Rising Son

at the 1968 Conference of Latin American Bishops

youth need to form “base communities” –

small bands like that of the Twelve Apostles –

mystic/activists who revolutionize the world.

THE COSMIC MASS & OTHER GREAT EXPERIENCES

Some powerful spiritual experiences happened to me in 2023.

At Queen of the Apostles Retreat Center in Mississauga in March, Ronald Rolheiser gave a series of talks based on his book Wrestling with God: Finding Hope and Meaning in Our Daily Struggles to Be Human.

Rolheiser said that our basic problem is not so much sin as the complex way God made us – psychologically, emotionally, socially, and sexually – that can tempt us to sin. He gave many examples of this and then some “counsels for the long haul:” we need to constantly purify our concept of God; honour our complexity and sexuality: both eros and chastity; befriend our “shadow” – the things we try to hide from others and ourselves; grieve our wounds; and forgive ourselves and others often.

In Chicago, in August, at the Parliament of the World’s Religions (which promotes interreligious understanding) there were about 7000 participants from every spiritual tradition: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian. The Sikhs fed lunch to everyone who came to them every day – often thousands of people. This is part of Sikh tradition called “langar” – feeding the hungry. There were workshops on every imaginable topic, keynotes by Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the U.N., Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The biggest highlight for me was the Cosmic Mass led by Matthew Fox. The Mass was structured according to traditional Catholic and Anglican ritual but also according to the four “vias” of Meister Eckhart, a Catholic theologian and mystic from the 13^th century.

The “Via Positiva” involved about a thousand people holding hands and dancing in a circle while cosmic images from the Hubble Space Telescope played on a large screen in the darkened hall. The “Via Negativa” had us get down on our hands and knees with our foreheads to the ground (after we were given time to reflect on sorrowful things in our lives) and wailing out our grief – I’ll never forget that cacophony. The ”Via Creativa” involved spiritual leaders from every major world religion gathering around a huge altar and reciting prayers of peace from their tradition. The “Via Transformativa” saw the religious leaders encourage everyone to go forth and spread love, justice, and interreligious cooperation to the world.

Another spiritual experience came from the “Mystic Summit” (mysticssummit.com), an online course consisting of thirty-five interviews with mystics from every tradition.

There were readings of mystic poetry from Mirabai Starr; interpretations of Rumi, the great Sufi mystic; a discussion of Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich; the Kabbalah, a profound treatise of Jewish mysticism; Brian Swimme talking about science, religion and cosmology; expositions on grace, paradox, and non-dualism; a discussion about guardian angels in various traditions; the life of Padre Pio, a Catholic mystic who suffered from stigmata, the five bodily wounds of Christ; Joseph of Cupertino, another Catholic saint who was known for his ability to levitate; interviews with shamans; the life of Bede Griffiths, a Catholic priest and Benedictine monk, who lived as a Hindu and founded a Christian ashram in South India; A Course In Miracles, a modern interpretation of the sayings of Jesus, was mentioned by several mystics; and finally a discourse on Paramahansa Yogananda’s great work Autobiography of a Yogi.

In short, the Summit was a spiritual cornucopia rounding out a year of fresh insights, and I found that Richard Rohr’s biblically based idea of the Universal Christ provided a sense of unity in the midst of all the religious diversity of these retreats, parliaments, rituals and summits.

CADUCEUS

God created humans in God’s image: male and female

God is both masculine and feminine energy

but once the male and female separated into separate forms

the fall began from perfection into duality

which was further exasperated by the discovery of good and evil

and the subsequent banishment from Paradise

where God walked with humans in the Garden

the disconnection of humans from the Cosmos

continued with Martin Luther the Protestant reformer

whose doctrine of “sola scriptura” – “only scripture”

as the revelation of God – banished Nature as the first Bible

and resulted in extreme anthropocentrism –

humans as the center of everything

thus divorcing salvation from anything to do with Nature

modern society has further exasperated things

by teaching individualism: your body belongs only to you

not also to God and others

so you can do whatever you want with your body –

“George W. Bush get off my bush” –

but according to Buddhist emptiness/no-self/interbeing theory

your body belongs to your parents/ancestors/every living being –

your body is not only your own – you belong to the human race

and belonging to a group is essential to our inner growth and maturity –

it breaks us out of individualism/self-centeredness

but this requires true humility: journeying into the darkness

of oneself/others/divinity

and always a strain remains between the “Via Positiva” –

the Cosmos as glorious – and the “Via Negativa” – life as hard/suffering

always conflict remains between love and sacrifice

the Caduceus – the Staff of Hermes

in Greek/Roman/Egyptian mythology –

the staff born by heralds/messengers/gods

with two serpents twined around it and topped by wings

symbolizes healing by the medical/pharmaceutical professions –

the rod represents the spinal cord

where the serpents cross represents the seven chakras

the serpents represent the solar and lunar/

masculine and feminine energies

that come together in each chakra

and heal all our divisions.

INTEGRATED SPIRITUALITY

The word “God” is always a metaphor

the word “God” is not God

nor does it tell the whole story

some traditions are cautious about even using the word “God”

whereas Hindus talk about the “million names of God”

if all is God, is nothing a Supreme God, is our ego our god?

when our false self becomes our god

we do everything to worship this idol

we do not thereby create anything evil

but we pervert our relationship with everything

we use everything to increase our attachment

to our illusory self

within us, what is not accepted is projected

on to others – perception is noticing negative things

in others without getting upset

projection gets us upset

because the negative thing we see in others

is something we don’t accept in ourselves –

some shadow-piece

Brother Lawrence accepted all his shadows

and believed the General Practice of the Presence of God

is far more important than following spiritual rules

or engaging in specific devotions

Christ and Buddha’s appearance on Earth

were meant for the wellness and happiness of all

and so we can keep Jesus and Buddha going

by enjoying life/practicing mindfulness/being in the NOW/

enjoying songs of birds/gardens/blue sky/breathing

if your spirituality is integrated

it involves both contemplation and action

and you can address the most pressing issues of modernity:

– the existence of consciousness (which baffles scientific materialism)

– application of spirituality to everyday life

– spiritual development

– eastern vs western approaches to life/culture/spirituality

– the role of meditation and contemplation in our hyper busy culture

– how religion relates to modern culture

– how postmodern culture relates to religion

and you can be a fish in/not out of the water of our culture.

CHILDLIKE MINDFULNESS

Trungpa Rinpoche, like many Buddhist monks

never got trapped in unnecessary hope

or groundless fear

was never for or against results

not attached to things working out

just lived life freely/with curiosity/

as an experiment/like a child

children were always the models Jesus used

to teach his disciples the spiritual life

and the children’s story of Jonah in the belly of a whale

was Christ’s only metaphor for transformation –

you have to go into the dark

before you can see the light

if while practicing mindfulness we are not aware

of all the darkness/suffering in the world

it is not mindfulness but escape

and if we could peer into the minds/hearts/souls

of those causing suffering we would realize:

we could be just like them and they know suffering too –

peering always creates compassion/love for our enemies

we are somehow connected to all humans

no matter how despicable

and this reveals a fundamental truth about life:

mutuality/interdependence/connection

are woven thru and thru the cloth of creation –

even quarks can only exist in dyads and triads

if integrated wholeness/oneness/consciousness

are the heart of cosmic personalization

they naturally lead to selfless/altruistic love

and, contrary to popular belief, Darwin himself

saw the survival benefits of cooperation:

if I help others I get helped

the “Hsaio Ching”/“Classic of Filial Love” –

a Confucian approach to the Tao

sees brotherly/sisterly love

as the greatest taproot

into the mysterious

“Will of Heaven.”

SPIRIT UNDERLIES AND CONNECTS ALL

When the Spirit of God – always feminine in the Bible

breathed life into human beings in Genesis

She breathed life into all human beings

not just Jews or Christians – these two world religions

have no exclusive claim to the Holy Spirit

so it is not surprising a Buddhist like Thich Nhat Hanh

claims the Holy Spirit as the Source of his life and all life

the Holy Spirit connects everything –

Rupert Sheldrake postulated that repetitive behaviour

creates “morphogenetic fields” – gene-transforming spiritual fields –

that influence the behaviour of all members of a species –

this explains how generation after generation

of birds and butterflies know what pathways to take

when they fly south guided by the Spirit

therefore, contrary to the great atheist Richard Dawkins

we are more than our selfish genes –

our Spirit-fueled behaviours/relationships/souls guide us

the desire for God is behind all our motivations and all our sins –

pride wants what is lofty, but nothing is loftier than God

so pride wants to be God – to replace God with ego

ambition seeks honor and glory

but God alone is worthy of honor and glory

cruelty wants to arouse fear

but the only thing we ought to fear is God –

the Lord Almighty/Creator of Heaven and Earth –

but Jesus said “Do not fear God for God loves you

and even numbers all the hairs on your head” (Luke 12:7)

sloth is a desire for a quiet life

but God alone gives true rest

the problem with the Bible is it’s true teachings

always become subverted by counter-teachings –

the radical assertions of Jesus are subverted

by putting rhetorically violent words in his mouth –

the sheep go to eternal bliss, the goats to eternal torture (Matthew 25) –

on the other hand, Jesus was always authentically himself

and expressed what he truly felt: even anger and grief

he lived what he preached –

walked his talk no matter the cost –

expressing all aspects of love: self-revelation/

understanding/empowering/celebrating/

uniting all things.

THE REFUGE OF DIVINE LOVE

In Eastern Christianity they dwell on the cosmic significance of Christ

but in the West we focused too much on his saving work –

Augustine and Anselm claimed that Jesus came

only because we were ill – no illness, no Jesus

but contemporary theology believes Jesus came

to show us how to live/our true self – divine love –

repeat after me – “I am divine love”

the tremendous energy of love by which the universe

converges on itself passes through human sexuality –

the Christ comes to us through sex –

that is why Jesus performed his first miracle

at the wedding at Cana – Jesus saying symbolically:

“Before marriage/union/sex your life was water

now it is wine!”

but our sexuality is often dysfunctional

our wisdom is forever mixed up

with our craziness/neurosis/delusion/confusion

we need to wake up and accept this more and more –

this is better than constantly trying to change/perfect ourselves

peace lies in humble acceptance of our brokenness

and our need of God to put us back together

“The deadliest sin is to swim on the surface

for grace is found in the depths and death –

in falling/failing/not being in control/going down/not up”

– Richard Rohr in Falling Upward

too much security or insecurity leads to death

we need a healthy balance so we don’t become

either stagnant or overwhelmed by change

so we are not killed by the “future shock” –

the culture of constant change we live in

a prayer in Buddhism that is as common

as the “Our Father” in Christianity:

“I take refuge in the Buddha

I take refuge in the Dharma (the teaching)

I take refuge in the Sangha (the community)”

translated into Christianese:

“I take refuge in the Christ

I take refuge in the Beatitudes

I take refuge in the Church.”

SACRIFICE/LIBERATION/SALVATION

Contemporary theologians would do well

to free themselves from the “Hellenic complex” –

the integration of Greek categories of thought

into Christian theology – starting with Thomas Aquinas

and his merging of Aristotle into Judeo-Christian beliefs –

Popes John Paul II and Benedict thought Catholicism

should no longer be dominated by Aquinas

but they embraced no one else

they could have embraced Gustavo Gutierrez

who realized the new European theology he learned

could not deal with the structural injustices

of his South American continent

so he began interpreting the gospel in light of the poor

but “Saint Pope J.P. II” condemned this as Marxism

and so destroyed liberation theology

in spite of “Saint Pope J.P. II” liberation theology

became the key to black theology in North America –

the theology of liberation contained in the Bible –

the liberation of the Jewish slaves from Egypt –

parallels the liberation of black slaves in America –

Lincoln was Moses to the sharecroppers –

because the very essence of Jesus is freedom

Jesus became the model of liberation for blacks

understanding is the most powerful tool for “liberation”

which in Buddhism is “salvation from suffering”

so Buddhists talk about salvation by understanding

and the seed of understanding in everyone –

so similar in Christian or Buddhist terms –

is God/Jesus/Christ-Consciousness/Buddha-Mind –

Buddhist meditation involves deep insight

and creates understanding/love/salvation

love is both dependent and free at the same time –

it depends on objective values and creates new values:

joy/gratitude/self-sacrifice –

the bodhisattvas sacrificed entering into nirvana/heaven

until all sentient beings were liberated

similarly, Muslims sacrifice sex during the Great Fast/Ramadan:

“Do not lie with your wives during the day but cleave to the mosque –

(but during the night you can go into your wives and lie with them)” –

some sacrifice (but not too much) there. 😊