In my last blog, I mentioned Mahatma Gandhi's response to the 'Sermon on the Mount' and his encouragement for Christians to 'become worthy of the message that is embedded' within its sayings. His encouragement is not surprising, because there are many similarities between some of the Gospel sayings of Jesus and those found in other Religious Traditions.
Gandhi, for example, saw similarities between the the Hindu scriptures of the 'Bhagavad Gita' and the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7). There are also many similarities between the Buddhist's scriptures called The Dhammapada (that date back to 477BCE) and the sayings of Jesus in The Sermon on the Mount.
Both The Dhammapada and The Sermon on the Mount, provide a summary of their leader's teaching. Both speak of a new way of seeing and living, of believing and being. Both summarize a new attitude that was counter-cultural; a subversive wisdom that challenged the orthodox views of their day, bypassing the Temple and priest and gave hope to the outsider; profound wisdom to the educated; and offered a practical path to a way of life which demanded everything one could give and more. And both summarize their wisdom in short succinct and pithy sayings that included the value of good ethical conduct, guarding one's thoughts because they often govern our actions; the importance of a spiritual practice; and sharing our faith journey with like-minded people. Both begin by looking at choices we make; choices that will affect the course of our life.
For example, “You are the result of all you think. Your thoughts determine your mind and actions...” says the Buddha in verse 1-2 of The Dhammapada. The Sermon on the Mount also tells us we have choices that determine our future. For example: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and many go that way. But the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Mat. 7:13-14).
The consequence of entering the 'narrow gate' is outlined in the opening eleven verses of The Sermon on the Mount called The Beatitudes, and invites us into a living spiritual relationship. However, even here Buddhism and Christianity remain close neighbours. For example, the Benedictine monk and Director of The World Community for Christian Meditation, Fr Laurence Freeman, once asked the Dalai Lama, “Where is Buddha now?” The Dalai Lama acknowledged there was no simple answer due to the range of views reflected by the various schools of Buddhist thought. However, for him: “Buddha is not limited just to the physicality. Buddha is still alive. Buddha's mind is still there, and Buddha's being is still there... and through meditation, you can get an experience of it.”
The Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh, said something similar: “When we understand and practice deeply the life and teachings of Buddha or the life and teachings of Jesus, we penetrate the door and enter the abode of the living Buddha and the living Christ, and life eternal presents itself to us.”
What Thich Nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama are describing is an interactive encounter. It is not a matter of merely repeating words or doing a meditation practice. What is important, is intentionally seeking to enter into the essence of Jesus', or Buddha's, 'art of living'.
For me, as a Christian, it is learning to follow the model Jesus offered as I seek to discover my own 'mystery of God' that is already within me, and acquire the art of resting in this mystery of “seeing, feeling, and growing into God,” as the Indian born teacher, Sri Chinmoy, has said. The challenge for both Buddhist's, Hindu's and Christian's, is to be committed to both having, doing, and becoming a spiritual practice. This also resonates with the Jewish Rabbi, Dr Arthur Green's comment:
(and given expression within all the great human religious traditions)
calls upon us to reshape our lives as embodiments of divinity.
This inner drive to imitate the ever-giving source of life calls forth in us
an unceasing flow of love, generosity of spirit, and full acceptance,
both of ourselves and all God’s creatures.”
Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga
May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.
Phil
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Green, Dr Arthur, Seek My Face: A Jewish Mystical Theology, Jewish Lights; 2003.
Hanh, Thich Nhat, Living Buddha: Living Christ, Riverhead Books,2007.
Dyer, P, Pathways to the Fountain: A Buddhist-Christian Exploration, Tawera Press, 2017.
Jesus and Buddha: A Dialogue between Laurence Freeman and the Dalai Lama, Meditatio. Jan-Feb, 2013.
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