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Making sense of Christianity
Hi all, so heres my theory: The notion of heaven and hell in christianity refer to the hell realms and the brahma realms of existence. So by following a moral life of loving compassion one can aspire to be reborn into the brahma or heaven realm. Then in terms of the Bile I think those guys were tapped into some jhana interpreting what they were seeing as the word of "God." When it comes to Jesus I Think he was enlightened but he did not think the people were capable of reaching that in their current situations. So he taught them a path to bring them to a rebirth in the brahma realm where they could then reach enlightenment. What do you guys think?
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Buddhism doesn't posit or seek or pray for or agree with or disagree with anything else.
I feel what most religions call for is a rexamination of what our lives and our relationship or lack of relationship with the sacred.
And in that sense the Christians have their tools, forms, and interpretation of what the sacred is and how they relate to it.
So it really depends on what perspective we are viewing things from.
If we try to make sense of Christianity from the point of Buddhism, we are just bastardizing and not honoring that Christianity is Christianity.
I used to interpret and do exactly what you're proposing.
But to be honest with real practice and by living life in the dharma, we just come to an appreciation of all the forms and expressions. But hey whatever works right?
So then the absolute reality becomes a truth which is then a subjective test.
I have this feeling like when you're approaching a blind corner on the road - you can take it much faster and you know it - the tyres have the grip... but, what if - so prudence holds you back a little and probably saves a life or two now and again.
The second hit of this google search is a Thesis relating negative christian mysticism to shentong Buddhism.
Everyone begins spiritual endeavor with belief and hope. Good stuff -- very inspiring, perhaps. But even a shallow examination will reveal that belief and hope only reach so far. They are limited, while the peace of mind anyone might seek is not.
There is a difference between believing you can ride and bike and riding a bike. Belief may inspire practice and thus be a very good thing. But once having learned to ride, no one in their right mind bothers believing they can ride a bike: That would be a waste
of time.
So... "absolute reality" may be very inspiring, very cozy, or very meaningful in some limited sense, but maybe it is more important to ride the bike you believe in... practice and see what happens.
While religions have certain things in common, and no religion/culture has a monopoly on good hearted wise people, they can also have some pretty fundamental differences. I'm not sure it's possible to unite them in the way you seem to be suggesting -- some things just don't gel. I fear that by trying to have a universal sort of approach to the world's religions, we lose what makes them all individual, unique, and vibrant. It forces them to be pulled way out of context in some cases, in a way they weren't intended to be.
That doesn't mean that people can't or shouldn't be inspired by aspects of other religions, but you may not be able to make them agree with each other in a satisfying way.
This is a big mistake. The mind can be a real pain in the tush, but let's take a moment to recall that that same hell-raising, confusion-creating, attachment-prone mind is the one that suggested a Buddhist practice in the first place. Without that erratic, pain-in-the-ass mind, we'd all be in the soup.
Briefly stated, thinking is not only OK, it's really a pretty good idea. Trying to get rid of the thinking mind or the ego or whatever you want to call it falls into precisely the same trap as clinging to the thinking mind or ego or whatever ... it elevates and protects gives substance to what cannot be found in the first place.
Swami Vivekananda once observed, "The mind [he meant intellect] is a good servant and a poor master." On hearing this, some run away into a la-la land inhabited by an imaginary god or ineffable something-or-other who is the "good master." But this misses the point: The point is to patiently and courageously pay attention ... to take responsibility ... to see what actually happens. Use the good servant ... just don't confuse that servant with a master that cannot be limited by intellect or emotion.
And who is that master?
Well, there's always the bathroom mirror.
Here's a quote I like -
"Like the bee gathering honey from the different flowers, the wise person accepts the essence of the different scriptures and sees only the good in all religions."
~ Gandhi
Have a good one!
What I suggest you do, OP is first of all make sense of Buddhism.
Once you have accomplished that, and all it entails, get back to us, and tell us how you've got on.
We could do with a few pointers......
There is also a school of thought that Jesus had some kind of spiritual awakening and the only cup he had to place his experiences in was the Jewish religion, so he taught what he had learnt using the current language and understanding of the day. And didn't the Buddha do the same? The Buddha had his enlightenment and used the Brahmanic understanding to teach. They say Buddhism is new wine in old bottles.
Thich Naht Hahn also wrote a whole book on the subject (Living Buddha Living Christ).
Check this out it's pretty wild!
The Title is "Jesus was a Buddhist monk: BBC Documentary"
On the topic - I'd recommend the Nag Hammadi Library to anyone who'se not read it, and in particular the Gospel of Mary. Also Keith Ward's 'God - A Guide for the Perplexed', where he makes it clear that Christianity did not begin as naive monotheism, having, rather, a subtle and almost atheistic approach to God. It's just that most Christians have no idea how drastically their doctrine has been changed by human interventions such as the Council of Nicea and by the requirements of the various Christian empires who have exploited it. Mind you, this is changing fast as the internet makes it easy to study the early church.