This was Palm Sunday, and there was no manuscript or written liturgy for the Gathering. However, I made a short video to share what the discussion was to have been. Though nobody was in attendance that day, it was a lovely spring day. You can watch the video on TikTok here.
The following is an article from the Spring 2022 issue of Brigid's Arrow about Spiritual Awakening. If you would like to receive this quarterly email newsletter, you can sign up here.
Lessons on the Meaning of Spiritual Awakening
from Buddhism and Christianity
Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is within you.” - Luke 17:20-21, NRSV
To begin the journey in the Way...first, set yourself straight. You are your only master. - The Dhammapada
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” Matthew 22:21, NRSV
People must store up reserves of faith since true merits cannot be taken away and no one need fear thieves. Happy are the disciples who have gained faith, and happy is the wise man when he meets such a believer - Udanavarga 10;11
Do to others as you would have them do to you - Luke 6:31
Consider others as yourself - Dhammapada 10.1
If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also - Luke 6:29
If anyone should give you a blow with his hand, with a stick, or with a knife, you should abandon any desires [to hurt him] and utter no evil words - Majjhima Nikaya 21.6
Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me - Matthew 25:45
If you do not tend one another, then who is there to tend you? Whoever would tend me, he should tend the sick - Vinaya, Mahavagga 8.26.3
The following is an excerpt from
Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings by Marcus J. Borg
"The way of the Buddha entails a reorientation of one's life from 'grasping' (the cause of suffering) to 'letting go' of grasping (the path of liberation from suffering). The Buddha invited his followers to see that life is not about grasping but about letting go, and then to embark on the path of letting go.
Though Jesus did not generate a systematic set of 'noble truths' as the Buddha did, the images running through his teaching point to the same path. Those who empty themselves will be exalted, and those who exalt themselves will be emptied; those who make themselves last will be first, and the first last. To become as a child is to relinquish one's worldly importance. The path of discipleship involves 'taking up one's cross,' understood as a symbol for the internal process of dying to an old way of being and entering a new way of being.
Buddhist 'letting go' and Christian 'dying' are similar processes. Dying is the ultimate letting go — of the world and of one's self. The world as the center of one's identity and security and the self as the center of one's preoccupation pass away. This 'letting go' is liberation from an old way of being and resurrection into a new way of being. There is thus a Buddhist 'born again' experience as well as a Christian 'liberation through enlightenment' experience."
Open your eyes and the whole world is full of God. -- Jakob Böhme
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