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Book Review
Aug. 23rd, 2009 12:15 pmSo, I finished reading Buddha & Jesus: Conversations, by Carrin Dunne (#62). It has six metaphysical imagined dialogues between Jesus of Nazareth and Gotama The Buddha. This was an excellent book to read and to conceptualize, and the writings focused on two religions on the same spiritual journey. Here’s what was gleaned from that book, paraphrased:
To surrender both mind and heart, to be totally absorbed in what ever the experience is that the universe gives you, is to achieve the connections of the Universe. However, you cannot stay there - there is a natural rhythm when the Self returns. Although we don’t want to let the connection go, to lay it down willingly is to return to it, transformed. A key to finding the rhythm is silence, because that allows the voice of the spirit, determined by that voice that “enlarged the mind, frees the heart, brings together what was scattered and lost, holds fast in unwavering fidelity, instills peace, renews confidence, comforts and endures.”
Expectations lead to bitterness, but hope cannot. Avoid judgments and anger. Desire, often unrealistic, needs to be let go to find peace. Desire can prevent the enjoyment of the present moment, despite passion, and can prevent hope. Desire is directed at a time other than the present, either anxiety of the past or a judgment of what the future will be. The concept of ‘sin’ with the consequence of ’eternal damnation’ is based in desire, and therefore can create the antithesis of hope and be a barrier to the connection of the universe. This is the main difference between the teachings of Buddha and Jesus.
Jesus believed confession of sin led to forgiveness, a release of unbinding love and a liberation from sin and desire, from another person. Buddha believed that one could find release by oneself. The similarity is that the mechanism of release from desire is unfailing, as is the opportunity to find enlightenment is unfailing. Do not take the Self or the mechanism for so seriously; being is more effective than doing when seeking the connection of the universe. Self is an illusion (a negation), according to Buddha. Jesus believed Self is used as a link to bind to others (an affirmation).
One must, according to Buddha, look into the faces of the universe as they present themselves, and face their fears until there is the realization that those fears are created from within by the Self, and gains freedom to connect to the universe without the Self as a barrier. By disarming and dispelling fear by offering in advance what fear would take away, one achieves the most effective connection while relinquishing attachment to the connection. Jesus believed that one must embrace those faces of the universe, not dispelling them.
To surrender both mind and heart, to be totally absorbed in what ever the experience is that the universe gives you, is to achieve the connections of the Universe. However, you cannot stay there - there is a natural rhythm when the Self returns. Although we don’t want to let the connection go, to lay it down willingly is to return to it, transformed. A key to finding the rhythm is silence, because that allows the voice of the spirit, determined by that voice that “enlarged the mind, frees the heart, brings together what was scattered and lost, holds fast in unwavering fidelity, instills peace, renews confidence, comforts and endures.”
Expectations lead to bitterness, but hope cannot. Avoid judgments and anger. Desire, often unrealistic, needs to be let go to find peace. Desire can prevent the enjoyment of the present moment, despite passion, and can prevent hope. Desire is directed at a time other than the present, either anxiety of the past or a judgment of what the future will be. The concept of ‘sin’ with the consequence of ’eternal damnation’ is based in desire, and therefore can create the antithesis of hope and be a barrier to the connection of the universe. This is the main difference between the teachings of Buddha and Jesus.
Jesus believed confession of sin led to forgiveness, a release of unbinding love and a liberation from sin and desire, from another person. Buddha believed that one could find release by oneself. The similarity is that the mechanism of release from desire is unfailing, as is the opportunity to find enlightenment is unfailing. Do not take the Self or the mechanism for so seriously; being is more effective than doing when seeking the connection of the universe. Self is an illusion (a negation), according to Buddha. Jesus believed Self is used as a link to bind to others (an affirmation).
One must, according to Buddha, look into the faces of the universe as they present themselves, and face their fears until there is the realization that those fears are created from within by the Self, and gains freedom to connect to the universe without the Self as a barrier. By disarming and dispelling fear by offering in advance what fear would take away, one achieves the most effective connection while relinquishing attachment to the connection. Jesus believed that one must embrace those faces of the universe, not dispelling them.
