I wanted to share a very important ackowldgement with you that unfolded today over at a Buddhism forum that I collaborate at. Sara wrote a short paragraph that clearly described the challenges faced in Buddism. And it would spark the idea that we should look through the same looking glass eye at western theology. Sara asks the question, "Why hasn't Buddhism produced Buddhas?". So I might ask, "Why hasn't Christianity produced Christs?". And the results are the same. Have a read of sara's post and my reply. And please DO comment. We need to begin discussing such challenges today, so that they may lead us to a more unified state of mutual understanding. True Fellowship amongst seekers in the spirit.
Why Doesn’t Buddhism Produce Buddhas?
The problem arises from the fact that Buddhists, like everyone else, insist on reconciling the irreconcilable. They don’t just want to awaken to the true, they also want to make sense of the untrue. They want to have their cake and eat it too, so they end up with nonsensical theories, divergent schools, sagacious doubletalk, and zero Buddhas. Typical of their insistence on reconciling the irreconcilable is the Buddhist concept of Two Truths, a poignant two-word joke they don’t seem to get, and yet this sort of perversely irrational thinking is near the very heart of the failed search for truth. We don’t want truth, we want a particular truth; one that doesn’t threaten ego; one that doesn’t exist. We insist on a truth that makes sense given what we know, not knowing that we know nothing. Nothing about Buddhism is more revealing than the Four Noble Truths which, not being true, are of dubious nobility. They form the basis of Buddhism, so it’s clear from the outset that the Buddhists have whipped up a proprietary version of truth shaped more by market forces than any particular concern for the less consumer-friendly, albeit true, truth. Buddhism may be spiritually filling, even nourishing, but insofar as truth is concerned, it’s just the same old junkfood in a different package. You can eat it every day of your life and die exactly as awakened as the day you signed up.
MY REPLY:
Wow Sara thank you! You described the challenge so well and so clearly, thank you thank you thank you.
The same identical thing appears to have happened on the western side of it all. It seems Constantine and his council carefully placed the bible together so that it would become a marketing mecca in finance. They essentially invited the money into the temple; the offering plate. And not just did it make the Vatican by far and large the wealthiest nation in the world, but it surely dragged the best part of the message into the dark abyss.
Its all about maintaining this standard, this endless standard of constant duality. When really, things dont have to be this way.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I absolutely love how you articulated the challenge in your words.
Love, Light and Power,
s
