Glocal Christianity

Christmas Buddha

I just thought I'd share this photo from a Christmas party with my folks and rellos last weekend. They were a bit short on mangers and raindeers obviously. I'm not sure who co-opted the enlightened one but in any case he seemed oblivious to the proceedings. I'm thinking it needs an engrish caption.

Jesus and Buddha on Happiness

I stumbled across an interesting comparison of Jesus and Buddha at the Desiring God blog.

In commenting on Mark 10:21, where Jesus says "go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me", Jon Bloom wrote: "Note that Jesus did instruct the man to become detached from his possessions, but he did not mean a Buddhist detachment. The Buddha taught that nothing lasts, so be attached to nothing. Jesus taught that One Thing lasts, so at all cost, be attached to that!"

This mirrors my own experience, having walked both paths. The teaching of Buddha and Jesus were very similar in some ways, very different in other ways.

Image:from the Japanese manga "Saint Young Men"

 

25 Buddhist Blogs

If you're game to leave the confines of the Christian blogosphere, here are some Buddhist blogs that you may want to check out.

A Theravadin Buddhist's Blog, American Buddhist Perspective, Angry Asian Buddhist, Buddhabook, Buddha Blog, Buddha Space, Buddhist Geeks, Buddhist Now, Dharma Folk, Dhamma Musings, Go Beyond Words, Green Papaya Sangha, Patheos Buddhist Portal, Progressive Buddhism, Run With Mu, Supa Naga Online, Shambhala SunSpace, The buddha is my dj, The Buddhist Blog, The Existential Buddhist, ThinkBuddha, Tricycle Blog, Wandering Dhamma, Wayne's Dhamma Blog, Zen Dirt Zen Dust

The Buddhist

Ahimsa, Christian style

It surprises me sometimes, that people are quite happy to listen to Buddhists speak of ahimsa, but get quite agitated when Christians speak of nonviolence.

I’m not sure what it is, whether it’s the exotic unfamiliarity of Buddhism in contrast to the assumed familiarity of Christianity, or the fact that Buddhists are less numerous and politically significant in the West, or something else entirely. But when the Dalai Lama speaks of ahimsa, people lap it up. But when a Christian speaks of nonviolence, people call it irresponsible.

This gets me to wondering, maybe we need to de-familiarize the New Testament, to help people see it with fresh eyes? To help people approach it with a beginner’s mind? What if we were to translate the New Testament a different way?

Ahimsa in the New Testament 

Blessed are the ahimsa practitioners, for they will be called sons of God. (Matthew 5:9)

Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, practice ahimsa. And the God of love and ahimsa will be with you. (2 Corinthians 13:11)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, ahimsa, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (Galatians 5:22)

He came and preached ahimsa to you who were far away and ahimsa to those who were near. (Ephesians 2:17)

Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Practice ahimsa with each other. (1 Thessalonians 5:13)

Make every effort to practice ahimsa with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then ahimsa-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. (James 3:17)

What happens for you when you encounter the words of the ancient messengers this way? Do you object to the translation? Do the implications disturb you? Does it encourage? Or give you a fresh perspective? On Buddhism or Christianity?

Related articles on ahimsa

So much for ahimsa

So much for ahimsa

Compass Direct News is reporting that Christian families have been driven from their village in Bangladesh by Buddhist extremists presurring them to give up their faith in Christ.

"On Saturday, the Buddhist extremists captured four men and beat one woman who had gathered in a home, threatening to kill them if they did not become Buddhists within 24 hours."

I have an intrinsic distaste for forced conversion whatever the circumstances.

How (not) to Christianize Zen

Not so long ago I wrote some articles on Christian yoga. Firstly, in How (not) to Christianize Yoga, I outlined a basic methodology. Secondly, in Yoga Body Yoga Spirit, I outlined some specific challenges, namely, how we understand Spirit (pneumatology) and how we understand union with God (soteriology).

So, having stirred the pot on Yoga and Hinduism, I now what to turn my attention to Zen and Buddhism. To what extent can we Christianize Zen? Again, there are good ways to Christianize a non-Christian practice ... and there are not so good ways. Again we can find a multitude of less than inspiring examples. But before we begin, I have a confession to make, I am actually a former Zen Christian … of the distinctly syncretistic, mix-n-match kind. So when I say there are some "not so good ways", I cite my own inital practice as a prime example.

You see, when I converted to Christianity out of the New Age Movement some 16 or so years ago now, there was not much guidance available in those days. So I had to figure things out for myself, and I made many mistakes getting to that point. It took me some time to realize that any Zen, any dhyāna, any meditation, that can be authentically called Christian, will be grounded in Christ and Christ alone, before anything and everything.

Following this, in exploring Zen as Christians there is a sense in which we need to develop our own Christian Buddhology. In the same way Buddhists see the need to articulate a Buddhist understanding of Christ, Christians need to articulate a Christian understanding of Buddha. And here is the crux of it: if we seek to practice meditation in an authentically Christian way, the Buddha can never be granted the same authority as Christ. His perspectives may prove useful, but we cannot never hail him co-master, so long as we wish to remain Christ-centered that is.

That's enough for now, I'll return to this topic soon.

Jesus and Buddha go Manga

I must confess, I have no idea what this picture of Jesus and Buddha is supposed to be saying. See if you can work it out. Sourced from Curry puff, lah!

Top 10 Buddhists to follow on Twitter

Buddhism in the Twitterverse. William Harryman writes on what he reckons are the Top 10 Buddhist Twitter geeks you should follow.

Jesus and Buddha talk Philosophy

I came across this photo as an introduction to a podcast on Universal Mindfulness:

"This is a Buddhist Philosophy Channel, where discussions on spirituality and Christianity will be held on the pursuit of enlightenment as we walk the path of the Dharma and follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ."

So the steps of Jesus and Buddha were the same? No distinction? Does crucifixion strike you as a comfortable meditation position?