Download Sermon Buddhism and the Bible

Sermon Buddhism and the Bible
Last week, on Wednesday, observant Buddhists all over the world celebrated Rohatsu,
or Bodhi Day. On the eighth day of the twelfth month, Siddharta Gautama is said to
have reached the state of Enlightenment. From then on, Siddharta was called
“Buddha” - which means “The Enlightened One,” or “The Awakened One.” So “Buddha”
is not really a name, but rather a descriptive title. And -- so is the word “Messiah” –
which is commonly associated with Jesus Christ - which means “The Anointed One.”
I decided to use the occasion of this Buddhist holiday to “philosophize” a little bit about
commonalities and differences between Buddhist and Judeo-Christian beliefs. My initial
plan had been to exclusively talk about Buddhism, to explain the Four Noble Truths, the
Noble Eightfold Path, and then go on to tell you about my take on terms like
impermanence, mindfulness, detachment, and so on.
However, as I was mulling over how to discuss the second noble truth, I started seeing
parallels to the teachings I grew up with in the Catholic Church. This fascinated me
because it came as a surprise; so I give you today a two-religion sermon . . .
Let me start with the major teachings of the Buddha: the Four Noble Truths, and the
Noble Eightfold Path, in an interpretation by His Holiness the Dalai Lama:
The First Noble Truth states: Life as we know it ultimately is - or leads to - suffering
(dukkha) in one way or another. The Second Noble Truth states: Suffering is caused by
cravings or attachments to worldly pleasures of all kinds. The Third Noble Truth says:
Suffering ends when craving ends, when one is freed from desire. And the Fourth
Noble Truth wraps it up with stating: Reaching this liberated state is achieved by
following the Noble Eightfold Path.
This Noble Eightfold Path is a very practical way for structuring your life. It outlines eight
ways to be free from suffering and discontent. It is represented in the Buddhist symbol,
the Dharma Wheel, as the eight hubs. They are, in a very simplified way: Right view,
right understanding, right speech, right action, right vocation, right effort, right
awareness, and right contemplation.
We’ll eventually get back to these eight . . . I would almost call them . . . . “principles and
purposes.” But first I want to go into more detail about the four noble truths:
The First Noble Truth says: Life is suffering – or: There is suffering in life. Don’t we all
know that?! From the moment we are born, when we are pushed into the cold and
glaringly bright world outside the womb, we suffer various degrees of discomfort,
confusion, and pain. We are hungry but can’t feed ourselves; when we are older, we are
hungry but there might be no food; or we are on a diet and mustn’t eat . . . ☺ From
diaper rash through the scrapes and bruises of childhood, to the broken bones and
cancerous growths of adulthood; to the aches of old age, there are countless pains we
suffer. And that’s only the physical part!
In addition to our physical pains, there is the anxiety of separation, the disappointments
of expectations, grief, anger, love-sickness, animosity, discrimination - so much
emotional pain we have to go through. Yes, the Buddha was right, life is suffering!
The Second Noble Truth states: Suffering is caused by unhealthy desires, by cravings,
or attachments to worldly pleasures of all kinds. This is often expressed as a deluded
clinging to a certain sense of existence, to selfhood, or to the things or people that we
consider the cause of happiness or unhappiness.
In thinking about how I could explain how I understand the concept of unhealthy
cravings, I was reminded of my Christian upbringing, and of the concept of vices. Those
vices have one thing in common – they are unhealthy desires. Just look at the list and
see if you don’t agree:
There’s Pride: the excessive desire, or craving, for acknowledgement of one’s
superiority. Envy: the excessive craving for what someone else owns. Wrath: caused by
the craving to control everything, to be always right. Avarice: the craving to own more
and more. Sloth: the unhealthy desire to be idle all the time. Gluttony: the craving to eat
and drink more than the body needs, and finally: Lust: the excessive craving for sexual
satisfaction.
See what I mean?
The concept of Virtues and Vices is quite old, and already existed independently of the
Christian Church among the Greek philosophers. Of course, vices fit into the early
Christian Church’s evolving view towards sin. While all sin--that is, transgressions
against divine and natural law--was seen as negative, some sins, because of their
severity, soon came to be seen as serious infractions. These became the "deadly" sins
(sometimes called "capital" or chief sins), and as the idea of penance evolved, it was
these sins which had to be confessed, absolved by a priest, and penance performed if
one hoped for salvation.
And here I see an important difference between the teachings of orthodox Christianity
and the philosophy of the Buddha: In Buddhism, there is no concept of forgiveness of
sins through a clergy person, or by a deity.
You are accountable for all the damage you do if you give in to unhealthy cravings, or if
you are too attached to worldly pleasures of all kinds. No confession to another person,
no doing of penance will alleviate your guilt. “Salvation” from guilt can only by achieved
by acknowledging the impact of your behavior, by compassion with those you have hurt,
and by responsibly repairing the damage whenever possible. And of course you have to
make a commitment to change the behavior that causes the suffering in the first place!
The Buddha tells us how in the Third Noble Truth: Only if you overcome your cravings,
desires or attachments will your suffering diminish. If you manage that feat, you will
suffer less, and you will be able to be in good relationship with your soul, and with the
people around you. It is a constant effort! Actually, the last words of the dying Buddha
supposedly were: “work on your own salvation with diligence!”
Accountability to oneself is much harder than going to confession and being forgiven
by a priest or pastor, and I can understand and I accept that it is easier for many people
to have such a mediator, a spokesperson who can soothe your worries. If your theology
includes a wrathful and punishing God, every help you can get is appreciated . . .
Asking Jesus or Mary or a Saint to intercede on your behalf can give you peace of mind
and make it easier for you to get on with life.
However, there is another difference around the concept of sin between Buddhism and
Christianity: According to Christian doctrine, you are born with the burden of the Original
Sin, the sin of Adam and Eve. This idea is completely foreign to a Buddhist. You start
life with a clean slate, your original nature is pure.
When we discussed this particular difference in my Buddhism Interest Group some
years ago, one member challenged it: “What about Karma -- doesn’t that mean that the
state you are born in depends on how you behaved in a former incarnation? Wouldn’t
that mean that you are born with the weight of sins from a former life? That sounds very
much like the Christian concept to me!” Our “guru” – the group leader – explained that
indeed, in most Buddhist traditions, the type of rebirth that arises at the end of one life
is conditioned by the karmas. Karmas include actions of body, speech and mind of
your previous lives; good karmas will yield a happier rebirth, bad karmas will produce
one which is less happy. However, it is always the individual – you yourself – who is
responsible for the “bad karma” and the resulting rebirth as a cockroach, or a camel;
whereas the Bible puts all the blame on Adam and Eve who lived - according to the
Hebrew Scriptures - more than 4000 years ago.
By the way, if you take a closer look at Genesis 3:12, you can see that Adam is
“passing the buck” to God: when God asked him what had happened, he answered,
"The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
And then, of course, the woman blames the snake . . .
But back to the Buddha: I just quoted his dying words – “work on your salvation with
diligence!” The big question is: How? Well, the answer is - of course - in the Fourth
Noble Truth: you can overcome your cravings and unhealthy attachments by following
the Noble Eightfold Path – which is, as I said earlier, a practical way for structuring your
life.
Right View, the first one, encourages you to view reality as it is, not as it appears to be.
It can also be understood as "right perspective", "right vision" or "right understanding". It
is the right way of looking at life, nature and the world as they really are. It is to
understand how reality works.
Right view begins with concepts and propositional knowledge;
but through the
practice of right concentration it gradually becomes transmuted into wisdom.
Understanding of right view will inspire the person to lead a virtuous life in line with
right view. Right view reminds me a lot of our seventh principle – about the
interdependent web of all existence.
You only recognize how interdependent
everything is when you look at reality from an unfettered perspective.
Right Intention, the second one, can also be translated as "right thought", "right
resolve", "right conception" , "right aspiration" or "the exertion of our own will to change".
It means that you should constantly aspire to rid yourself of whatever qualities you know
to be wrong and immoral. Correct understanding of right view will help you to discern
the differences between right intention and wrong intention. Buddhist monks understand
right intention to mean the renunciation of the worldly things and an accordant greater
commitment to the spiritual path; good will; and a commitment to non-violence, or
harmlessness, towards other living beings.
Number three is Right Speech. It deals with the way in which a Buddhist would best
make use of his or her language. In other words, to abstain from lying, from divisive
speech, from abusive speech, and from idle chatter. I guess the commandments “Thou
shalt not lie,” and – to a degree – “Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain” would be
the Judeo-Christian equivalent to this hub on the darma wheel.
Next is Right Action: This can also be translated as "right conduct". It means you
should train yourself to be morally upright in your activities, not acting in ways that
would be corrupt, or bring harm to yourself or to others. I understand this to be the
Buddhist version of the Golden Rule.
The fifth hub of the Dharma wheel is Right Vocation. This means that Buddhists try to
not engage in trades or occupations which, either directly or indirectly, result in harm for
other living beings. Let me give you a few examples: - trading in all kinds of weapons
and instruments for killing, -slave trading, prostitution, or the buying and selling of
children or adults; - and any business that deals with meat. This includes breeding
animals for slaughter. Other examples include the manufacturing or selling of
intoxicating drinks or addictive drugs, and producing or trading in any kind of toxic
product designed to kill. Part of this compares to the Biblical commandment “Thou shalt
not kill.” I just wish people would obey this commandment more; and I wish there were
an addition to the commandment that covered the other abusive trades. Although I do
like my pork chops and the occasional beer . . . ☺
Number six on the Noble Eightfold Path is Right Effort. This can also be translated as
"right endeavor". It means that you should make a persisting effort to abandon all the
wrong and harmful thoughts, words, and deeds. You should instead be persisting in
giving rise to what would be good and useful to yourself and others --- in your thoughts,
words, and deeds, and without a thought for the difficulty or weariness involved. This
last part reminds me strongly of the writings of the Apostle Paul in one of his letters,
where he encourages his readers and listeners to do good even if it is hard. He says it
is easy to do good to the people you like; it is much harder to be compassionate and
helpful when you can’t stand the person. Another example from the Bible would be
Jonah, the guy with the whale. He tried to run away from God because he didn’t want to
save a people who he saw as his enemies.
The seventh hub of the eightfold path is Right Mindfulness, also translated as "right
memory", "right awareness" or "right attention". Buddhists always try to keep their minds
alert to phenomena that affect the body and mind. They try to be mindful and deliberate,
making sure not to act or speak due to inattention or forgetfulness.
Finally, there is Right Contemplation, or meditation as we commonly call it. It is the
practice of concentration. You focus on an object of attention until you reach full
concentration and a state of meditative absorption. Traditionally, this practice can be
developed through mindfulness of breathing, through visual objects like candles or
pictures, or through repetition of words or phrases like a mantra. In some Christian
traditions there are prayers that are very repetitive, like the rosary; and there is
chanting; the repetitive singing of the same simple lyrics. Another spiritual practice that
is very similar to “right contemplation” is the Lectio Divina, were you read a short
passage from the scripture and then in silence let it resonate with you.
I could have written a whole sermon on each one of the Noble Truths, and on each part
of the Noble Eightfold Path. This was just a very brief introduction. Allow me to close
with a short reading by Scott Shaw that explains best what fascinates me so much
about the philosophy of Buddhism. I found it in his book “Nirvana in a Nutshell.” He
writes:
“The door to liberation is wide open. You cannot see that it is wide open because you
think you know how you are supposed to feel and act when you come upon it. Why?
Because those who possess the title of “Enlightened” have lied to you.
Does an enlightened person claim they are enlightened?
If they do, they are not.
Since they are not, how can you tell what enlightenment is?
Zen is.
You are.
Stop believing.
Start experiencing.”