Posted on 01/21/2022 10:24:13 PM PST by nickcarraway
Thich Nhat Hanh, the revered Zen Buddhist monk who helped pioneer the concept of mindfulness in the West and socially engaged Buddhism in the East, has died. He was 95.
The death was confirmed by a monk at Tu Hieu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam who said that Nhat Hanh, known as Thay to his followers, died at midnight on Saturday. The monk declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to media.
A post on Nhat Hanh’s verified Twitter page attributed to The International Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism also confirmed the news, saying, “We invite our beloved global spiritual family to take a few moments to be still, to come back to our mindful breathing, as we together hold Thay in our hearts.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
He wrote some of the best books on religious thought I have read. I did a oral philosophy final with a book of his. Living Buddha, living Christ. Awesome book.
Zen Buddhist monks lead fictional lives. Zen: making a big deal out of simple intuition. Buddhism: rejecting logic, ethics and existence. The atman inside you will go to heaven without you. What a waste of life. In other news, our rights are given to us by the Creator.
I like the monks with long white goatees, who can do Kung Fu and jump on tree branches when they are like 100.
Yeh, the five point palm exploding heart technique...
His YouTube clips were pretty awesome, too!
Didn't care for the frequent commercial interruptions where he would market his hot-air bbq, though.
Regards,
“Jesus saith unto him, I AN the way, the truth, and the life: NO MAN cometh unto the Father, BUT BY ME” (John 14:6).
This monk certainly knows the impact of Jesus’ words now, but it is too late. The only thing he prays now is: “I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment” (Luke 16:27-28).
“Even when I thought, with most other well-informed, though unscholarly, people, that Buddhism and Christianity were alike, there was one thing about them that always perplexed me; I mean the startling difference in their type of religious art. I do not mean in its technical style of representation, but in the things that it was manifestly meant to represent. No two ideals could be more opposite than a Christian saint in a Gothic cathedral and a Buddhist saint in a Chinese temple. The opposition exists at every point; but perhaps the shortest statement of it is that the Buddhist saint always has his eyes shut, while the Christian saint always has them very wide open. The Buddhist saint has a sleek and harmonious body, but his eyes are heavy and sealed with sleep. The mediaeval saint’s body is wasted to its crazy bones, but his eyes are frightfully alive. There cannot be any real community of spirit between forces that produced symbols so different as that. Granted that both images are extravagances, are perversions of the pure creed, it must be a real divergence which could produce such opposite extravagances. The Buddhist is looking with a peculiar intentness inwards. The Christian is staring with a frantic intentness outwards.” - G. K. Chesterton, “Orthodoxy”
“The Buddhist is looking with a peculiar intentness inwards. The Christian is staring with a frantic intentness outwards.”
I find both examples to be unappealing. I don’t think God intends for us to be too inwardly focused or to be wasting away in some sort of frantic state.
I am sure that is not the point Chesterton was making but that is my reaction to his comparison.
He was an amazing man.
I met with him last year at his temple in Hue, Vietnam. While he had not spoken in several years due to a stroke, his soul spoke volumes.
We first met in the early 1990’s when I attended a week long workshop he did.
He has written several excellent books on the parallels between Buddhism and Christianity, one being “Living Buddha, Living Christ.”
Jesus’s words are correct, but you don’t understand them.
People think of following Jesus or Buddha as following a person down a path to a destination. It doesn’t work that way.
Spiritual growth expands your soul. When Jesus went through His Dark Night of the Soul experience in the wilderness, He stated, “My Father and I are One.” When Buddha achieved the same state,he said, “I am One with Everything. “
Read John 14. Jesus speaks of God being in Him and He in God. The further down the same scripture, He says, “ If I am in you (this is communion) then my Father that is in me is also in you.”
Use the model of Russian Nesting Dolls where God is the big outer doll and we are the little doll in the middle. You can not become “One” with the big outer doll without going through all the other dolls between you and God.
Jesus is my Savior and I experience Him daily. That being said, my Father’s mansion has many rooms. I will not ever debate which teacher is at which level as we exist in all of them.
If you hold this concept. It changes the understanding of the New Testament teachings to a personal application and experience.
The New Testament is very accurate. Problem is. Most say “Jesus is my Savior” and treat Jesus like a lifeguard that rescues you when you are drowning (dying). Jesus was a rabbi, a teacher. He was/is teaching us how to grow spiritually.
Problem is, people don’t follow His teachings and grow spiritually. In John 14 Jesus also says, “The things that I do and even more, you too shall do in my name.” The problem is that people don’t follow His teachings and learn the “Way” to become One with Him and Our Father.
Incidentally, the “being raised up” which many think of as the rapture is also this same expansion of the soul as it is raised to a higher operating frequency allowing perception directly with consciousness beyond the physical body.
Chesterton’s point probably is that Buddhists cannot know the Holy Trinity, which dwells inside us and everywhere, but is still separate from our perceiving selves.
A man who put such thought and energy into religion, yet still rejected Christianity, has a soul in grave danger.
Most people belong to the “Flat Consciousness Society” and only get one channel. There are many.
Our perception of reality is a function of the frequency of consciousness from which we view it.
There was a Hindu Yogi by the name of Ramakrishna who lived in the early 1800’s. He reached enlightenment following the traditional Hindu spiritual practices.
He then became a Muslim and again reached enlightenment using their spiritual practices.
He then became a Christian, was baptized and took communion and again reached enlightenment.
He stated that all religions are pathways the lay the foundation for a greater spiritual growth or awakening.
He carried two books with him everywhere that he traveled. One was the 14th century book “An Imitation of Christ.” I highly recommend this book, along with the Bible to guide people on their own individual path.
It’s probably best for Christians to speak carefully about other religions.
Buddhism teaches “anatmam,” no-self.
In Zen we meditate with fhe eyes open.
If you look carefully at the Falon Gong religion in China. You will see that it also parallels Jesus’s teachings to cultivate the soul to grow by bringing in the Holy Spirit.
It grew from 1992 when it began to 70 million people in just a few years. The foundation is cleansing the soul by following 3 principles. 1. Trustworthiness & Honesty 2. Compassion and 3. Tolerance & Forbearance.
Thus the Chinese Communist Party declared war on it as the people were abandoning the CCP after finding the conflict between the two ideologies.
Just watch, you will see a revolution within China in a few years as the people grow as a result of the increased presence of the Holy Spirit on earth.
Freedom is a prerequisite for the soul to grow.
This is why the Falun Gong movement started and runs the conservative newspaper “Epoch Times”, fund and work with Steve Bannon, and support Trump.
We are all on the same team, no matter what we call our religion. The Holy Spirit is getting stronger on earth, the weeds fear being burned up by the Fire of the Holy Spirit (Thus the actual fear of global warming) and the tribulation experiences are unfolding.
We are living in wonderful, but troubling times. We Christians all know the outcome.
The problem with eyes open is that the majority of stimulus in the brain at all times is through the optic nerve. Thus eyes open causes an attachment to the current channel and makes it very difficult to shift consciousness to higher levels.
Closing the eyes facilitates the shift. Then open your eyes and lock onto the new higher level. It actually facilitates the born again experience at the new level of reality.
Thich Nhat Hanh or Thay as most call him, was both a Buddhist and Christian.
A Methodist minister was with me when I spent a week with Thay in the early 1990’s.
At the end of the week, the minister stated. “After all my years at the pulpit teaching Christianity, I can honestly say that I never really understood Christianity until now when I look at it from a Buddhist perspective. “
Profound statement with much truth.
“Buddhism teaches “anatmam,” no-self.”
It’s “anatman”
This is the same concept as the Christian concept of “Dying Daily.” Both result in a Dark Night of the Soul experience where one loses self, getting rid of the old self to make room for the new born again self.
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