Where else would you find Sufi musicians singing Buddhist chants in a Progressive Christian church?

It’s part of the explosion of interfaith connections at C3 that I hope will contribute to the transformation of the planet.  Are you with me? Are you open to being part of planetary transformation? Do you have a divine dissatisfaction with religious division? Consider this current world religions series an opportunity to find the universal threads of the religions but also a time to find kindred spirits across the progressive branches of each religion.

Before turning to Buddhism and Christianity, let me point out an interesting connection between Islam and Buddhism. After being neighbors in various parts of Asia for centuries, its not surprising that Sufism contains elements of both.

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Consider this ancient story:

Six blind men were asked to determine what an elephant looked like by feeling different parts of the elephant's body.

The one who felt the leg said the elephant is like a pillar; the one who felt the tail said the elephant is like a rope; the one who felt the trunk said the elephant is like a tree branch; the one who felt the ear said the elephant is like a large piece of cloth; the one who felt the belly said the elephant is like a wall; and the one who felt the tusk says the elephant is like a solid pipe.

In the Buddhist tradition, the story was used to point to the futility of theological argument. Everyone is coming from his or her own perspective and cannot claim absolute truth.

The same story found its way into the Sufi tradition in the 11th century and the point was made that Islam contains only partial truth, like all the religions.

Divine Dissatisfaction with Religious Division

The partial truth of religion is the elephant in the room of the planet today. It’s obvious, but so many people are holding on to their tradition for dear life, that they won’t admit to it. May we be a community that is prepared to address the elephant.

Most of you are here at C3 because you refuse to claim absolute truth over and against other religions. You are here to honestly engage with religious story and scientific truth, sharpen your vision for the world and share in a community of passionate activists.

People are flocking out of churches around the world because this is so lacking. Bishop Spong calls this group “the church alumni” because outside the church they continue to explore the same passion and meaning without the dogmatism.

The church alumni are our kindred spirits. If C3 were not here, many of you would be church alumni. Guess what? There is a mosque alumni, a temple alumni, a synagogue alumni and a shrine alumni. These people are also our kindred spirits. We share a blessed unrest at the state of the world and want to see the combined efforts of our universal values making a difference for peace and justice.

How exciting! Are you excited by this possibility of interfaith collaboration?

Buddhism on the Move

Buddhism in America may have one of the largest populations of temple alumni of all the religions. Estimates suggest that there are over 4 million Buddhists in America, and about a quarter are converts, while three quarters are immigrants to this country. A huge number of Americans would describe themselves as following some sort of Buddhist philosophy, even without practicing traditional Buddhist rituals. That sounds a lot like Progressive Christianity.

Buddhism has always been an adaptable religion. It traveled first from India to China and then to Japan and Korea. With each move, the religion adapted to the culture of the place. Buddhism has arrived in America in several transitions; most notably post WW2 with Japanese war brides, British theologians such as Alan Watts and the 1960s counter culture/ Psychedelic movement. I suspect that some of you were part of this movement, but don’t remember much about it.

Now there is a new trend. Within the next decade, India and China will sit alongside the US as the three largest world economies. Trade between the three countries totals staggering amounts of money. India’s software industry and China’s hardware business, as well as the US’s increasing trend to outsourcing employment and research to those places all adds up to one giant global relationship shift.

It is imperative for Americans to understand Buddhism in order to be good partners in these new relationships, alongside the many other great reasons for understanding other religions.

So you get the point. This is important. The stakes are high. The opportunities are limitless.

What does Progressive Buddhism look like? Again, there are some patterns.

1. Attitude to science
2. Attitude to personal growth
3. Attitude to time

Science

The Dalai Lama has been an active supporter of science and, in particular, scientific endeavor that explores the connection between states of mind, meditation and happiness.

More specifically-

a. Rational- Buddha said-
 
“Believe nothing because you have been told it or because it is traditional, or because you yourselves have imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.”

In other words, test everything against common sense and experience.

b. Evolution- Some would claim that Buddhism believed in evolution well before Darwin arrived on the scene. Buddhism has never taught a belief in a creator God so that is a good starting point for the intersection of science and Buddhism.

The connection to evolution is the Buddhist notion of causality or what Thich Nhat Hahn calls “interbeing”. Every thought, word and action is related to all other thoughts, words and actions, past and future. I will return to this theme. Everything in the universe works itself out, in a process of expansion and contraction, over long periods of time.

c. The mind-

"You are what you think. All that you are arises with your thought. With your thoughts, you make your world." ~The Buddha

This statement resonates with any number of current neuron-scientists who are highlighting the centrality of the brain as the engine room of all experience.

Buddhism describes the monkey mind. According to Buddhism, you suffer because of your habitual thinking that expects life to be other than suffering. This leads into the next major theme of progressive Buddhism.

Self Growth

Buddhism has been mistakenly seen as the template for self-growth because of this view of the mind. Actually it is a template for “no-self” growth. Or to put that more accurately- no fixed self.

Buddhism says that so much of your suffering comes as a result of your expectation that you know who you are, and you desperately seek to protect this self. Think about it how often you use the word “I” in a day!

I am a Christian or I am a Buddhist. I am a child or I am a parent. I am a republican or I am a democrat. I am an introvert or I am an extrovert. I am a man or I am a woman, and so on.

None of these identities fully capture your essence. They are changing identities. When times are tough, you look around for your familiar self that you assume is fixed and unchanging. You see an oasis but on closer inspection realize that it is a mirage. Your crisis is now double. You are going through a tough time, and the comfort you were hoping for is not there.

If you want to call yourself a Christian, and by that you mean that you resonate with the Christian story and imagery that you were brought up with, then that's great. If the Christian story empowers you to seek the welfare of all beings, then that's great.  However if you call yourself a Christian, and by that mean that you have some eternal truth that vast numbers of the population don’t have, then think again. This will lead to suffering for yourself and others.

Buddhism says; drop your attachment to the fixed sense of self. Enjoy the adventure of an evolving self, able to manifest in all manner of ways appropriate to the context.

Infinite Life

Most of the progressive branches of religions have no definite sense of an afterlife. It’s interesting to me that fewer progressive Buddhists are taking a dogmatic stance on reincarnation. When asked the question as to how life began, Buddha responded that he didn’t know and that it wasn’t even a fruitful question. I would imagine the same is true of the afterlife.

So, what is the Buddhist sense of time, if it doesn’t relate to the afterlife?

The philosopher Nietzsche was greatly influenced by Buddhism and spoke about “eternal recurrence”. Your life is like Groundhog Day. As long as you keep applying the same habitual thinking to situations then they will keep repeating until you are liberated from this way of thinking. What’s more, as long as you operate out of scarcity and a limited frame of reference then that is what will show up for you and for others around you.

The positive side of eternal recurrence is that when you have moments of full engagement in the present, no judgments from the past or hope for the future, and you radiate the bliss of non attachment you can allow the infinite play of interbeing to carry on within and around you and not be shattered by the circumstances of life. Let this bliss be repeated from moment to infinite moment.

To live infinitely is to enter into each moment with a thought and an action that you would be pleased and excited to repeat again and again.

This simple Buddhist story captures the infinite attitude of bliss:

It was a time of much warfare in Japan. The monastery was ransacked. A general came in and he saw the Zen monk praying, and he came up to him with his sword, and he said, "Don't you know I'm a man who can run you through with this sword without blinking an eye?" The monk looked up at him and said, "Don't you know I'm a man who can be run through without blinking an eye?" The general put his sword down.

Let me draw these thoughts together now and conclude with a story:

The Infinite Evolution of No-Self Growth

This is not a Buddhist story, but captures well the themes of Buddhism that I have outlined this morning.  It’s a story about a Stone Cutter.

The stonecutter was dissatisfied with his identity and his position in life.

One day he passed a wealthy merchant's house. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine possessions and important visitors. "How powerful that merchant must be!" thought the stonecutter. He became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant.

To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever imagined, but envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. "How powerful that official is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a high official!"

Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around. It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. "How powerful the sun is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the sun!"
Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and laborers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. "How powerful that storm cloud is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a cloud!"

Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. "How powerful it is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the wind!"

Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it - a huge, towering rock. "How powerful that rock is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a rock!"

Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself being changed. "What could be more powerful than I, the rock?" he thought.

He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stonecutter.

Watch Your Thoughts

Watch your thoughts. Guard your words. Be mindful of your actions. For your thoughts, words and actions have infinite consequence, stretching backwards and forwards infinitely and affecting all other beings infinitely.

To live infinitely is to enter into each moment with a thought and an action that you would be pleased and excited to repeat again and again. To enjoy life is to live in a way that brings joy both to ourselves and to those we encounter.  Conversely if our thought or action in a given moment is poorly motivated, it will repeat itself until we live it without fear or judgment.