recognizing the enlightenment
Many of us have certain prejudices and preconceptions about saints and enlightened masters. These preconceptions create an illusion about that person. For example, suppose Buddha stepped into a bath full of water that was too hot, mistakenly prepared by one of his disciples. Do you think that the Buddha would sit in the bath, with a smile on his face anyway? Would he just sit there while his skin was being scalded because he had to be always merciful and forgiving? Or do you think that would jump out of his bath, yelling, “Ouch!” If Buddha had a normal sense of touch, then the latter would probably have been the case.
Many of us have misgivings about even thinking about Buddha in this light, because we don’t w7ant to take the veneer of sanctity and other worldliness away from him. But is this for him or us? Buddha was a human being who went through many upon many hardships before recognizing his enlightenment. He himself taught that everyone could become a Buddha. However, many people have instead chosen to place Buddha inside a shell of illusion of our their own making, without regard to the actual message of his teachings.
Likewise, many people regard Jesus Christ as someone who can never be considered a human being, despite his having chosen to die on the cross just to prove this. If we only regard Jesus as a divine being that we humans can never approach, how can we become like him? Instead of trying to live as these Masters have, we often encase them in an altar of worship, using them to soothe our own conscience once or twice a week by begrudgingly going to a church or temple. Do you think that Jesus would have preferred us to live the life of Jesus, rather than merely worship the life of Jesus? I think so.
November 22, 2008 3:42 pm 1 Comment
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Ilchi Lee Fan » Heaven and Humanity — December 28, 2008 @ 10:25 am
[...] your upper body and eyes to the right, place your left hand in front of your Dahn-jon by Ilchi Lee and move your right hand in a clockwise circle. You may move both hands together at this [...]
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