Thanks to a discussion elsewhere, this simple (and what many would consider obvious) thought entered me head:
If what you are doing, whatever you are chanting or reciting, is helping you to be mindful of the Buddha, which to say your own potential as a Buddha, then does it matter whether you recite the nembutsu and recall the Light of Amida or ponder a koan about your original face? It is still a configuration of the Source (each of us) recalling its own true nature (Dharmakaya). How wonderful!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
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Buddhism's wonderful pragmatism is what has allowed me, without being "a Buddhist," to get so much out of my adoption/adaptations of some of its practices over the years.
ReplyDeleteI've also found it interesting that Eckhart Tolle isn't a Buddhist - but he sounds so much like one. To my mind, Buddhism hits on some real spiritual essentials that make it impossible for someone who is spiritually on-track NOT to be at least kind of Buddhist!
I also think Christianity's own contemplative traditions and forms of mysticism also hit on many of these same essentials. Which is why I tend to write about the apparent fact that while each religion has its own distinct structures, they also can point us toward the vertical dimension, the numinous, the Divine, the Dharmakara, or whatever label we choose to hang on it. And this Ultimate Reality speaks the one common language we can learn - the language of silence.
ReplyDelete(Now that just sounds too goody goody so let me say something stupid here to humble things up a bit. Hmm - how about... "Boogar!")