That is Buddhist teaching. Period. End of story. A religion that I rejected many years ago after practicing it for several years. That is NOT Christianity.
Hi again Lisa: I am not a Buddhist and I don’t claim to represent them or anyone. That said, it is also a teaching that is shared by many Christians, Hindus, Sufis, Hasids, and many more. It resonates across religious boundaries and has done so for at least four or five thousand years.
And it is so dishonest of you to try and re-package Christianity to suit your preference for Buddhist teachings.
forums.catholic-questions.org/images/smilies/mad.gif Sooo dishonest.
I do not think that I have said anything that wasn’t based on the teaching of Jesus. It may not match exactly what this church or that has made of what He said, which is why I made a point of saying that I do not recognize what any councils or founding fathers may have had to say about them. His words are there for anyone to read, and the truths in them suggest that there are some important confluences among the world’s religious traditions.
You got half of it right, he persuades his disciples to give up what they own and do what?..What comes next Sufjon? You are so honest tell us what comes next?
To give up their possessions and FOLLOW HIM. Not Buddha. To follow Jesus as he said he is the ONLY way to salvation. Why do you leave that part out Sufjon?
The same universal consciousness that pervaded the being of Jesus exists in all things. That includes Siddartha Gautama (whom you keep referencing as the Buddha) and the person who stole my iPod the other day. It is present in the core of all beings. To follow that consciousness and awaken it in ourselves, we have to give up whatever else we are holding on to (and of course, we should try to stop stealing iPods). He was talking about the Christ Consciousness or Kutashtha Chaitanya within Him that needed to be followed. He was not talking about following a set up lips, hair and fingernails called Jesus. He was pointing to something more pervasive. Jesus was pointing at the inner light that they all share, hidden in the core of their beings. To follow Him is to follow that which is within you and within Him in a fully awakened or fully realized form.
I am amazed by you. For someone who speaks about ego you have a lot of nerve LYING about what Jesus taught and trying to say he taught the same thing that the Buddha taught.
I have recounted what I have read in the Bible. How that matches what the Buddha taught or what Krishna taught or what the Rishis who wrote the Upanishads taught or what the Baal Shem Tov taught is not the fault of the Rishis, Krishna, The Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth the Baal Shem Tov or mine. It’s simply a characteristic of intrinsic truth that it should be found everywhere.
I was a Buddhist for many years as are some of my family members today and I can tell you that THEY WOULD BE FLOORED BY YOUR STATEMENTS.
If your relatives who are Buddhists should find themselves floored by anything I have said, my advice would be for them to focus on their breathing instead. I think that is the proper path for a Buddhist, not fussing about what Sufjon said.
I would have a TON more respect for you if you just said you were a Buddhist. But wow!
I cannot tell you that I’m something that I’m not. If what I have said sounds like Buddhism to you, it’s probably because it also sounds like what a lot of encounters with God have produced. The writings of the various religious traditions are merely post cards sent to us from a common place that many have come upon over time. It stands to reason that the pictures on the front and the descriptions on the back look and sound a lot the same. As a point of clarification, the faith tradition that I come from is much older than Buddhism.
Do NOT! I repeat, Do NOT make up lies about Jesus and try and peddle them here to Catholics and Christians.
I have to the best of my ability only responded to your question as to whether or not I rejected Jesus. If in the process I’ve offended you in some way, that was not my intent. I ended my last post with a statement to the effect that I recognize that you have your own faith and that I felt that your faith would do fine for you. How could I have been clearer on the point that I’m not trying to peddle anything to you? As for the veracity of anything I might say, my words carry no authority beyond my own experience with God.
I wouldn’t dream of going into a Buddhist forum and re-packaging the Buddhist teachings.
One could package a Snickers bar in a Three Musketeers wrapper or a Milky Way wrapper, but upon opening it, it will always be the same Snickers Bar. Evidenced by the fact that I haven’t really made reference to any particular religion in my original discourse, and focused mainly on the words of Jesus, it is clear that I have been talking about the Snickers Bar and not the wrappers. I can’t eat the wrappers anyway.
That is so disrespectful.
Again, that was never my intent. I respect you, but it happens, or at least seems, that you have identified yourself with a particular wrapper, however, I doubt if God is much interested in your wrapper, so why should I care about it? Why should you care about mine? We are so much more than that.
You have no idea what ego is do you?
I can only say that I sense that yours is trying to engage mine.
You have no idea what it is to be humble.
Your ego is trying to engage mine again. I am watching them both. Yours is in a twist and heating up. Mine would like to tweak her up a notch. We can watch them or we can succumb to them, but I think they will both be greatly diminished if we just watch them and keep to the point of discussion. Can we do that, or at least try?
Your friend,
Sufjon
