Probably all human beings spend a lot of time and energy trying to keep their lives under control, but I think we Americans are particularly obsessed with it. We do everything we possibly can to prevent any kind of accident or unpleasant experience. There is a whole mail order catalog full of things to keep life safe: fool-proof burglar preventions, ladders to hang out of windows in case of fire, “the club” to prevent our cars from being stolen. We have warning labels on everything. On ladders, warning us that we could get hurt if we fall off. On candles, warning us that the curtains could catch on fire if we light candles near them. And we have insurance for every possible disaster: health insurance (if we can afford it, that is), mortgage insurance, life insurance, credit-card insurance. You name it. If it can be insured, it will be.
Author Archives: Treetop Zen Center
The Rich Young Man
Mark 10:17-27
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good – except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
Jesus, looking at him, loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
The disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
The disciples were even more astonished, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
2 Kings 5:1-19
2 Kings 5:1-19 (RSV)
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little maid from the land of Israel, and she waited on Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the maiden from the land of Israel.” And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten festal garments. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” And when the king of Israel read the letter, he rent his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.” But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you rent your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and halted at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman was angry, and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had commanded you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says to you, ‘Wash and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”
Death and Rebirth
“Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” -Luke 17:33
Praying for salvation in the world to come
Praying for your own selfish ends
Is only piling on more and more
Self-centeredness and arrogance
Die – then live
Day and night within the world
Once you’ve done this, then you can
Hold the world right in your hand!
– Song of Original Mind, Bankei
In the Roman Catholic Church, we often sing hymns that echo the concept of death and resurrection. “Then by your cross we were saved; dead became living.” “We come to break the bread; we come to know our rising from the dead.” These are the words of a few such hymns that come to mind. But the power of this message often is lost.
Words
And again (Jesus) said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” – Luke 13:20
From the Heart Sutra Dedication: Enlightened Nature pervades the whole universe, existing right here now.
I have often heard it said that Buddhism is an atheistic religion. That the Buddhists don’t believe in God. And it is true that Buddhists rarely if ever use the word “God.” But, in my experience, Buddhism has a great deal to contribute to Christians in helping us think about or clarify what we mean when we speak of God, and, in so doing, enabling us to have a more genuine understanding and experience of God.
Superman
Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!
It’s Superman!
Superman.
Who is Superman? And why do I need him? Indeed, why do I love him?
Superman is everything I am not. He has everything I don’t have. Everything he can do I want to do.
I want to fly!
I want to be able to leap great distances!
I dream of flying. Of leaping these distances? Doesn’t everybody? I want to be able to catch a speeding bullet in my hand, like catching a baseball, and throw it back at the malevolent shooter. I want to be able to lift great weights, like the front end of a semi-truck, and save the life of the person trapped underneath it. But I can’t. I’m just a somewhat corpulent goofball.