Thoughts From A Mystic

Here's a teaching that is often not understood, or misunderstood...DON'T RESIST EVIL. Here's one of Jesus' teachings- Mt 5.38 “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’(No more than that!) Mt 5.39 But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. Mt 5.40 If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. And a great story about Buddha that teaches THE SAME MESSAGE (credit for this story to Tara Brach, from her book- "Radical Acceptance", pp. 75,6.) When Mara (the Buddhist name for 'The Evil One') fled, after Siddhartha's awakening as 'Buddha', it was only temporary. Mara kept coming back; and when he did Buddha would calmly acknowledge his presence, saying, "I see you, Mara." He would then invite him for tea, as an honored guest. Offering Mara a cushion, so he could ...

Reality takes no particular shape. It's plastic and can take any form. It doesn't distinguish between 'Right' and 'Wrong'. 'Right' and 'Wrong' are interpretations. There is no suffering in Reality...that's created by alienated selves, who are in conflict with Reality. These selves select parts of Reality and call it the whole, or the 'Good' and exclude other parts. In so doing they've just emprisoned themselves in their concepts. If you want to eliminate suffering you couldn't do it by changing your interpretations, since that's just another prison. You've got to be FREED from those concepts and this is what Buddhism and Christianity are about at their core. The great traditions teach, not a set of beliefs, but A WAY of transformation OUT OF the sickness of the alienated self. At-one-ment, as many like to say. In Buddhism it's realizing our Buddha-nature and in Christianity it's about being one with...