"Jesus and Buddha" Jesus and Buddha
Sermon, Oct 15, 2006
Jim Burklo
Once there was a Christian saint by the name of St. Ioasaph. In the medieval era, there was a popular story, now clearly seen to be a legend, that a Christian missionary named Barlaam went to India and converted a philosophically-minded prince to Christianity. For this, both Barlaam and Ioasaph were canonized into sainthood, and August 26th was declared St. Barlaam and St. Ioasaph’s Day. Later, as historical knowledge and accuracy became more important in the Western world, it became pretty obvious that Ioasaph sounded a lot like Bodhisattva, a name for Buddha. Once it became obvious that the Catholic Church had accidentally made Buddha a Christian saint, he was demoted and his day removed from the church calendar. But given how remarkably Jesus’ words and Buddha’s words overlap, given the many profound points of intersection between the two religions, I think it’s time to promote him back to Christian sainthood. So let us say that today is the day – Happy St. Buddha’s Day, 2006!
Gautama was indeed a philosophically- and spiritually- minded Indian prince. That was about the only accurate part of the St Ioasaph legend that brought us St. Buddha’s Day. One day, Gautama decided to step outside the walls of the palace where he had lived a secure and pampered life. He witnessed the terrible suffering of ordinary people in his kingdom, and it affected him so profoundly that he dedicated his life to helping people overcome suffering. He discovered that the primary cause of suffering is desire. Transcend desire, and suffering is alleviated. He followed this path in meditation and reached a state of enlightenment, at which he took on the title of Buddha, one that applies not just to him but to anyone who reaches that state. In the group of his sayings called the Dhammapada, he says: “This is the only way, the only way to the opening of the eye. Follow it. Outwit desire. Follow it to the end of sorrow.”
In my own experience of practical life, as well as meditation and prayer, I’ve found his words to be true. The mind is a sort of monkey trap. The monkey trap is a banana in a jar that is just big enough to slip in its hand, but the mouth of the jar is too narrow for the monkey to pull out his hand with the banana in it. So the monkey’s hand stays stuck in the jar, trapped by his own desire for the banana. There’s a wonderful image from Christian tradition that illustrates Buddha’s point very well. Dante, the Italian poet, described Satan in his Inferno. Satan is stuck headfirst in a pool of ice at the very bottom of hell. The ice is created by his flapping wings, which he is flapping wildly in his desire to fly out of the hole. On the other side of the icy hole is the opening to Paradise. So near, yet so far! He can never get there because of his desire. If he’d let go of the desire, the ice could melt and he could get out of the pit of hell. The Buddha taught that the mind plays tricks, and the source of most of those tricks is our fixation on our desires.
At least in my own experience, I find that through prayer I can’t really get rid of my desires. And it’s not really about ceasing to want things, especially good things. It’s fine to have desire for love, for the joys and pleasures of this life. But when I start wildly flapping my wings at the thought of those desires, when my desires take control of my minds and my life, I become a slave to them and get stuck in suffering and sorrow.
We’re never going to get everything we desire. We’re not even going to be completely liberated of desire itself, much as we desire that freedom. But meditation and prayer can put us into a different relationship with our desires. A new relationship in which what we want does not control us.
Jesus’ message also was one of liberation from grasping for what we desire. Consider his words in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6): “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat? or `What shall we drink? or `What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.” We still need food, drink, and clothes. We still desire them. But through prayer we can create a new relationship with our needs and desires, liberated from anxiety and obsession.
When our dog, Kai, was a puppy, he once got curious and stuck his head in a plastic jug that had a wide mouth. It was an opaque jug, so it was dark inside. Thank God we found him in time, because Kai assumed that, all of a sudden, it was night. So he just peacefully curled up in the middle of the yard, on a bright sunny day, and started to sleep. We ran to him and removed the jug. Suddenly, it was daytime again for him, and he scampered happily away. Illusions can be deadly. Our minds can, as Buddha says, make mischief with us and convince us that day is night and night is day, that our desires are all that matter, convince us that slavery is freedom, make us so blind that we don’t even know we’ve gotten our heads stuck in plastic jugs. We fall asleep, even though it’s the middle of the day and our eyes are supposedly open. As Buddha says, “For he who is awake has shown you the way of peace. Give yourself to the journey.”
Both Christianity and Buddhism include in their traditions a spiritual journey called the Via Negativa. The Way of Negation. That sounds bad, but it isn’t what it might seem. It’s the process of negating all that gets in the way of experiencing God or Nirvana. Buddhist meditation practices are largely about negating the senses and the thoughts – shutting the eyes, shunning everyday tasks, turning attention away from all else but the ultimate reality. Likewise, one strong tradition in Christianity is to meditate and pray in a way that drops all else but God. St. John of the Cross, the Spanish mystic of the 16th century, described this process in a diagram and a poem called The Ascent of Mt. Carmel. The path up the mountain was marked with the word “nada, nada, nada, nada”, over and over again like a mantra. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing else but God. Not good things, not bad things, not in-between things, nothing, nada, but God. The goal, as he put it in the diagram, was this: "To arrive at being all, desire to be nothing."
Tibetan Buddhists have a long tradition of chanting such mantras as they take spiritual pilgrimages around sacred mountains in the Himalaya range. It’s called circumambulation, and thousands of people make these arduous hikes, stopping along the way at shrines and doing meditations and ceremonies. Gary Snyder, Alan Ginsberg, and some other beatnik-era San Francisco poets were very influenced by Buddhism – indeed, they are the ones that made it cool to be Buddhist here. Which is why so many Marinites don’t have crosses or images of Jesus in their houses – but they’ll have a Buddha in the back yard. As I’ve said before, my goal is to do for Christianity what the beatniks did for Buddhism – to make it cool to have a statue of a meditating Jesus in the back yards of Sausalito and Mill Valley! Anyway, the beatnik Buddhists organized a circumambulation of Mt. Tamalpais a few decades ago, chanting and meditating along the way. So what I have done is put the Buddhist tradition together with the Christian one, join St. John of the Cross with the Tibetans, in this poem which I have entitled The Ascent of Mt Tamalpais:
The Ascent of Mount Tamalpais
(Inspired by "The Ascent of Mount Carmel" by St. John of the Cross, 16th century Spanish mystic, and "The Circumambulation of Mount Tamalpais" by Gary Snyder, 21st century poet)
Five Pools, Cascade Canyon:
Teenaged nymphs dip their toes into bubbling water in the stone bowls that hold the creek's oblation. Squealing as they goad each other from the heat of summer into the cold water. Effulgence of sun on dusty air between the redwoods, their bark glowing deep brown-red in the light.
"Nada, nada, nada." To reach all, grasp at nothing. Not the beauty of the flesh, not the bliss of imagination, not the stimulation of the senses.
Myrtle Grade:
Profusely, sweat breaks out. A fast scramble up a cliff of loose clay rock. Gripping the No Trespassing sign at the top of the trail, to make the last few steps onto the dirt road. Above, turkey vultures float in wide gyres over Cascade Canyon, away from their perches high on the tall pines.
"Nada, nada, nada." To experience all, claim nothing. Not possessions, not pride, not happiness.
Tree Fort below Double Bowknot:
Hands sticky with pitch. A grand view, sitting on the perch of weathered plywood over two-by-fours nailed to the top of the fir tree on the ridgeline. The turkey vultures are circling specks below.
"Nada, nada, nada." To enjoy all, hold onto nothing. Not achievement, not glory, not honor.
Falls at Fern Canyon:
Water drapes over stones, glides under stones, tumbles around stones, leaps over stones. The trail a carpet of dried leaves. A stone stair. Redwoods yield to dense chaparral. The sky seems nearer.
"Nada, nada, nada." To delight in all, be stuck at nothing. Not natural gifts, not human gifts, not gifts of heaven.
Tavern Pump:
Wooden stair rises through a thicket of manzanita. Lizard darts under blackened, twisted roots. Calves burn with exertion. Behind, an ocean gleams gold under the soft haze of fog.
"Nada, nada, nada." To exult in all, expect nothing. Not insight, not wisdom, not revelation.
East Peak:
Boulders worn smooth by feet and hands. Scrub oak frames views of Diablo, the Bay, the City, the dimpled shores of the reservoirs to the north. Classical piano music emanates from the lookout tower. Taking long drafts of bottled water while leaning back on a sun-soaked rock.
"To arrive at being all, desire to be nothing."
Right here, in Marin, we have the opportunity to go very deep in revealing and practicing the very important meeting places of Christianity and Buddhism. I think it is a very special calling for our church to pursue, and I look forward to much conversation among you about it. Let us give ourselves to the journey that Jesus and St. Buddha took, the journey that led Gautama to Buddha-hood, to spiritual awakening. Let us give ourselves the journey that Jesus took, the journey that led him to become the Christ, that led him to spiritual awakening. Let us go beyond, beyond beyond, utterly beyond, our attachments to the things of this world, become liberated from our bondage to our desires.