I’m reading History of God, which has been very interesting. It’s kind of a comparative religion course by the great mind of Karen Armstrong. It’s includes Buddhism in it’s contemplation. I've been tempted to quote it many times. Some real fascinating stuff.
I can't get past the unmoved mover. This remote God doesn't get involved, it's hard to connect with it. When you take it into the trinity, there's a big question of whether Jesus was God or whether he was some sort of intermediary. My inclination is to think of Jesus saying he's the son of god, as saying we're all the son of god--which is not the doctrine.
The parallel between Theravada and Mahayana and Judaism and Christianity is interesting. Because the Jews were displaced so much, they had to get by without the temple. So they made everyone into a rabbi. In Theravada only the monks can go for it, but in Mahayana everyone can go for it, and doing good acts is quite good. There are many rules for the Jews, there are many rules for the monks. But there are broad principles in Christianity and the Mahayana.
I'm attracted to the do good Christianity, but as Karen Armstrong points out, it's a kind of minority of Christians who believe in that stuff. I still agree with the Buddha that getting all twisted up about God doesn't help one to move towards enlightenment. I still find the book interesting in terms of the history of religion. I need to know more about Christianity because it's used so much in literature and in America.
I've been thinking a lot about attention and control. It's hard to not control the breath when I'm paying attention to it. It take a fair amount of meditation to release the control and just watch. I parallel that to some parenting struggles.
A swell guy in the sangha passed away but he left us one of his play lists. I found it to be pretty good.
I got an interesting looking book called Find The Seeker that I'm slowly looking into.
I can't get past the unmoved mover. This remote God doesn't get involved, it's hard to connect with it. When you take it into the trinity, there's a big question of whether Jesus was God or whether he was some sort of intermediary. My inclination is to think of Jesus saying he's the son of god, as saying we're all the son of god--which is not the doctrine.
The parallel between Theravada and Mahayana and Judaism and Christianity is interesting. Because the Jews were displaced so much, they had to get by without the temple. So they made everyone into a rabbi. In Theravada only the monks can go for it, but in Mahayana everyone can go for it, and doing good acts is quite good. There are many rules for the Jews, there are many rules for the monks. But there are broad principles in Christianity and the Mahayana.
I'm attracted to the do good Christianity, but as Karen Armstrong points out, it's a kind of minority of Christians who believe in that stuff. I still agree with the Buddha that getting all twisted up about God doesn't help one to move towards enlightenment. I still find the book interesting in terms of the history of religion. I need to know more about Christianity because it's used so much in literature and in America.
I've been thinking a lot about attention and control. It's hard to not control the breath when I'm paying attention to it. It take a fair amount of meditation to release the control and just watch. I parallel that to some parenting struggles.
A swell guy in the sangha passed away but he left us one of his play lists. I found it to be pretty good.
I got an interesting looking book called Find The Seeker that I'm slowly looking into.
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