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There are so many parallel quotes from Buddha and Jesus that it is clear they are coming from a similar level of consciousness. Their diagnosis of the human dilemma is also very similar. For example, humans are ignorant more than malicious, blind more than evil. As Jesus said on the cross, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). The vast majority of humanity lives in blindness about who it is, where it came from, and where it is going.
Both Buddha and Jesus were trying to give us a kind of cosmic shock about what is real and what is unreal—about what lasts and what doesn’t last. Marcus Borg says he believes the only real difference in their teaching is the strong social and political undercutting that you find in Jesus. The Buddha is so insightful in recognizing the games that the ego (separate self) is playing, and puts most of his emphasis there. The sad thing is that most of the social implications of Jesus’ teaching have been consistently ignored because we didn’t want to move transformation to the political and economic levels. Christians kept salvation very private and personal, but largely without the Buddha’s amazing insight and critique at that very level.
Adapted from
Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening (CD, DVD, MP3)
The Daily Meditations for 2013 are now available
in Fr. Richard’s new book Yes, And . . . .
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“The application process
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The Living School is a two-year program of online and onsite learning based on Fr. Richard Rohr’s Seven Themes of an Alternative Orthodoxy. We hope students will emerge empowered to live out their sacred soul tasks in service to the world.
Applications for the 2014-16 program
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