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One of the aspects so many of us value about the Spiritual Life and Learning Center and First Community is the respect for - and openness to - the richness of other faith traditions.
Reflecting on this led me back to a favorite book by the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh called Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers. The book is imagined as a conversation between the two about the most profound questions of life. Following is an excerpt about the oneness of all creation:
If we observe things deeply, we will discover that one thing contains all the other thing. If you look deeply into a tree, you will discover that a tree is not only a tree. It is a cloud. It is the sunshine. It is the Earth. One thing contains the whole cosmos.
When we hold a piece of bread to eat, if mindfulness is there, if the Holy Spirit is there, we can eat the bread in a way that will allow us to touch the whole cosmos deeply. A piece of bread contains the sunshine. Without sunshine the piece of bread cannot be. Without a cloud, the wheat cannot grow. So, when you eat the piece of bread, you eat the cloud, you eat the sunshine, you eat the minerals, time, space, everything.
One thing contains everything. With the energy of mindfulness, we can see deeply. With the Holy Spirit, we can see deeply. Mindfulness is the energy of the Buddha. The Holy Spirit is the energy of God. They both have the capacity to make us present, fully alive, deeply understanding, and loving.
What strikes me about the passage is it isn’t an exercise in “compare and contrast.” Thich Nhat Hanh presents the traditions side by side, telling the story together with the same heart - the heart of love. Whether you consider yourself a Christian, or find your home in another path, my prayer is the hope and renewal of the Easter season will come alive in you and that you will find moments to - in some way - “touch the whole cosmos deeply.”
Peace,
Deb
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