The wisdom of Jesus Christ

Although i am a part of a Buddhist tradition, I believe in the words that came out of the mouth of Jesus Christ himself. Yet, in our tradition, we do not pay attention to everything that is written that did not come out directly of the mouth of Jesus.

Jesus said “More will come like me, who will do greater things than I did”, then the Christian churches turned against the word of their master saying “There is only Jesus; you can even kill the infidels”. A few hundred years ago, Christians murdered non-Christians, while today, they limit themselves at chastising others. Jesus himself told his direct disciples that there were other spiritual masters like him, and that others will come in the future. Everything else is political propaganda from the leaders of early Catholicism. So I ask you, do you believe the words of your Lord, or would you rather hide under the shadow of religious institution?

I don’t have to tell you the story of the Good Samaritan. Christians say that the moral of this story is that you have to be good with the next person. According to Jesus, that is not the moral of this story. The reason why Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan is that the Jews who were present around Jesus at that moment, believed their clan and religion to be better than the other ones. Jesus told them this story to affirm that other religions are as good as theirs, and that holy men exist in other religions as much as selfish men exists in theirs. Jesus told everyone, in this story, that all religions and political structures hold good, and that you should not judge them. Then, the Christian institutions turned against their Lord’s message, and chastised all other spiritual path. Do you believe in the word of your Lord? Or would you rather choose the words of a human institution.

Jesus did not promise eternal life to everyone, regardless of their moral condition. Jesus told that there were numerous conditions to meet if they wish to be with God in the Heavens. In his own word, Jesus clearly told to Lazarus that although having wealth and possessions is not evil, anyone attached to them will not enter the realm of heavens, even if this person is a good person doing only good deeds. That is told in an undeniable way in the bible. If you pay attention to the words that came out directly of the mouth of Lord Jesus, you will understand what he said. Even a good person, if attached to too many material things, will no go to heaven. Nor will he go to hell. Jesus never said that people went to hell. So that too, is a fabrication of the institution of Christ, and not a teaching of Jesus himself. There is no punishment in the God of Jesus, but yet, no one has a guaranteed place in heaven.

Regarding sexuality, Jesus always took favor in protecting the whore, and the adultery woman, knowing them to have committed no evil. Then the institution of Christ looked down on sexual behaviors like an impurity. God created us with sexual organs, and the creation of God is perfect. Denying the beauty of sexuality, is denying the creation of God. They can think what they want, but Lord Jesus behaved in defending of those who were pointed out to be sexually active women. These judgments had only to do with the cultural beliefs of that time and place. Thus, how are you in peace with your sexuality? Jesus was at peace with it. In this case not in his words but very obvious in his behavior. Like in anything, if there is abuse, sickness or suffering can come, but the responsible sexual action is not to be condemned. Rather, it is how we were created. You might already be at peace with that, but how much at peace with sexuality is the institution of Christ?

Now, as for the legitimacy of the writings; everything that the Buddha said, worth taking note of, was written on the same day that the Buddha said it. There was always a disciple next to him, to take notes of is words of wisdom. Although the sutras were then written with a beautiful phrase construction, the words of the Buddha remained as intact as was literary possible. Then, some sutras were written after his death, almost up to 1000 years after his death. This is why, in Buddhism, we pay attention more to the Lotus Sutra, Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, Mahaparinirvana Sutra, and a few others, as they are legitimate teachings of the Buddha. In Christianity, absolutely everything was written between 50 and 400 years after the death of Jesus. Some are written in Greek, others in Latin, others in Hebrew, and very little literature is written in Aramaic, the language in which Jesus thought. The Jewish people had an extraordinary memory, because it was in their tradition to remember the words by heart and mind only. So we can count on he words of Jesus being the right ones. But everything that surrounds the words of Jesus in the bible, cannot be taken for granted. While most of the message is pure and beautiful, there is some bullcrap that directly contradicts the direct words of Jesus. These words have been added by political leaders in the first Council of Nicaea, in 325. This event is the first thoroughly recorded event of Christianity, and it is about the manipulation and modification of Christian ways. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea

In the reconstruction of the Bible, there is only one passage about reincarnation that they did not take out. It is when the local population of the time was saying that John the Baptist is the Prophet Elijah who has returned. It was taken for granted for them that reincarnation is something possible, and thus, did not take the initiative to teach it in more details. Other traces of the possibilities of reincarnation might have been removed. But since we can’t affirm that, we have to remain objective and accept there is a single passage in the bible acknowledging the possibility of reincarnation. Jesus, in his own words, never told to everyone what happened after death. He only stated what happened to those who meet the very special conditions that would allow them to go to heavens. And yet, he never spoke of hell as a global destination for everyone else.

Let us speak of the end of the world as we know it. While there is beauty in the New Testament book of revelations, the apocalypse was nonetheless not written by Jesus direct students, nor did any of these words come out of his own mouth. The book of revelations is a kabbalistic work, filled with symbolic numbers and metaphors. It cannot be taken as the word of Jesus, ad it cannot be taken literally. If you believe in the words of Lord Jesus, you will promote love of the others, and love of your God, but you will dismiss any attempt at scaring the people if they do not follow this or that rule. That is not the word of Jesus, but only the work of post-Christ writings that have nothing to do with Jesus himself.

Note that Jesus did not say “Love MY God, he’s the only one, others are fraud”. Jesus said “There is only one God” and elsewhere “Love YOUR God with all your heart”. This means that Jesus told us to pray whoever we conceive as the supreme power of the universe, regardless of name and apparent differences, knowing it is the same divine force as everyone else’s regardless of how we name him or refer to it. Once more, Jesus enforced that we are not to judge others in their beliefs, and that each must feel free to address divinity as they wish, as long as it evokes an experience of Love.

About the Eucharist. At one point, Jesus took a bit of food that was present on the table at that time, which was bread. He held it up, split it and distributed it, and then said to do this in memory of him. He did the same with the available beverage, which was wine. People shared what they had. We might push this event to a very symbolical ritualistic event, but that was not the natural ways of Jesus. Jesus did not behave in this esoteric theatrical way. So we might want to think about these events like if they were natural and friendly, which was the way Jesus seemed to behave the most frequently. Thus, Jesus picks up whatever food is there, and he held it up high so everyone could see what he was doing. If he had split up the food under the table or on his side, no one would have seen. Thus, he showed to people simply to take what they have, and to share it with others. He did the same with the wine. Thus, the teaching of the Eucharist is that you are with the Christ when you share what you have, and you are not with him when you keep everything for yourself. It is yet another teaching on Charity, which is one of the most popular teachings of Christ. If Christ would have done this in another cultural situation, today we might be sharing a holy pizza and a soda to celebrate… hey! That’s exactly what we do! Consider the happiness in the face of hunters in a camp, sharing their food, or young friends splitting a meal after helping each other move into a new place. The Christ can be found in everything, in every situation, as Jesus thought himself.

We wish to remain objective in our view of the Christian institution. In its entire history, the political and religious leaders of early Christianity sporadically endorsed wars and mass massacres aiming at obtaining something, such as territory and riches. This is undeniable and rigorously recorded in reliable historical records everywhere. Nonetheless, if we look deeper, since its beginning up to today, the Christian institution has supported an infinity of organisms that help the poor, feed the hungry, cares for the sick, tend to the elders and the handicapped, and so much more. There is such greatness, charity and forgiveness in the Catholic and every other Christian institutions that they can be worthy of being called the Church of Christ. Although it does not automatically repent those who commanded atrocities in the name of Jesus, overall in history, the followers of Christ did so much more good than evil. They deserve to be respected, even encouraged in their work.

To the light of what is written here and above, the Mahajrya Buddhist tradition admires the teachings of Jesus. He was one of the most wonderful spiritual masters, and truly an incarnation of divinity in this world. You can observe for yourself how much we respect his words, clearly showing our appreciation of the wisdom he brought to this world. Again following his word and example, we will also consider the beauty in every other spiritual teaching as equivalent, when they are.

Maha Vajra