Some books, some talk, some comfort

I have been reading An Introduction to Zen Buddhism, by D.T. Suzuki. I grew interested in his work because he was such a profound influence on Thomas Merton, the Roman Catholic priest whose writings led me to study Buddhism. A good portion of his book falls into “what the f***?” territory. For example, Q: what is the Buddha? A: 3 pounds of flax. There are some passages, however, that gives profound yet simple insight, and for that reason the book should be read. Zen does not describe the taste of sugar he says; it just puts a cube in your mouth. You discover the taste.

I also had an interesting discussion today with a colleague from work who is rather strong in his opinions.

“Who was Christ?” he asked.

“A bodhisattva” I replied.

“So when he said he was the son of God?”

“Today we would up his medication.” I said

“So, he was enlightened enough to be at that level but dishonest when he claimed to be the son of God?” he asked.

Good question.

I am not going to attempt to parse through the languages, translations, councils, etc, that put the Bible in its current form. For this writing it is enough to say that we have never had the direct words of Jesus written down as he said them. We have an oral history that was eventually transcribed in a language Jesus probably did not speak when he uttered the words. Jesus would have used Hebrew or Aramaic. The gospels in the current canon were written in Greek. The bottom line is that we can not be sure what Jesus said, we can only be sure that someone else said he said it. We also can not be sure how any nuances may have come across. For example, did he say “a son of God” and someone substituted the definite article? The details of how these words were passed on, and eventually transcribed are lost to history.

Along with this I should add that I find more comfort in the words of the Buddha

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

Or this story of the Buddha:

One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the messiah?"
"No", answered Buddha.
"Then are you a healer?"
"No", Buddha replied.
"Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted.
"No, I am not a teacher."
"Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated.
"I am awake", Buddha replied.