Fresh Green Blessings

Matthew 5:27-28 (KJV): Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

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Each deed performed, however secretly, leaves its impression somewhere.

Our lives unfold, and in-fold, at a number of different levels: We have our public personas, our private lives, and our secret selves. Those with whom we are most intimate dwell with us in our private worlds. They see our faults and shortcomings. They know that we often fail to live up to the images that we project - the people we hope to be seen as in the world. Those who are privy to our private selves may witness some of our struggles, but they also see our complexities, our depths, our efforts; those with whom we are most intimate may also be more aware of the hidden goodness, the kindnesses, the little unselfish gestures that weave through our days. I had a friend that committed armed robbery and didn’t make it to his 40th birthday, but I remember the night when we were young men - I was drunk on the floor and this friend, thinking I was asleep and unbeknownst to anyone else, found a blanket and gently covered me where I lay.

Each deed performed, however secretly, leaves its impression somewhere.

Behind our public and private selves lie our secret selves. We may seldom give them voice. They just whisper quietly in our hearts and minds - and sometimes we even suppress that whisper. Here, from the distance of twenty centuries, Jesus calls us out. He challenges us to bring an integrity of awareness to our secret thoughts, just as we bring mindfulness to our words and actions. 

Our reaction may be inflammatory: How dare anyone attempt to control my thoughts, my thinking! I’ll think what I damn well please! Our thoughts, however, inter-are with our words and actions. Our thinking plays an incredible role in shaping our lives, private and public. True, we do not act on every thought (thank goodness!), but the words we speak and the actions we take our constantly informed by the springboard of our thinking. As Jesus says, what’s “in our hearts” matters. Deeply.

On the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism, one of the eight strands is Right Thinking. The Buddha says, “When there is Right Thinking and one knows it is Right Thinking, it is also Right View. What is wrong thinking? It is thinking that leads to desire, hatred, and harming” (Discourse on the Great Forty - Mahacattarisaka Sutta in The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, p. 244-245). Lustful thinking, hateful and violent thoughts, place us on a path that is not beneficial to ourselves or others, but we needn’t “beat ourselves up” over such thoughts. In fact, that would be just more non-beneficial thinking - now, aimed at ourselves!

The Buddha says something else extraordinary on this topic, “When there is wrong thinking and one knows it is wrong thinking, it is already Right View” (Discourse on the Great Forty, p. 244). When we bring our integrity and mindful attention to our harmful thinking, we regain the Right View, we begin to make our way back to the path of wholeness and healing and benefit for ourselves and all beings. Such thinking brings compassion and kindness back into our hearts.

Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Jesus is essentially teaching the same lesson as the Buddha. He’s teaching us to converse with ourselves, to say something to ourselves like, “Ah, here’s those lustful thoughts again - or, here’s those angry thoughts again (see Matthew 5:22). C’mon, you know this thinking is not beneficial. Be mindful. Know that this is not beneficial thinking. Remember that. Know that...Yeah, that’s the Right View, you’re already heading back to the path of wholeness and healing and benefit for yourself and others. And when your thinking grows harmful again, bring y

1 Corinthians 12:12-14: For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.

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The Diamond Sutra states that there is no self, no human being, no living being, and no lifespan. Its longer name is The Diamond that Cuts Through Illusion because it cuts through these four illusory concepts of self, human being, living being, and lifespan. For example, we don’t think of magnesium as a living being, but listen to what the National Institute of Health says, “Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. It helps to maintain normal nerve and muscle function, supports a healthy immune system, keeps the heartbeat steady, and helps bones remain strong. It also helps regulate blood glucose levels and aid in the production of energy and protein.” Is not magnesium a member of the body?

Imagine if there was an immense interstellar vacuum that could be programmed to just suck up certain elements. Imagine that it came to Earth, sucked up all the magnesium into its interstellar vacuum bag, and shipped it off to Neptune. Immediately, you and I would die. There would be no human beings. Our lives would cease to exist. Magnesium is essential to all cellular life. Our bodies are not just fingers and toes, eyeballs and lungs, a heart, liver, blood, and skin. Our bodies are also magnesium and iron and oxygen and so much more.

Biologically, you have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, sixteen great-great-grandparents, etc. Do you know what your maternal grandmother’s grandmother looked like? I have a single photograph of my maternal grandmother’s mother from Czechoslovakia in the early 1900s, but I have no idea what her mother looked like. Few of us have any idea how our maternal great-great-grandmother looked, but, still, try to imagine her. See the shape of her hand, the knuckles, veins, fingernails. Envision her gait as she walked. Picture her eyes as she smiled and frowned. Regardless of your family history, whether you feel deeply connected to your blood heritage or completely removed from your biological kin, you simply could not exist without that great-great-grandmother with her hands and her walk and her eyes. She is part of you. Inseparable. Your body is as dependent upon her as it is upon magnesium. There is no human cellular life without the great-great-grandmother.

If you can, recall your 2nd grade teacher. You may remember much or little from 2nd grade, but I submit that you are different than you would have otherwise been because of her or him. The trajectory of your life may have been influenced in significant ways that you do not know by that 2nd grade teacher. My 2nd grade teacher was Mrs. Ruark. I sometimes say: Know Mrs, Ruark, know me. No Mrs. Ruark, no me. No magnesium? No maternal great-great-grandmother? No 2nd grade teacher? No you. Know magnesium, your maternal great-great-grandma, and your 2nd grade teacher - know you. Like muscles in your forearm or tendons in your leg, like magnesium, your 2nd grade teacher is also part of your body. Your life is impossible to describe without her or him, even if you can’t picture them.

And...no magnesium, no Jesus. Without lungs, intestines, blood, oxygen, iron, trees, soil, and much else, Jesus could not exist. No trees, no Jesus. Know trees, know Jesus. What is the body of Christ? We are. And that “we” includes magnesium and trees and Mrs. Ruark and soil and your great-great-grandmother.

We inter-are with Jesus. If we were to change that interstellar vacuum setting from magnesium-removal to Christ-removal and have it suck up everything Christ-related, everything influenced by Jesus on this planet, we would cease to exist. Thich Nhat Hanh sa

Numbers 3:23-26:  The clans of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle on the west, with Eliasaph son of Lael as head of the ancestral house of the Gershonites. The responsibility of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting was to be the tabernacle, the tent with its covering, the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting, the hangings of the court, the screen for the entrance of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords—all the service pertaining to these.

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Nobody reads Numbers. Why would they? In the deep mythology of the Judeo-Christian tradition, we have the tabernacle or arc of the covenant wherein unfathomably dwells the Source/Creator/Great Sacredness in all its majesty and terribleness (see also Exodus 25). Imagine having the Mysterium Tremendum in the box; the seed of the Big Bang in a jar.

In Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, it says that there is this Tremendous Power belonging to no one, but available to everyone. To access this sacred power requires meticulousness. One has to pay attention to personal details: the way one turns on the tap, combs their hair, brushes their teeth. All the details matter. This Power is like a great typhoon that can create tidal waves and knock down huge buildings but “the personal experience of this wind comes as a feeling of being completely and powerfully in the present” (Shambhala, p. 114). 

If the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh know and largely dwell in Deep Compassion and Vast Joy, it is because they lead incredibly disciplined lives of mindfulness and meditation. Did not the Buddha and Jesus dwell in meticulous discipline? How would the Buddha move his hand? How might Jesus walk? Thich Nhat Hanh’s movements have been described as “a cross between a cloud, a snail, and a piece of heavy machinery." Presence. Mindfulness. Meticulous attention to the details.

The Book of Numbers continues: The head of the ancestral house of the clans of Merari was Zuriel son of Abihail; they were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle. The responsibility assigned to the sons of Merari was to be the frames of the tabernacle, the bars, the pillars, the bases, and all their accessories—all the service pertaining to these; also the pillars of the court all around, with their bases and pegs and cords.(3:35-37) What is required of those who would dwell with the Great Sacredness? Meticulous attention to the details. Deep presence.

The disciplined lives of the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh may seem like too much for us. Why would we even want to lead such disciplined lives of mindfulness and meditation? We don’t even have the patience to read about disciplined lives in the Book of Numbers, let alone lead them. Why would anyone read Numbers? Nobody reads Numbers.

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We want ease and a lack of constriction in our lives, but the ironic truth is that this requires discipline. Recall that Thay is described as both a cloud and a heavy piece of machinery. Today, give yourself five minutes to enjoy meticulous focus. We see this concentration of attention in children all the time: As they watch a bug crawl or draw a picture. Take five minutes and attend totally to the way your hand turns, or pick one bird in the backyard and follow its every move, or hold that hammer with all your mindfulness as you pound that single nail. Move like the sons of Gershon on the west side of the arc, working responsibly, meticulously handling the cords for the screen for the entrance of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar with the discipline of their full mindfulness.

(Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )

Matthew 20: 1-16: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

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We like numbers, measurements, things we can “count on,” ac-count-ability. Jesus’ story in Matthew 20:1-16 (like many of his parables) messes with us. Things don’t add up.

We tend to think of infinity as a really, really big number. Jesus (and the Buddha) are in the “infinity business” - but they don’t appear interested in the big number ideal. John O’Donohue writes about our ceaseless greed as a grasping for infinity. We have traded in the infinities that Buddha and Jesus hint at for a really, really big number. Our cultures mock and belittle the unknowable and ineffable, but our souls thirst for the infinite - so we acquire and acquire, filling our houses and minds to the brim, yet our souls are not sated. O’Donohue writes, “It is our nature to seek the infinite. Consequently, the functionalist mind constructs its own infinite out of things, possessions, achievements, stimulants, and distractions. It is fixed on the treadmill of multiplication.” (Eternal Echoes, p. 80). Fixed and unsatiated.

Dudjom Rinpoche writes, “The pure awareness of nowness is the real Buddha” (The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying, p. 45).  The Eastern Orthodox monk Father Maximos says, “Whenever you meet someone on your way, in reality you meet God. And as you honor God you must honor the other because you have in front of you the presence of God. You don’t turn the other way to avoid someone you don’t like” (The Mountain of Silence, p. 64).  The infinite is immeasurable. Dudjom Rinpoche is writing of “the real”; Fr. Maximos speaks of “in reality.” These religious leaders dwell in “the real,” in reality that is soaked with the Infinite. Here, there is no thirst.

Jesus’ parable of the landowner in Matthew 20 teases us about our obsession with numbers. The last is first? The first is last? What?! Wait, this doesn’t add up. It doesn’t make sense. But the problem is not with the kingdom of heaven which is like a landowner, the problem is with our worldly sense of measurement - our focus on the empirical, our measuring tools that simply can’t do the job. The Infinite is not a really big number.

The Infinite is, instead, available - you don’t need an abacus, a calculator, the most powerful super high-speed computer, or even a “good math brain” - the Infinite is right here, right now, right

John 3:16 (KJV): For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

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Most Christians are familiar with the phrase “only begotten son” to describe Jesus. In the King James Version of the Bible, this phrase is found four times in the Gospel according to John (John 1:14; 1:18; 3:16; 3:18), but this phrase is not found in the other three gospels. Similarly, in the translation of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), John is the one Gospel where Jesus is referred to as G-d’s only son. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all reference Jesus as a son of G-d, but these other three gospels (known collectively as the synoptic gospels for their similarities to each other and because of their differences with John) never say that Jesus is the only son of G-d. In fact, Matthew especially emphasizes that we are all sons and daughters of G-d.

The most famous prayer in Christianity begins “Our Father which art in heaven…” The “Our Father” prayer is only found in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. When talking with others, the Matthean Jesus tells the people that G-d is “your father” fifteen times (Matthew 5:16; 5:45; 6:1; 6:4; 6:6a; 6:6b; 6:8; 6:15; 6:18a; 6:18b; 7:11; 10:20 10:27; 18:14; 23:9). John uses the “your father” phrase only twice (8:42; 20:17) as a descriptor of G-d, and one of those two times, he is using it to show that others are not the children of G-d. John 8:42 & 44 reads,  Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here...You are from your father the devil. This is a very different usage of the phrase “your father” when compared to the words of Matthew’s Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). It should be no surprise that the Johnanine Jesus would not suggest a prayer that begins, “Our Father which art in heaven…” because from John’s theological viewpoint, only Jesus is the son of G-d.

The point here is not to elevate one understanding of Jesus over another; the point is to awaken those of us who love Jesus and his teachings to the reality that - from very early on - different people understood Jesus quite differently. Councils and theologians have worked hard to meld and conflate these differing understandings into a unified whole and you may wish to do the same, but we risk losing much of the depth and breadth of Christianity in the process.

Just as there are many schools of Buddhism, we may attempt to discern what some of the early schools of Christianity were - and how they differed. As a beginning point, a careful study of different gospels will show you that different early Christian groups held not marginally different understandings of Jesus - instead, they held radically differing theological perspectives on both who Jesus was and what the primary message was of Jesus’ life and teachings. What might be gained by recognizing, exploring, reaffirming, and celebrating the rich diversity of meanings that Christianity has offered its advocates for two thousand years?

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Before trying these activities, try to let go of your understanding of Jesus - try to read the Bible with completely fresh eyes, as if you’ve never heard of this fellow named Jesus.

Choose one of the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, or Luke) and study it, read it deeply from beginning to end. What is the gospel writer trying to convey about Jesus and the importance of his life and teachings?

Then, read John’s Gospel - studying it, reading it deeply from beginning to end. How does it compare with the message from the synoptic gospel that you read? How is it similar? Where is it different?

(Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )

Mark 4: 5-6, 16-17:  Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil.  And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away... And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

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“To plant a seed or a seedling is to entrust it to the earth. The plant will live or die because of the earth. But the earth also entrusts herself to the plant. Each leaf that falls down and decomposes will help the soil be alive. When we take refuge in the Buddha, we entrust ourselves to the soil of understanding. And the Buddha entrusts himself or herself to us for understanding, love, and compassion to be alive in the world,” says the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (aka Thay) (The Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings, p. 162-163)

In Jesus’ parable of the sower, we hear of the seed falling on rocky ground; we think of the lack of root in the plant and the person. Even Jesus says, since “they have no root, [they] endure only for a while” (Mark 4:17). The problem is the lack of root...Or is it?

The lack of roots is an effect, not the cause of trouble. The real problem is mentioned earlier by Jesus: The soil has no depth (Mark 4:5). The soil is key. The soil has been ignored.

Acknowledging the value and importance of the Clean Air and the Clean Water Acts dating back to the 1970s, the soil scientist Dr. Rattan Lal asks us, where is the Clean Soil Act? Our lack of focus on soil health has been devastating for our Earth. The soil has been ignored. The soil is key.

Thich Nhat Hanh says the soil is alive and Dr. Lal agrees. What happens when the “soil of understanding” has depth and great life? Then the Buddha and Jesus’ teachings can take root, then we can fulfill our trust to bring to life understanding, love, and compassion. If our soil lacks depth, we may receive the teachings with joy, but everything quickly withers. Our spiritual and religious work is to improve the soil. How? We must compost what is not beneficial, that which does not serve compassion and agape love. A garden of loving kindness and compassionate understanding will grow.

Some people assume that those who embrace a melding of traditions like Buddhism and Christianity have a surface-level spirituality, one that lacks roots. Certainly, “seekers” risk remaining “spiritual shoppers,” skimming the surface, lacking depth - but that need not be the case for those called to “double belonging.” The Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh includes an image of Jesus on his altar and recognizes Jesus Christ as one of his spiritual ancestors. Thay says he is stronger for having these two roots (Living Buddha, Living Christ, p. 99-100). Two roots may grow well when the soil is deep and alive.

Among spiritual and religious leaders of the world, Nhat Hanh is known as one of the leading voices in caring for our planet. Having deepened, enriched, and enlivened the soil of compassionate understanding within himself, he recognizes that we are all part of the Earth. Thay emboldens us to open our hearts and raise our Earthen voices, to care for the living Earth beneath our feet, just as Dr. Lal calls us to enliven, enrich, and deepen the living soil of our planet.

What is true of the seeds of the Buddha and Jesus’ teachings is also true of our plant seeds - as well as the plant seeds of future generations. They require a depth of living soil. The soil is key. It must no longer be ignored.    

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Seeds sown on rocky ground in soil that lacks depth may spring up quickly, but they will soon wither and die. What teachings and practices deepen and enrich your soil? We are entrusted by Jesus and the Buddha to grow in compassionate understanding and loving ki

Job 39:1-4: “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer? Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, when they crouch to give birth to their offspring, and are delivered of their young? Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open; they go forth, and do not return to them.

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To think of the Book of Job is to reflect on Job’s long suffering; we note Job’s devotion to God, even in his despair, despite the loss of his property, his ill health, and the deaths of all his sons and daughters. After extended dialogue and counsel from friends, near the end of the Book of Job, the LORD speaks.

In chapter 38 of Job, G-d speaks of laying the foundation of the Earth (38:1) and ordering the stars (38:31), and then, in the beginning of chapter 39, the LORD asks Job, “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?” This  man has had all his sons and daughters crushed to death after the roof caved in at a party they were all attending at the eldest brother’s house (1:13-19) and the LORD wants to talk about goats in the mountains?

The Judeo-Christian Bible is a strangely constructed set of sacred texts. While repeatedly (and seemingly vociferously) offering a focus on humans and human concerns, the Bible suddenly (and repeatedly) explodes in vibrant spikes of non-human concern. The Book of Job is such an explosion. (Revisit Episode 1 of Fresh Green Blessings for a reflection on the LORD’s seven-fold covenant with all the Earth at the end of the flood narrative - as another one of these periodic, colorful, non-anthropocentric explosions.)

From the birth of mountain goats and the calving of deer, the LORD will go on in Job chapter 39 to speak of wild asses, oxen, horses, hawks, ostriches, and more. We have all gone through “down times” or difficult periods. Imagine being depressed, anxious, or suffering and seeking remediation, health, and healing. How might we respond if our compassionate friend or our professional counselor responded to our pain with this question: “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?”

The Book of Job is not simply calling us to be wowed by G-d who knows all; The LORD is giving Job (and us) images to see: The mothers crouch to give birth...the young ones become strong...they grow up in the open...they go forth...they do not return. These are the LORD’s words. These wondrous things are happening, right now, far from “the tumult of the city” (39:7). This is the Earth. This is the world. This is the purview of the LORD and we are being invited into envisioning this, as well.

The LORD is inviting Job (and us) into this range of sacred awareness and concern. Right now, as you read (or listen to) these words, there are mountain goats and deer and their young.  In this very moment, a young deer is growing up in the open; right now, a young goat may be going off, never to return. With all our heartfelt joys, with all our horrific pains, the calving deer are breathing in and out - right now. It is thousands of years later and the mountain goats will crouch and give birth to their offspring and be delivered of their young.

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We have all suffered. Some people have survived unspeakable horrors. For some, the level of trauma is so great. For others, there has been pain and hurt, but not such a depth of suffering. It is worthy to think of how we can bring health, healing, or even respite from pain to ourselves and others. Countless people have written of “nature as healer.”

Can our Mother Earth and the natural world bring healing to your body, mind, and spirit? What happens to you at those times when you step beyond the boundaries of anthropocentric concern? What happens to your body, mind, and spirit in those moments of “vaster vision” when you are appreciating a tree, an animal, the woods, a mountain? Ask yourself a simple question: Do you know when the mountain goa

Mark 6:1-6a: He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

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The Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (aka Thay) writes, “The first source of energy is faith. When you have the energy of faith in you, you are strong. In the Gospel, Jesus said that people with faith could move mountains...Faith is having a path that leads you to freedom, liberation, and the transformation of afflictions...If you have some experience that this path leads in a good direction, you will have faith in your path...If you use a method of practice and find it effective, if it brings you mindfulness, concentration, and joy, then faith and confidence are born from this...If we look carefully, we can see that the energy of awakening, compassion, and understanding is already there inside us. Recognizing these energies as an inherent part of your very being, you have confidence in these energies. And if you know how to practice, you can generate these energies to protect yourself and to succeed in what you want to do” (The Art of Power, p. 15-16).

Buddhism speaks of both the outer teacher and the inner teacher. The mission of the outer spiritual teacher is to help the student awaken to their own inner teacher. As Thay says, “Compassion and understanding…[are] an inherent part of your very being.” Similarly, Jesus tells the people that they are the children of G-d; there is an inherent goodness within them. It simply needs awakening. If there were no possibility of this inner awakening, Jesus would be senseless in his attempts to teach the crowds.

Jesus may have been the perfect teacher, but, even for him, in his hometown, “He could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them” (Mark 6:5). No matter how pure and genuine the teacher or the teachings, for a teacher to be effective, the listeners must be receptive. If the student has no faith in the teacher and refuses the outer teacher’s teachings, there is no possibility for inner spiritual transformation; the inner teacher will remain dormant and asleep.

Contemporary spiritual and religious teachers are far from perfect, some of them are quite flawed, and far too many have abused their power and brought terrible harm to trusting students. As spiritual and religious students, we must exercise great care, being aware of signs of danger or abuse. And those who follow the path of being spiritual or religious leaders must be ever watchful of their own wily egos and ever mindful so as to avoid doing harm as teachers or through the teachings.

When we find a “path that leads in a good direction,” our inner teacher can dance with the worthy teachings of the appropriate outer teacher(s). If we find a spiritual or religious teacher whose teachings resonate with our inner teacher, we may find ourselves in the sacred dance between the outer and inner teachings. To protect ourselves from harm, however, Thay cautions that we must always put our greater faith in the inner teacher. When we are on a path that leads to “freedom, liberation, and the transformation of afflictions,” then we may have faith in the path.

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Jesus was known as a great healer, but his healing is quite limited in his hometown because people simply do not accept that

Psalm 34:4- 11: I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed. This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him. O fear the Lord, you his holy ones, for those who fear him have no want. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

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Fear, fear, fear. Verse 4: Delivered me from all my fears. Verse 7: Those who fear him. Verse 9: O fear the Lord...Those who fear him. Verse 11: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Shouldn’t we be seeking a religion of love and compassion rather than one of fear? What possible value is there in a theology of fear? In a G-d to be feared? In teaching us fear?

These are worthy questions. Certainly, there is much in the Judeo-Christian Bible that does support a “theology of fear.” However, like many other Biblical passages, Psalm 34:4-11, even with its five references to fear in eight lines, need not be understood as simply promulgating a “theology of fear.”

At issue here is translation. Multiple Hebrew words are translated as “fear” in the Bible; where the original text offers many words with various and subtle meanings, the English text has been reduced to a single word, in this case: fear.

Compare the Hebrew word megurah in verse 4 of the psalm with yare and yirah in verses 7, 9, and 11. In verse 4, the Lord delivered me from all my megurah (fears). Megurah here is referencing “fear” that is terror related to evil. Now, let’s look at yare and yirah that are also translated as “fear” in this psalm from verses 7, 9, and 11. 7: The angel of the Lord encamps around those who yare (fear) him. 9: O yare (fear) the Lord, you his holy ones, for those who yare (fear) him have no want. 11: I will teach you the yirah (fear) of the Lord. Yare and yirah here are referencing a melding of awe, dread, wonder, fear, respect, and reverence. This is expressed by Rudolph Otto in his 1917 book The Idea of the Holy when he speaks of the Mysterium Tremendum, this awe-inspiring mystery that is simultaneously fascinating and terrifying, causing us to step back while also leading us to move towards.

As we compare the terror megurah that we are protected from in verse 4 of Psalm 34, with the awe/wonder/reverence yare/yirah that we are invited into in verses 7, 9, and 11, we see that the Hebrew writers are speaking of fundamentally different experiences - even contradictory experiences - but our English-language Bibles explain it all in one word: fear. Unfortunately, the complexity, differences, and nuance of megurah, yare, and yirah are all simply reduced to “fear” in our English translation of the Bible.

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Religion and theology should be focused on love and compassion, but this does not preclude entering into the sacred dance with wonder, dread, awe, fear, respect, and reverence that are expressed as yare and yirah. Our world is awe-inspiring and awe-ful. Watch a robin catch an earthworm and then feed it to her young. How amazing! There are, living amongst us on this planet, these illustrious, magical beings called worms. They are amazing, awe-inspiring creatures! And then birds - flying through the air! Building homes with sticks and bits of mud! What about the wonder of the baby robin coming out of the egg! And what about the awfulness and wonder that the flesh of the majestic worm will be torn to shreds in its terrifying death. Is not this the loving work of the mother bird? Through its pain and sacrifice will not that worm help the lovely young bird to grow so that it too can fly and sing? The Great Sacredness that may be called G-d encompasses the full yare-yirah of life on Earth. W

Matthew 25:43: I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.

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There is a Tibetan Buddhist story of people throwing stones at a dog. One of the stones hits the dog in the leg. Immediately, a revered Buddhist master who is present cries out in pain. As the people look, they see a welt rising up on the leg of the monk. Not only does this cause the people to have even greater respect and reverence for the master, it also causes them to treat that dog and other dogs with greater kindness. Lest we miss the message of this story, the greatest effect is not on the Buddhist monk or on the dogs; the greatest effect is on the people themselves. The stone-throwing incident and the lesson of the monk’s welt and pain lead the people to grow in compassion.

Many of us engage in a lifelong quest to answer the questions of who is/was this Jesus of Nazareth. Just as in the story of the two followers who did not recognize Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35), we may be fascinated by questions of how this Jesus is mystically, metaphysically, spiritually present in our world today? When and where is Jesus truly here? As proclaimed in Matthew 25, there is both exhilaration and warning in the presence of the Christ in the prisoner, the stranger, the naked, and the sick.

Such quests and cautions and percolations may be worthy fodder for reflection as we walk the spiritual path, but Matthew 25 may also serve as a simple and profound teaching that is exemplified in the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. A 20th Century Christian monk writes of what happens to one who engages in continuous prayer and spiritual practice, “When Grace is energized in the heart of the one who prays, then the love of God floods his entire being to such an extent that...this love is transferred to the love of the world and the human person. His love becomes so powerful that he asks to take upon himself all the suffering and unhappiness of the others so that they themselves may be relieved. He suffers with those who are suffering even for the suffering of animals, so much so that he sheds bitter tears when he becomes aware of their pain. These are attributes of Love.” (quote of Monk Joseph in Kyriacos C. Markides' The Mountain of Silence, p. 47)

What is the practice of Christianity? To welcome the stranger. To give clothing to the naked. To visit the sick and imprisoned. To do all this with compassion for the other. What is the practice of Christianity? To so grow in compassion that we cry bitter tears when the dog is struck with a stone; to so grow in compassion, to so take on the suffering of the other, that when a dog is struck with a stone, a welt rises on  our own leg.

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The homeless person begging for change, the stranger wanting to enter your neighborhood or your country, the prisoner accused of a violent crime - can we even begin to see Jesus in them? An animal is hurt or in pain - can we feel it? These “practices of Christianity” (and Buddhism) may seem far beyond our capabilities - and perhaps, in this moment, they are beyond our capacity, but they are not beyond our potential. The Buddhist and Eastern Orthodox Christian monks engage in hours of daily prayer and meditation. We may not be ready to commit to hours of spiritual practice each day, but what might happen if we increase our prayer and meditation time just a bit? What might happen if we devote just a little additional time and spiritual practice this week to holding in our hearts the suffering of the naked, the stranger, the sick, the prisoner? What might happen if we also devote just a little spiritual practice time to holding the suffering of an animal that might be in great pain?

(Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )