Lunch with Buddha

 
Apparently, the Buddha like his coffee with cream and sugar...pretty sure Mohammed would want his straight black and strong. Jesus, not sure.  
 
Above is a photo from my favorite go-to place for Vietnamese in town. I have no illusions that the joint is top shelf foodie paradise. Instead, it is like a diner that serves good not great Vietnamese food at a reasonable price. I am pretty much a regular there. I routinely taunt the Vietnamese cook that her food ain't spicy enough for me. I really want the place to prosper because it enriches the cultural palate of our community. I can tell that they consider me a frequent flier by the tone of their voices and I am hardly there all of the time. The place does not look like it is going to make it to be honest. That really saddens me...I feel like I am throwing them penny lifesavers, yet they are slowly sinking. Maybe that explains the offering? A wishing well...
  
I have been on a Buddhist kick of sorts recently to learn more about the religion. There are some similarities in Christianity and Buddhism. A primary teaching being that self is the enemy. Where the Buddha's enlightenment occurred when he saw the self recede and the universal consciousness awaken, Jesus teaches that until we are spiritually born-again, we are false selves awaiting an awakening into the day of our true selves. It is a completely diametrical difference. I know many born-again Christians hardly look enlightened yet it is up to God to separate the wheat from the chaff. Christian Wonder Bread. Air, a lot of air. No nutrition.  
 
From what I have learned about Buddhism, there are two dragons to be slain. The Delight/Lust Dragon is to be slain: For where the Delight/Lust Dragon roams, suffering ensues. For delight cannot satisfy. Only having no delight, no Delight Dragon/Lust, is the solution. The second Dragon to be slain is Aversion/Bitterness. The refusal to feed the hurt and pain Aversion/Bitterness Dragon and also refusing the desire to bring the Delight/Lust Dragon back to life to balance out the pain of the Aversion/Bitter Dragon. The sword employed to do so is selflessness. I suppose the dragon is actually two heads and one body. Lust/Bitter Heads, and the body of self--you feed one head, you feed both. My apologies if I am missing the mark. I don't want to be inaccurate. There is a third incorrect posture which is Ignorance/Neutrality I think. Three heads?
 
From what I have listened to on Buddhist podcasts though, and ironically, there seems to be  a lot of self used when trying to destroy the self. Not sure how that works but I hear a lot "I have been working on," "I am getting better with," and "I still am struggling concerning ________." The I to destroy the I.
 
QUOTES — Wise ones, dependent on the mind and
forms, mind-consciousness arises; the meeting of the three is
contact; with contact as a condition there arises [a feeling] felt
as pleasant, painful or neutral. When one is touched by a pleasant
feeling, if one delights in it, welcomes it, and remains holding to
it, then the underlying tendency to lust lies within one. When one
is touched by a painful feeling, if one sorrows, grieves and
laments, weeps beating one’s breast and becomes distraught, then
the underlying tendency to aversion lies within one. When one is
touched by a neutral feeling, if one does not understand as it
actually is the origination, the disappearance, the gratification,
the danger, and the escape in regards to feeling, then the
underlying tendency to ignorance lies within one. That one shall
here and now make the end of suffering without abandoning the
underlying tendency to lust for pleasant feeling, without
abolishing the underlying tendency to aversion towards painful
feeling, without extirpating the underlying tendency to ignorance
in regard to neutral feeling, without abandoning ignorance and
arousing true knowledge — this is impossible.

 
Ultimately, the Gospel is about renunciation unto redemption. Not renunciation into nothingness and Nirvana.                 


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