The Case AGAINST Christ

Why didn't Jesus replace the stone from the tomb when he rose from the dead?

Well, he was born in a barn.

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One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the evil that was going on. He decided to send an angel down to Earth to check it out. So He called one of His best angels and sent the angel to Earth for a while. When she returned she told God, yes it is bad on Earth, 95% is bad and 5% is good.
Well, He thought for a moment and thought maybe He'd better send down a second angel to get another point of view. So God called another angel and sent him to Earth for a time too. When the angel returned he went to God and told him "Yes, the Earth is in decline. 95% is bad and 5% is good." God said this was not good.

So He decided to send e-mail to the 5% that were good. He wanted to encourage them, give them a little something to help them keep going.

Do you know what that e-mail said?

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Oh, you didn't get one either, huh? Bummer.


So, you fell for it. I don't have anything to say about Jesus. I want, instead, to delve into our unfortunate need for controversy. No matter what the issue is or how much it has nothing to do with us, we still want to be in the middle of it. It's amazing how our culture has been linked to this behaviour.

Let's look, for example, at gossip. Let's leave out the normal day-to-day gossip that is so easy to see...mothers talking about daughters' friends...wives talking about coworkers, husbands talking about bosses...that's easy. Let's make it more general.

John and Kate Plus 8 drew 9.8 million viewers on Memorial Day. People magazine sold 3.6 million copies last year, and that was bad for them! What have we immersed ourselves in?

This talk could get hairy. If we are not allowed to enjoy the latest celebrity gossip, how is that any different than watching a Shakespeare play or going to see a nice musical? These things are ingrained in our society; it can't be all bad.

Well, some of it can be pretty bad.

Thich Nhat Hanh once said that to punch a pillow when one is angry is doing nothing but reinforcing violence. But that is a normal thing in society to do!! We punch pillows instead of people, how peaceful is that? Little do we know that we are teaching ourselves that violence is okay in small doses. Violence is never something to be okay with. It may be necessary to live in certain instances, but it is never okay.

Same goes with gossip. Of course it seems as if the rational thing to do when someone angers you is to go talk about them. It's what society has placed as normal. That doesn't make it right. Don't punch a pillow rather than be mindful. It's not in your best interest.

Attachment. We're attached to this feeling of being correct in every instance. Well, sometimes we are correct, in which case we need to practice humility. Sometimes we are wrong, in which case we need to shut our mouths and learn what needs to be learned from that situation. As a matter of fact, we need to shut our mouths regardless of whether we are right or wrong. We don't learn anything on the pedestal. We only show what we've learned there.

I got this idea from a talk I was having with a good friend on a plane. We were discussing religion, the meaning of life...you know, the easy questions. Myself being Buddhist, and he being an Atheist, the conversation wasn't your normal, Oklahoma based religious discussion. After about an hour long talk, the gentleman sitting next to us spoke up. "Man, this is too deep for me to sleep through," he said. He told us that it was nice that we were reaching out and thinking about these things. We were good people that knew what we were talking about. "Merely speaking from a Christian standpoint," he said, "I think there is a lot in common between what you guys think and what I think."

What happened afterward would have normally sent me on a rampage. The plane landed, we said our goodbyes, and after my friend went to retrieve his bag, the guy shook my hand, pulled me in close, and said, "You know, you should read the book of Mark."

I could have attached myself to my opinions and gotten angry, but instead I thought of how caring this man was being to me. In his belief, he felt as if I were headed down a road to hell, and he was kind enough to offer his advice and what had helped him get where he was.

It's nice to be mindful sometimes.

I think I've rambled off-topic, but I'll try to reel it back in. We need practice being mindful. We need to practice being aware of not only ourselves (as if that isn't hard enough) but also others. Once we can truly be in the moment, we will realize that those around us everyday are our family too. We need to treat them as such.

I was visiting a yoga teacher's myspace page a couple of weeks ago. Under "Favorite TV shows", he wrote something along the lines of, "I'm much too interested in my life to become involved in someone's I'm never going to meet".

What an interesting conclusion! Why tie ourselves into these controversies? Who cares what Brangelina or Miley whatsit's doing this weekend? Nothing along those lines is going to help us. It's merely mindless banter.

Am I saying to boycott these things? No. Just don't become attached to them. Make a new road for this society, one that leads to a higher understanding, rather than a wonderful dinner conversation piece.

Becoming A Buddhist

I just thought I would share with you some ideas that had been brought to me in the days before I became an "official" lay Buddhist, and my take on the ceremony in general.

I had the wonderful oppourtunity to walk with the monk who had been at my monastery before Thich Huyen An had come. He was a very gentle speaking yet grounded man in his faith and beliefs. I had come early for weekly meditation to do a bit of walking meditation beforehand, and he came up to the window and said, "I'm sorry...are you looking for someone?"

I knew we were going to get along perfectly.

There was this teacher figure in my head that I needed in my practice, and I had been a little disappointed in the temple I attend merely because English wasn't widely spoken. There was little oppourtunity for a dharma talk, much less a question-and-answer approach to the practice. I was very relieved to find this young monk to be generous with his answers.

My first question of him was merely the difference between Mahayana and Therevada practice, to which he replied, "there may be many roads to Dallas, but when headed there, you get to Dallas". I figured I needed to be more specific, so I told him of the compassion, forgiveness, and lovingkindness meditations I had encountered through Noah Levine, and I wondered why Mahayana (and more specifically Zen) practitioners felt mindfulness and breath awareness practice was sufficient rather than focusing on specific qualities to manifest. His answer was very simple, but it opened a new respect for Zen practice.

He said, "Think of a household. When you need the light, you flip a switch. When you need a blender, you turn on the blender. When you need the computer, you turn on the computer. When you need the tv, you turn on the tv. It is not a different practice. There is not a generator for each item you need. It is the same generator. This is the same way we view Mahayana practice. We do not need different generators for each problem we have. All exists within the mind. Therefore, train the mind, train every aspect of your life."

What an amazing analogy! Oftentimes, before I began my practice, I wondered what the point was....sitting and staring at a wall can in no way help my life. This is not the way I was raised! Little did I know I was doing myself a great disservice, not allowing myself to truly experience each moment as it came.

Not that I am against any other forms of meditation. I enjoy a good forgiveness meditation just as much as anyone. However, I do believe we should really focus on a good foundation. If we cannot sit with ourselves as we are in the present moment, how can we ever feel confident in bringing up aspects of ourselves that we are not comfortable with?

Anyway, I found that very helpful. As for the ceremony, I have never felt more welcomed in my life. Although most of the service was in Vietnamese and I had to have a monk sitting beside me to translate the master's words for me, the precepts still rang true. I felt connected to everyone there...I truly have a sangha! Moreover, my wife and mother were there to support me. It couldn't have been better. I now can enter the temple a new person...a reincarnation of a past self that was not fully committed to practice. I can say that Ryan Lassiter was infused with wrong view, wrong perception, and so forth. Now, with a dharma name, Chán Trí Tuệ, I am fully committed. I sit not for myself, not for realization, but for the betterment of everyone.

There have been many posts in the buddhoblogosphere pertaining to the effectiveness of a virtual sangha, and the necessity of in-person sanghas. I have stayed out of the conversation merely because I didn't have an opinion. However, I think I have come to a conclusion. I don't believe that virtual sanghas are insufficient. I believe they have just as much merit as any other communities. Most of my progress in study has been due to the on line community. There is just so much information at everyone's fingertips!! There is no reason why a virtual community wouldn't be just as good. I do know, however, that I wouldn't have had the same experience and motivation to practice without being there. That definitely would have been missing. The important part is to keep practicing, not worried about in-home, in-temple, or in-virtual land, but always in the moment, in right effort, and in harmony with the world around us.