Category: Following Jesus

A friend of mine gave me a book to read this week entitled, The Zen Teachings of Jesus by Kenneth S. Leong. Those who know me know that I’m not afraid to chase the rabbit, even if it means having tea with some unusual characters. This book qualifies. The first two sentences in the Prelude states, “I left Jesus to search for the Tao when I was sixteen. Now I am forty, and I realize that I could have found the Tao in Jesus.” From this point on the author attempts to paint a picture of Jesus as a Zen Master. He uses the sayings of Jesus as well as those of well-known Christian writers like C. S. Lewis to draw parallels to the sayings of the Buddha and other Taoist teachers and writers. Although I am only about half way through the book, I must say that for those who are looking for dialog with practitioners of other religions, this does supply fodder for that. He has, so far, provided some compelling observations. I have been told by many people that it is difficult for one to see one’s own short comes and liabilities. Having someone on the outside who can offer a different view of one’s character can be helpful in bringing about positive change and growth. This book offers a bit of that. One such observation that most Christians miss regards the supernatural events and healings that Jesus performed. We tend to emphasize the act itself and the supernatural character of it. Leong asks, rather, not did these things happen, but “what specific impact” did these deeds have on those who were present? Were they simply a sensation? Or, rather, “did they transform the lives of those who saw them?” That’s an excellent question to consider and meditate on.
Now, before my Evangelical friends start to get nervous and think that I’ve gone quite of the pitch, let me add a few thoughts.
1. The opening statement of the prelude mentioned earlier tells me some things. Leong wrote that he left Jesus to find the Tao. I would ask how could he leave someone that he was actually never with? If he had actually had a living and real relationship with this Messiah Jesus, he would not have left it for anything. I don’t want to sound superior about this, but Jesus is as far superior to the Buddha and the Tao as the Creator should be above that which is created.
2. Leong tries to make the argument that Jesus was a Zen master. I don’t think that can stand. Jesus was a Jewish prophet and sage in the period of second temple Palestine. He was Semitic through and through. As such, he could not have been ‘enlightened’ in the way that Sidhartha Gotama, (the Buddha), was. Everything that Jesus thought and did was consistent with Jewish religious thought and practice. Now, there may have been some underlying cultural overlap. Much of second temple Judaism was influenced by their captivity in Babylon in the early to mid 1st millenium B.C.E. Who knows what kind of influence may have also flowed to the east of Babylon toward India? Also, who know what kind of common heritage was shared by some Indo-European influence? These are questions that some young Ph. D candidate can investigate. For me, it’s plausible that there may have been something shared that Leong picked up on from the Eastern side of things. This is, of course, a stretch that cannot be verified.
3. Leong makes a point of the fact that Zen has no object of worship. It is a way to find Truth through experience. Jesus, and the communities of faith that surround him, i.e., Judaism and Christianity, have an object of faith. Yahweh is the Creator God who walked among us, and who transcends all other objects. Period. Yahweh is the source and sustainer of all things. This includes the Tao and Chi and any other mediary that humans can find.
There is much in this book that sounds like Leong is attempting to justify his decision to abandon Christianity. By searching for connections that would allow him to say, “See, I’m not so different from you,” he can save face and put balm on any wounds that may have been opened through his journey away from the faith of kith and kin. This is only speculation on my part.
I must, however, applaud the attempt. Too many people use differences to mark the divisions between people. We use them to name “them” and to insulate “us.” This is antithetical to both Christ and Zen. We should look for points for dialog. We can learn much from one another. If any of us thinks for a nano second that we have the whole take on what’s true, we are deceived. Whether it’s the Buddha or the Tao or the Great Spirit or nothing at all, we are a creature that inquires and searches for meaning in the Good Creation that Yahweh has provided. We can share these insights and search together as fellow travelers. Does that mean we must become universalists and give up our particularities? No. But, it does mean that we must give up our parochial and sectarian attitudes and embrace our place among the many under the reign of Yahweh.

I enjoy reading blogs. There are several that I follow regularly. And, from these, I chase down others. I love finding out what other people are thinking, and how they are thinking. I learn from them what is important outside of my little corner of the cosmos. (I also learn how much I don’t know about, well, most things.)
On one of these little excursions, I found the following: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithforward/2012/04/how-to-live-as-a-christian-without-having-to-believe-the-unbelievable/#comments.It was posted by a person named Jim Burklo. You can check out his cv @ http://www.jimburklo.com/.
Anyway, in this post Burklo presented much of what can be described as progressive theology. Much of this thought is also found in the emergent church. I’m not going to review the post. But, I do want to think about it for a minute.
He wrote that what is important about following Christ is, well, the actual ‘following’ part. We should be more concerned about living the love of Christ over against believing all of the doctrine, dogma, (and I might add ‘drama’), that has grown up with the the Church over 2,000 years. He wrote,

“It really isn’t important whether or not you take the Bible literally, or whether or not you believe all the creeds word-for-word.  If they don’t make sense to you, don’t worry about them.  Don’t let dogma and doctrine get in the way of practicing Love, who is God … But repeating creeds is not the price of admission into Christianity.  Instead of caring whether the story of Jesus’ resurrection was a fact or a myth, let’s concern ourselves with things that matter.  Let’s care about our neighbors without jobs or health insurance, face the resentment in our hearts that needs to be released, struggle with how vote and be activist citizens, and learn how to bring our careers in alignment with our highest values.  Let’s gather in churches, soup kitchens, work-places, living rooms, and cafés to support each other in doing things that matter, and let go of old doctrines that don’t.”

I agree with him. There’s an old saying that states Christians are one of the few groups on this planet that regularly shoot their own wounded. We are, by and large, argumentative and spiteful. We stand on a plank and call it truth while the whole platform goes up in flames around us. And all the while, people die of starvation and thirst. They lose their homes, if they ever had one to begin with. They are raped, murdered, sold into slavery, oppressed and forgotten. Hey, folks…these are the ones Jesus came to save. Where are we?

But, there are some inconsistencies in Burklo’s presentation. He suggested that it is important to find a community of like-minded with whom to serve. It is important to practice spiritual disciplines and Bible study. Don’t these require some small seed of belief in something? Is not prayer a miracle of God’s grace?
By simply stating that we must work with the “spark of the divine that is in every one of us,” faith in what cannot be seen seems to be left out of the equation. If Jesus is not God, (part of orthodox doctrine), then why bother with the poor? They can fend for themselves in this survival of the fittest universe. If the invisible Ruach Elohim, the Spirit of God, is not brooding over and in the creation, then what ignites that spark of the divine within us? Why should we care for our neighbor? What difference does it make if Palestinians and Israelis blow each other up? Why should the rich not get richer?
I’m sorry, but I don’t put much faith in the human heart to do what’s good and just. I can, however, put my trust, and life, in the hands of the God of gods who alone is able to transform my heart of stone into one of flesh.