To One To One Wisdom Wisdom

FellowshipFellowship

Ed GeratyEd Geraty

The god in me greets The god in me greets and and celebrates the god in you.celebrates the god in you.

I am honored to be your host today

While in this time and place of celebration mixed with quietude

PLEASE turn your cell phones OFFPLEASE turn your cell phones OFF -- or on vibrate if needed 9/08

““We believe in a loving, compassionate, We believe in a loving, compassionate, generous giver of all life. Call this by any generous giver of all life. Call this by any name - the name doesn't matter. It is the life name - the name doesn't matter. It is the life in every one of us, and in everything around in every one of us, and in everything around us. Everything comes from this one source, us. Everything comes from this one source, and it is the life force. We believe in living in and it is the life force. We believe in living in the awareness that we are one, and there is no the awareness that we are one, and there is no "other." "other."

We believe that when our hearts are open and We believe that when our hearts are open and loving to all - that we are living in the light - loving to all - that we are living in the light - and are living as the creator intended.”and are living as the creator intended.” 12/0812/08

We light the candle We light the candle to symbolize UNITY to symbolize UNITY And the Presence of And the Presence of GOD’S LIGHT IN ALLGOD’S LIGHT IN ALL

Reading

The Jesus-Buddha Dialogues

“Jai Guru Dev”Jai = I give thanks to

Guru = a teacher, or spiritual leader.

Dev = god or heavenly one

Numerous scholars have made parallels between Buddha and Jesus.

They "have often considered the possibility that Buddhism greatly influenced the early development of Christianity.

They have drawn attention to many parallels concerning the lives, doctrines, and experiences of the Buddha and Jesus.

Some believe…

Some believe Jesus was the reincarnation of Buddha

Some believe Jesus learned Buddhist teachings

Some parallels

Buddha and his disciples traveled as preachers, going into homes and preaching gospels to those who hear; one parallel not found in other traditions.

Jesus, too, pursues this form of preaching and teaching.

The Light

Jesus speaks of himself as 'the light' and the son of a great father

In Mahayana traditions, their Buddha proclaims himself to be a great father with sons of light

• Both supposedly fasted in solitude for a long time: Buddha for forty--seven days and Jesus for forty.

• Both wandered to a fig tree at the conclusion of their fasts

• Both were about the same age when they began their public ministry

Response to “evil”• To Jesus, he (Satan) said: "All these [kingdoms of the

world] I will give you, if you fall down and worship me" (Matthew 4:9).

• Jesus responded: "...begone, Satan!" (Matthew 4:10).• Buddha has harassed by demons. He answered “evil":

"Get you away from me."

• Both experienced the "supernatural" after the “evil" left:• For Buddha: "The skies rained flowers, and delicious

odors prevailed [in] the air." • For Jesus: ".angels came and ministered to him"

(Matthew 4:11).

signs• The multitudes required a sign from both in order

that they might believe.• Both strove to establish the “kingdom of heaven”

on earth.• Buddha "represented himself as a mere link in a

long chain of enlightened teachers."• Jesus said: "Think not that I have come to

abolish the law, and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matthew 5:17).

• Both are said to have known the thoughts of others:

• "By directing his mind to the thoughts of others, [Buddha] can know the thoughts of all beings."

• "Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said: `Why do you think evil in your hearts?' " (Matthew 9:4).

Similar teachingsBuddha preached on the "Holy Hill." Jesus delivered his sermon on the

Mount.

The phraseology of the sermons of Buddha and the sermon of Jesus is the same in many instances.

Both Buddha and Jesus compared themselves to husbandmen sowing seed. The parable of the prodigal son is found in both Buddhist and Christian scriptures. So is the account of the man born blind.

Both use the mustard seed as a simile for smallness. Buddha taught: "Perishable is the city built of sand." Jesus taught: "a foolish man builds his house upon the sand." Both speak of "the rain which falls on the just and on the unjust."

preaching

Buddha commanded his disciples to preach his gospel to all men. Christ commanded his disciples to do the same.

In obedience to these commands the world was filled with missionaries, and largely as the result of this the adherents of these religious systems outnumber those of all others combined

The sayings"Do to others as you would have them do to you." (Luke

6:31)"Consider others as yourself." (Dhammapada 10:1)------"If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also."

(Luke 6:29)“

If anyone should give you a blow with his hand, with a stick, or with a knife, you should abandon any desires and utter no evil words." (Majjhima Nikaya 21:6)

"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. From anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them back." (Luke 6:27-30)

"Hatreds do not ever cease in this world by hating, but by love: this is an eternal truth. Overcome anger by love, overcome evil by good ... Overcome the miser by giving, overcome the liar by truth." (Dhammapada 1.5 & 17.3)

"Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." (Matt. 25:45)“

If you do not tend one another, then who is there to tend to you? Whoever would tend me, he should tend the sick." (Vinaya, Mahavagga 8:26:3)

----"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I

have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friend." (John 15:12-13)"J

“Just as a mother would protect her only child at the risk of her own life, even so, cultivate a boundless heart towards all beings. Let your thoughts of boundless love pervade the whole world." (Sutta Nipata 149-150)

"Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, "Friend, let me take the speck out of your eye," when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye." (Luke 6:41-42)

"The faults of others are easier to see than one's own; the faults of others are easily seen, for they are sifted like chaff, but one's own faults are hard to see. This is like the cheat who hides his dice and shows the dice of his opponent, calling attention to the other's shortcomings, continually thinking of accusing him." (Undanavarga 27:1)

"They said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" He said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." (John 8:4-7)

"Do not look at the faults of others, or what others have done or not done; observe what you yourself have done and have not done." (Dhammapada 4:7)

"Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness. Therefore consider whether the light in you is full of darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays." (Luke 11: 34-36)

"As a man with eyes who carries a lamp sees all objects, so too with one who has heard the Moral Law. He will become perfectly wise." (Udanavarga 22:4)

"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." (Luke 6:20)

"Let us live most happily, possessing nothing; let us feed on joy, like the radiant gods." (Dhammapada 15:4)

"Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die." (John 11:26)

"Those who have sufficient faith in me, sufficient love for me, are all headed for heaven or beyond." (Majjhima Nikaya 22:47)

"Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it." (Mark 8:35)

"With the relinquishing of all thought and egotism, the enlightened one is liberated through not clinging." (Majjhima Nikaya 72:15)

"When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time." (Luke 4:13)

"During the six years that the Bodhisattva practiced austerities, the demon followed behind him step by step, seeking an opportunity to harm him. But he found no opportunity whatsoever and went away discouraged and discontent." (Lalitavistara Sutra 18)

"Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them." (John 20:26)

"He goes unhindered through a wall." (Anugattara Nikaya 3:60)

----"If you wish to be perfect, go sell your possessions, and

give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven." (Matt.19:21)

"The avaricious do not go to heaven, the foolish do not extol charity. The wise one, however, rejoicing in charity, becomes thereby happy in the beyond." (Dhammapada 13:11)

Both taught Non Duality

• Jesus said, “Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.” (The Gospel of Thomas)

• There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

• Come to know the One in the presence before you and everything hidden from you will be revealed. (Gospel of Thomas)

• When you are able make two become one, the inside like the outside, and the outside like

the inside, the higher like the lower, so that a man is no longer male, and a woman, female,

but male and female become a single whole… —then you shall enter in.

• "Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I AM." John 8: 58

• "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending" sayeth the Lord, "which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.“ (Revelations 1:8)

• If the selflessness of phenomena is analyzed and if this analysis is cultivated,It causes the effect of attaining nirvana.Through no other cause does one come to peace. (The Samadhiraja Sutra)

• One who is in harmony with emptinessis in harmony with all things. (Nagarjuna, Treatise on the Middle Way 24.14)

The Buddha• There is that sphere of being where there is no earth,

no water, no fire, nor wind; no experience of infinityof space, of infinity of consciousness, of no-thingness,or even of neither-perception-nor-non-perception; herethere is neither this world nor another world, neithermoon nor sun; this sphere of being I call neither a coming, nor a going nor a staying still, neither a dying nor a reappearance; it has no basis, no evolution, and nosupport: it is the end of dukkha. (ud. 8.1)