Love is also a good teacher , much better than the fear of eternal damnation . Such a teaching is a bastardization of the point of creation which is ever-unfolding and the Kingdom of God was ever-present always to the compassionate and humble awakened soul.
Buddha had much to say on love and kindness in great detail...and more .
Buddha's Sermon at Rajastan: (yes they were called "sermons" 500 yrs before)
"Now attend and listen: The senses meet the object and from their contact sensation is born. Thence results recollection. Thus, as the sun's power through a burning-glass causes fire to appear, so through the cognizance born of sense and object, the mind originates and with it the ego, the thought of self, whom some Brahman teachers call the lord.
The shoot springs from the seed; the seed is not the shoot; both are not one and the same, but successive phases in a continuous growth. Such is the birth of animated life.
"Ye that are slaves of the self and toil in its service from morn until night, ye that live in constant fear of birth, old age, sickness, and death, receive the good tidings that your cruel master
exists not .
Self is an error, an illusion, a dream. Open your eyes and awaken. See things as they are and ye will be comforted. He who is awakened will no longer be afraid of nightmares. He who has recognized the nature of the rope that seemed to be a serpent will cease to tremble. "He who has found there is no self will let go all the lusts and desires of egotism. The cleaving to things, covetousness, and sensuality inherited from former existences, are the causes of the misery and vanity in the world.
Surrender the grasping disposition of selfishness, and you will attain to that calm state of mind which conveys perfect peace, goodness, and wisdom." And the Buddha breathed forth this solemn utterance: - "Do not deceive, do not despise Each other, anywhere. Do not be angry, and do not Secret resentment bear; For as a mother risks her life And watches over her child, So boundless be your love to all, So tender, kind and mild. "Yea cherish good-will right and left, For all, both soon and late, And with no hindrance, with no stint, From envy free and hate; While standing, walking, sitting down.
*** Forever keep in mind: The rule of life that's always best Is to be loving-kind. "Gifts are great, the founding of viharas(spiritual orders) is meritorious, meditations and religious exercises pacify the heart, comprehension of the truth leads to Nirvana, but greater than all is loving-kindness. As the light of the moon is sixteen times stronger than the light of all the stars, so loving-kindness is sixteen times more efficacious in liberating the heart than all other religious accomplishments taken together.
The Lord Buddha, sets up what has been overturned; he reveals what has been hidden; he points out the way to the wanderer who has gone astray; he lights a lamp in the darkness so that those who have eyes to see may see.
And this for all God's creatures , all inclusive J kenyon , spoken 500yrs before Jesus , and taught humbly for
over 40yrs .
Not a whirlwind tour of a brief 3 yrs of a ministry , but for nearly 1/2 century. And every corner of deepest wisdom and universal message touched and revealed simply and with great compassion . |
