in his book " the zen teachings of jesus",michael leong presents a very different way of understanding some of the things jesus taught--thru the eyes of eastern thought.. here's a couple of examples.
(he first explains that we should try to view jesus as a poet teaching us how to live beautifully.).
when jesus is questioned as to the greatest commandment and his reply "you must love god with your whole heart, mind and strength.
JT, since we're in this discussion may I ask a question? I've pondered this concept of false selves, ego's that are created and can see the deeper "oneness" of everything but it seems to me that these false selves or ego's have a purpose, I'm just not sure what it is.
Any ideas? Are they something used to navigate thru reality and no longer hinder us once they are seen for what they are?
in his book " the zen teachings of jesus",michael leong presents a very different way of understanding some of the things jesus taught--thru the eyes of eastern thought.. here's a couple of examples.
(he first explains that we should try to view jesus as a poet teaching us how to live beautifully.).
when jesus is questioned as to the greatest commandment and his reply "you must love god with your whole heart, mind and strength.
Very insightful and informative JamesThomas. I enjoy hearing your take on things. Your comments reminded me of "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse where Siddhartha does essentially the same thing with his Master, the Buddha.
How I understand it is that when we've grown enough all of our masters, deities , gods ect. that we thought we needed sort of step aside and we discover our own divinity. This is what I've experienced anyway.
Your thoughts?
in his book " the zen teachings of jesus",michael leong presents a very different way of understanding some of the things jesus taught--thru the eyes of eastern thought.. here's a couple of examples.
(he first explains that we should try to view jesus as a poet teaching us how to live beautifully.).
when jesus is questioned as to the greatest commandment and his reply "you must love god with your whole heart, mind and strength.
JT, I think I understand what you're saying and I think that is the objective of the book...to show that what Jesus may have said is pointing to the all -important power of presence, the now. Pointing to the greater reality of ourselves, "I am" and the kingdom within.
in his book " the zen teachings of jesus",michael leong presents a very different way of understanding some of the things jesus taught--thru the eyes of eastern thought.. here's a couple of examples.
(he first explains that we should try to view jesus as a poet teaching us how to live beautifully.).
when jesus is questioned as to the greatest commandment and his reply "you must love god with your whole heart, mind and strength.
Why must everything be an object in order to be defined?
For instance what exactly is a thought? Is it an object, concrete and tangible?
What is an emotion?
What is space but the absence of objects and yet we can define it.
in his book " the zen teachings of jesus",michael leong presents a very different way of understanding some of the things jesus taught--thru the eyes of eastern thought.. here's a couple of examples.
(he first explains that we should try to view jesus as a poet teaching us how to live beautifully.).
when jesus is questioned as to the greatest commandment and his reply "you must love god with your whole heart, mind and strength.
I'm not sure about taking the magnificience, beauty, mystery and unlimitedness of life and reducing it to a chess match or baseball game.
in his book " the zen teachings of jesus",michael leong presents a very different way of understanding some of the things jesus taught--thru the eyes of eastern thought.. here's a couple of examples.
(he first explains that we should try to view jesus as a poet teaching us how to live beautifully.).
when jesus is questioned as to the greatest commandment and his reply "you must love god with your whole heart, mind and strength.
OFG, No he only focuses on the gospels.
in his book " the zen teachings of jesus",michael leong presents a very different way of understanding some of the things jesus taught--thru the eyes of eastern thought.. here's a couple of examples.
(he first explains that we should try to view jesus as a poet teaching us how to live beautifully.).
when jesus is questioned as to the greatest commandment and his reply "you must love god with your whole heart, mind and strength.
Until you get a chance to read it here are a few quotes from the book.
"We often misinterpret Jesus because we tend to take him to 'seriously' or solemnly. True spirituality begins with relaxation. In reading scripture 'seriousness' is irreverence!" In order to understand Jesus we must have a sense of humor."
"Deep spiritual truths appear to be self-contradictory or even ridiculous when expressed in words.True humor is needed to understand them, humor resulting from relaxation, not fear."
"He (Jesus) is more often worshipped (or attacked) than listened to. When we really listen to him we will find that he seldom preached or moralized. What he excelled at was relating to us through his colorful stories and enlightening us with his poetry."
"The most dangerous idolatries are those committed in the name of God. A ready example is the idolization of the words of Jesus by taking them literally rather than seeing the poetry in them. Our "punishment" for doing that is that we fail to recognize their beauty, joy and insight."
"One of the saddest errors we have committed is to make the kingdom an event in the future. ...The kingdom is available now.; this is what Jesus meant when he said 'the kingdom is at hand' ".
in his book " the zen teachings of jesus",michael leong presents a very different way of understanding some of the things jesus taught--thru the eyes of eastern thought.. here's a couple of examples.
(he first explains that we should try to view jesus as a poet teaching us how to live beautifully.).
when jesus is questioned as to the greatest commandment and his reply "you must love god with your whole heart, mind and strength.
It is indeed a great book that I highly recommend, here's the ISBN 0-8245-1883-7. Enjoy!
in his book " the zen teachings of jesus",michael leong presents a very different way of understanding some of the things jesus taught--thru the eyes of eastern thought.. here's a couple of examples.
(he first explains that we should try to view jesus as a poet teaching us how to live beautifully.).
when jesus is questioned as to the greatest commandment and his reply "you must love god with your whole heart, mind and strength.
In his book " The Zen Teachings of Jesus",Michael Leong presents a very different way of understanding some of the things Jesus taught--thru the eyes of eastern thought.
Here's a couple of examples. (He first explains that we should try to view Jesus as a poet teaching us how to live beautifully.)
When Jesus is questioned as to the greatest commandment and his reply "You must love God with your whole heart, mind and strength." Leong proposes that this is a great "cosmic joke" for how can love be commanded? Jesus impresses upon us the absurdity of it by saying with your whole heart, mind and strength. What good is love that is forced--is it even love?
So why did he say this? Keep in mind who he was talking to, people obsessed with rules and commands. Jesus was constantly trying to show the folly of trying to gain something thru strict rule following. So, it's as if he said " Ok look, you want a commandment. Here's one, try following this."
It's a Zen way of teaching, thru paradox and irony. Another way is by going to extreme. Here's an example Leong presents.
When Jesus says 'I say to you whoever so much as looks at a woman so as to have a passion for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
Now honestly, what adult heterosexual male can say he has never looked at any other woman and felt passion for her. If we were to truly take Jesus words here literally how many men are guilty of adultery--how many elders? It's as if putting a plate of hot food in front of a hungry man and telling him that if he feels hungry he's committed gluttony.
Once again, by setting the bar so high Jesus demonstrates the uselessness of strict rules that only lead to judgement and guilt.
These are a couple of thoughts from the book...any comments?
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that is, if you are able to without the prospect of facing a three-man kangaroo court appointed by jerhover to keep the congregation clean from apostate influences.. i'll go first: .
