Jesus of Nazareth

What an amazing passage. I could write about this for pages and pages but i will limit myself for the sake of my classmates haha
First of all, i loved the quote "Unless you change your life and become like a child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." Children are innocent and are untainted by the world. They have little or no worldly desires. They have not yet sinned. Wouldnt it be nice to be a kid again.....haha
I cant really choose a favorite excerpt from this passage but the closest to a favorite would be the one about the prodigal son from the gospel of Luke. The son takes his share of his father's estate and goes wild with it. He spends every last dime and is forced to do labor to make money and survive. He returns to his father and says "Father I have sinned against God and against you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Let me be like one of your hired men." In response to this the father ran to his son, embraced him, kissed him, threw a beautiful robe on his back, and gave him a plentiful feast. Jesus told this story to describe God's love for us. We have all sinned, whether its frivolously spending money, lying, cheating, stealing, etc...But God, our father, is running after us...ready to embrace us, kiss us, give us a plentiful feast and forgive us for those sins. Later in the excerpt the father says "But it was proper to rejoice and make merry and rejoice, for your brother was dead, and he has come back to life; he was lost, and is found." What a beautiful thing for a father to say. We are dead and lost. With the love of God in our hearts we are alive and found.

The Cloud of Unknowing

I love the first line of this passage. "Lift up your heart to God with a meek stirring of love; and intend God himself and none of his created things." First of all "lift up your heart to God" is just such a beautiful picture. It reminds me of when you see people singing and praising in worship at church and they have their hands lifted up as a sign of surrender. The thought of pretty much handing God your heart is such a surrendering idea. I also loved how the word meek was used in this passage. I think it can be taken in a few different ways. One definition of the word is "humbly patient." Oh wow how patience is not something America is good at haha Lifting up your heart to God with a humbly patient stirring of love...that is not as easy as it sounds. Another definition for meek is compliant. In this sentence that would be "with a compliant stirring of love." So that would be not only surrendering but also obeying. And the last definition for meek is gentle or kind. "lift up your heart to God with a [gentle] stirring of love." I love this version of the excerpt. I like to think of God as being very gentle, so to gently stir your love for him just makes you that much closer to him. The next part of the sentence says "intend God himself and none of his created things." I took this to mean that one should pray for the will of God and not for your own worldly desires. He has such a greater picture and path of our lives than we could possibly fathom. So idealy, praying for him to work in your life and have his will be done is so much more effective.
Obviously this whole passage is really profound but I really wanted to unpack that excerpt and just dig into the meaning behind the words.

Pai-Chang

I liked this one haha short and sweet :) lol
It discussed similar ideas as the Hui-Hai but for some reason i liked this one better ha. I kinda ripped apart Hui-Hai :/ my bad. lol
But anyways..
"To behold the Buddha nature you must wait for the right moment and the right conditions." Well i think this is the case in most religions; waiting until your heart is prepared and ready for what God has in store for you. This may not be what was meant by the passage but that is what i interpret from it.
I really like the part that said "when the time comes, you are awakened as if from a dream." Recently I went on a retreat with the college group at my church and the title of the retreat was actually "awakened." so i definitely related to this. Well after the retreat me and all my peers felt the same way...refreshed and alive, like we had been "awakened from a dream." So obviously this is an idea that spans over multiple relgions.
The part i didnt agree with is "what you have found is your own and doesnt come from anywhere outside." I believe that this big realization does come from you in part because obviously you search inside yourself to find it but i dont believe the source is yourself.
Also, i do not believe that after enlightenment you are still the same. I know that ever since i became a Christian and fully opened up my heart to God I have never been the same and I never will be the same. My life is changed forever.
Lastly, I liked the line "When you have arrived at this recognition, please hold on to it." Holding onto a faith can be hard because you are holding on to something you cant see. But holding onto that recognition or faith is the best thing you could possibly do in your lifetime.

Hui-Hai

Ha well sorry to disappoint everyone who liked this reading but i really didnt :/
There were a few parts i liked though...
One of which was when it talked about "men [being] unattached to all things." I think that people shouldn't be attached to "things" because that is exactly what they are. The things of this world are nothing and mean nothing. Our world is so focused on "chasing after something outside [ourselves]" When in reality what matters most is whats inside of us, our hearts.
I didnt really know what to think about the part that talked about not dwelling on anything. From what ive learned in psychology and physiology....you cant turn off your brain. So no matter what you are always thinking about something (unless your dead or in a choma or something). I understand not DWELLING on something as in like obsessing on it, but i dont think thats what was meant by this passage. I think it was talking about clearing your mind.
I also did not agree with the part about our nature being pure. News flash... human nature isnt pure lol humans were made to sin. Unless you are a newborn baby or an animal you are impure. Sorry to break it to ya...but we all sin. And you cant just make your mind all of the sudden be pure. In response to the question "since the pure essence cant be found, where does this perception come from?" they compare us to a mirror. Well mirrors arent living beings....they sit on a wall and do nothing...so yeah i think that is self explanitory. I mean i totally believe that we can strive to be pure but i do not believe that complete purity is an option. That would mean humans can be perfect...which they cant.

Shunryu Suzuki

I really like how he talked about our minds being ready for anything. Too often people are close minded. Especially when it comes to religion. People are so defensive that they dont even wait to hear out the other side. The funny thing is that most religions are centered around similar ideas. I found it interesting when he said "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few." This is so true because a beginner has potential to advance while an expert supposedly knows all there is to know. I find this kind of funny because so many people think they are experts on things or strive to be...I know after reading this I would rather be a beginner and keep learning new things. It'll be a sad day when there is nothing else to learn...talk about boredom! haha
The section that talks about balance intrigued me. The idea that we are constantly off balance and changing was kind of hard for me to understand at first. But it totally makes sense now. I used to take gymnastics and my coach would always tell me when i was having a hard time "Its ok to feel off balance or like you are going to fall...that means you are doing it right" Well I never really got why he said that because I was so sure that tumbling should not make me feel uncomfortable or off balance. I thought that the whole point was to demonstrate balance. But the fact is that when your feet are above your head...you are going to feel off balance. Once you put your feet back on the ground your stable and in a new place than you were befpre. This same concept applys to life. You go through stages of change all the time and its ok to feel off balance because during those times you develop and grow.

The Buddha

First of all, I found the meaning behind the name Buddha very interesting. "...the awakened one- that is, someone who has woken up from the dream of being a separate ego in a material universe." The statement about dreaming of being a separate ego follows closely with the idea that we are all one with God or as stated in a previous reading that we are sparks of God. Also, the idea that the material universe serves no purpose in the greater picture is an idea that spans over most religions.
I didn't much agree with the statement "Do not be led by holy scriptures..." In my experience, scripture is how we learn of our religion and try to better our faith. In the Christian religion, the Bible is the source of scripture and it lays out right from wrong. I don't think that basing what you do or don't do on what feels right to the individual is correct. To me that seems like anarchy because everyone could justify everything they do by saying "I didnt realize it was bad because it just felt right."
On a better note, I really liked that part of this passage that said "As a mother at the risk of her life watches over her only children, so let everyone cultivate a boundlessly compassionate mind toward all beings." If everyone loved everyone else with the same love that a mother has for her children this world would have no problems. haha. Recently at my church, a guest speaker was talking about how he lived in a condo with a bunch of pastors and they did this thing where they left their door open so that anyone and i mean anyone could walk in and spend time with these guys, making friends, learning about Christianity, etc. That is just crazy awesome to me. I mean I would not be able to just leave my front door open for strangers to walk in. So that just seems like a great example of this idea of loving everyone around you. They may not have put there life on the line but they reached out to people and just spread the word of God. This condo becamr known as Narnia because when people went there it just felt like another world entirely full of loving and caring people.

Yehiel Mikhal of Zlotchov

The descriptions this guy gives are just awesome. I loved when he said "...without the power of God, who created them and who keeps them in existence, they are nothing, just as before the creation; and so there is nothing in the world but the Creator, blessed be he." This statement is just so spot on...well to my beliefs that is. The Creator is a constant in this universe and we are just temporary occupants. The passage basically says that people that have a relationship with God and believe in him know this to be true. On the other hand it says the opposite for those who are not attached to God. It says that they think they exist and are great but in reality they are not. However, if they realize that they are nothing without the Creator and know that they are a temporary occupant on the earth, then they are great.
I loved the imagery of "The root is the Infinite, therefore the branch is also infinite. It has lost its own existince, like a drop that has fallen into the great sea and is one with the waters of the sea and cannot be recognized as a seperate thing." God is the root. We are the branches. Being attached to the root we go on forever, but as soon as we fall from that root or detach ourselves from God we are nothing and cannot be recognized. That is so great yet at the same time sad. There are so many people in this world that aren't attached to the Infinite and its sad to think that they will one day be unrecognizable. It's especially hard to think about because I mean I have family members and friends that don't believe in God that have passed away. Its sad to think they wont be in that place that I go off to one day when I die.

Shmelke of Nikolsburg

I related to this reading quite a bit. I have actually found myself asking the exact questions the disciple asked the rabbi.
The rabbi's first response that "all souls are one" reminded me of previous readings about the jewels and how they are all connected and affect each other. Also, the image of punishing your hand because it hit you was rather humorous to me. It makes sense though. If you hurt someone else it is like you are hurting yourself because we are all a piece of one original soul. I think that is something people need to remember because it would reduce a lot of conflict in the world.
I found it interesting how he referred to people as sparks of God. This creates the picture in my head of like a campfire with embers flying off everywhere. Obviously God would be the huge flame and we would be the embers. This wouldnt be the first time God was referred to as a fire. In the bible he comes in the form of a burning bush and presents himself as I Am.
The rabbi's second response hit me hard when he said, "And will you not have mercy on Him, when you see that one of His holy sparks has been lost in a maze, and is almost stifled?" On a day to day basis we dont think about others as being just another lost spark. What ive been taught adn what i believe is that sin is sin in God's eyes, so then what right to we have to pass judgement on who is wicked? If sin is sin then we are all wicked in one way or another. To think that we place blame or shame on "His holy sparks" just gives me pain in my heart. By punishing those that have sinned, we are pretty much punishing God and that idea really doesnt sit well with me.