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- Herausgeber: WS
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
"I left Jesus to search for the Tao when I was sixteen," writes Kenneth Leong. "Now I am forty and realize that I could have found the Tao in Jesus." This is an intriguing book that reveals how Zen philosophy parallels the core message of the gospel.
It is the spiritual side of Zen, the art to trust and accept life that coincides with the core of the Gospel message. For power, dogma and doctrine were not Jesus' passion, but the mystery of life and the possibility of love. Sometimes people have overlooked the joy, the humor and the depth of Jesus' teachings—often because they could not surmount the narrow confines of openness to the scripture's power to transform our lives.
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Seitenzahl: 428
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
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The Crossroad Publishing Company
www.CrossroadPublishing.com
Copyright © 1995, 2001 by Kenneth S. Leong
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of The Crossroad Publishing Company.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leong, Kenneth S.
The Zen teachings of Jesus / Kenneth S. Leong.–Rev. and expanded ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8245-2227-8 (ebook)
1. Jesus Christ–Teachings. 2. Jesus Christ–Buddhist interpretations.
3. Christianity and other religions–Zen Buddhism. I. Title.
BS2415 .L45 2000
232.9–dc21
00-012397
8 9 10 11 12 11 10
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
The daunting task of studying Jesus • The clutter of preconceptions and presumptions • Emptying one’s mind • Searching for the historical Jesus • Validity of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed • Shocks from the scholars
One / READING THE GOSPELS, ZEN STYLE
Finding Zen in our own backyard • Zen is transcultural and transreligious • The lost dimensions of Jesus’ spirituality – joy, humor, and poetry • The pitfalls of being “serious” • Seriousness as a sign of the ego • Humor as a way to truth • Jesus as poet • The sober Jesus versus the smiling Buddha • The “irreverent” tradition of Zen • The kingdom is NOW! • The wonder of ordinary magic • True spirituality is art • The curse of Bible inerrancy • Love versus moralism • The sensuous anointing • Initiating the beginner’s mind
Two / WHAT IS ZEN? (I): THE ART OF LIVING
Can Zen be defined? • “Holy outrageousness” • Zen does not mean sitting meditation • The eccentricities of Zen • Zen as mental culture • A mini-history of Zen • Zen as the bridge between the spiritual and the mundane • Zen and the Chinese mind • Zen as a spirituality without the trappings of religion • Zen as the poetization of life • Zen and Taoism • Hui Neng, the sixth patriarch • Zen has no formula • The notion of discipline in Zen • Zen can only be shown • The Sermon of the Flower versus the Sermon on the Mount • Presence as the basis of spirituality • Zen, art, and ordinary magic • Recovering the zest for life • Zen and the “Aha!” experience • Wu-wei is not doing nothing • The playful way to excellence • The use of uselessness • Zen and the fine arts
Three / WHAT IS ZEN? (II): THE HEART OF THE MATTER
Zen, motherhood, and apple pie • The yin and the yang: creative tension • The artful gentleness of Butcher Pao • Spiritual judo: understanding the power of weakness • True freedom as a reflection of gentleness • The “magic of thinking small” • Learning simplicity from the Cosmo-girl • Paradoxity as the heart of Zen • The Zen world of poetic craziness • Zen lessons from the flops of artificial intelligence • The value of fuzziness • Left-brain versus right-brain thinking • Zen experience can’t be verbalized • Zen and soul • Zen as inward quest
Four / THE MAGIC KINGDOM
The mystery of time • Clock time versus psychological time • What is it like to be an angel? • The Tao cannot be sought • Eternity as the disappearance of time • The kingdom and peak experiences • “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed” • Entry into the thoughtless zone • The pitfalls of hope • What is happiness?
Five / ZEN: THE ART OF SEEING
Fuzziness as opportunity • Enlightenment as creative visualization • Reverse bodhisattvas • Real alchemy • Being “born anew” • “Nirvana is not the result of anything” • The koan of the Son of Man • Lessons from the Fiery Serpent • The mystery of Sisyphus’s smile • Hell as the path to heaven • The First Noble Truth revisited • Seeing is the only truth • “This is it!” • The paradoxes of life
Six / THE LOOKING-GLASS UNIVERSE
The topsy-turvy world of Zen • Who is Jesus? • The Son of God as archetype • The death koan of Jesus • The Tale of the Unfortunate Traveler • Choicelessness as freedom • The Stranger revisited • Death as healer • The culture of wabi-sabi • The beauty of inverse laws • Living dangerously • The poignant bitter-sweetness of life • Finding nirvana in samsara
Seven / THE USUAL HELL
Heaven as the loser • Voluntary hell • The big secret – hell is already here! • The myth of perpetual suffering • Just a little thought • The Unquenchable Fire • Hell and mindfulness • Hell is the normal state • Hell is not punishment • Parable of the Prodigal Son • Perfection in imperfection • Are we a nation of self-loathing masochists? • Hell and the hide-and-seek God • Coming to terms with lila
Eight / FAITH
Lessons from the Temple of the Broken God • “Faith” as cosmeticized greed and fear • “Religion” as a hindrance to true faith • Faith as the courage to be • The importance of surrendering • Faith as erotic love • Faith as gentleness toward life • Every day is a good day • Faith as paranoia • “Do you want to be saved?” • What is idolatry? • What is spiritual truth? • “Only don’t know” • Christian “hope” and Buddhist “hopelessness” • Hope as an inner search for meaning • Rebuilding faith
Nine / MY YOKE IS EASY
“In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing” • Zen as everyday spirituality • Religion as the pursuit of beauty • Inner beauty as self-abandonment • Grace versus art • “Law came in to increase the trespass” • The Koan of One Hand Clapping • Understanding koans • Learning to trust • The prevalence of the hero-mind • Can a Zen person be ambitious? • Stopping the Big Thief
Ten / WHAT DEFILES A MAN
The power of silence • What is listening? • The experience of the Holy • Limitations of concepts, words, and thoughts • The fluidity of a “cup” • To see the world in a grain of rice • Flowers and garbage • The participatory universe • The ubiquitous Jesus • Consciousness as a double-edged sword • “Who told you that you are naked?” • The Unforgivable Sin • Separation as a part of growing up • Forgetting the words
Eleven / RESIST NOT EVIL
The art of loving one’s enemies • Appreciating the thorns of life • Exorcism: Western style versus Zen style • Naming demons • The problem with scapegoating • Getting to the root of the illness • The amputational approach to purity • Resist not evil! • The care of the soul • Tantra as the path of love • The Fighter versus the Warrior • True gentleness and true toughness • The herb that both kills and heals • Pitfalls of asceticism • Tantra as a necessary part of spiritual growth • Avoidance and indulgence as expressions of escapism • Tantric practice through the development of respect, attention, understanding, and responsibility
Twelve / LOVE
Are Zen masters afraid of love? • What is love? • Love as Goodness • True love is indiscriminate • The All-in-One Commandment • Unconditional love as nonsense to the rational mind • Love is not favoritism • No-mind as true love • Love as an expression of freedom • Can love be willed? • Love and wu-wei • Love is openness to life • The primacy of self-love • Love is a matter of seeing • Compassion as insight into interconnectedness • The Oneness of Life
Thirteen / I AM THE WAY
Does Christianity have a monopoly on truth? • Gnostic versus synoptic gospels • Understanding Gnosticism • Gnosticism as Christian Zen • The great “I Am” • The koan of “Who am I?” • The Self is the Way
Epilogue / THE BEGINNING OF A NEW PARADIGM
The reading of classics • Multiple interpretations as a blessing • The Western notion of truth • Even truth cannot be attached to • Truth and security are incompatible • The use of ambiguity • We read what we are • The veiling of higher truths • Resolving the conflict between mystics and orthodoxy • We all have the fundamentalist instinct • Zen does not fight anything • A new paradigm for spirituality • A fearless entry into life
NOTES
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to all my teachers, particularly J. Krishnamurti, who has greatly inspired me in his unique maverick way. I wish also to express special thanks to William Burrows for his kind advice and referral, which made the publication of this work possible, to Jack Williams for being such an invaluable help throughout the writing and many revisions of this book, to Lee Paton for painstakingly going through the manuscript and offering many thoughtful and superb comments, and to David Cheung and Simon Tang for their continuous encouragement and support.
Other individuals who have contributed to this work in one way or another are Thubten Chodron, Eric Kampmann, Milton Kwok, Lou Mattutini, Heng-yueh Li, and all my friends, colleagues, and students at Wainwright House, New York Open Center, and the World Young Men’s Buddhist Association. I also wish to thank the many Christian friends with whom I am in constant dialogue. Their curiosity, intelligent questions, and willingness to share their experiences have enormously enriched this book.
I am grateful to everyone at Crossroad for their enthusiasm and confidence in this work and for their continual support.
Last, but not least, I wish to express special thanks to my wife, Vivian. Her generosity, understanding, and support have been instrumental for the successful completion of this book and are much appreciated.
Introduction
The study of Jesus and his teachings is by no means an easy task. One of the most distinguished scholars in the field of Jesus research, E. P. Sanders, said that he sympathizes with scholars who despaired of recovering good evidence about Jesus and that the studying of the gospels is extremely hard work. In his book The Historical Figure of Jesus, Professor Sanders makes the following observation:
We know about Jesus from books written a few decades after his death, probably by people who were not among his followers during his lifetime. They quote him in Greek, which was not his primary language, and in any case the differences among our sources show that his words and deeds were apart from the works written to glorify him. Today we do not have good documentation for such out-of-date way places as Palestine; nor did the authors of our sources. They did not even have access to good maps. These limitations, which were common in the ancient world, result in a good deal of uncertainty.1
Aside from the lack of historical documents, the difficulty in the study of Jesus is compounded by the fact that most of us carry a heavy baggage of preconceptions and presumptions about him. Many people are very surprised when I tell them that I have written a book on the Zen teachings of Jesus. They are so accustomed to the dogmas and myths about him that when the name of Jesus is uttered, immediately people have images of the Sacrificial Lamb, the Eucharist, salvation, the miracles and supernatural phenomena, the Apocalypse, the bliss of heaven and the misery of hell. It is very difficult for us to wean ourselves from these images because most of us have grown up with them. Unfortunately, these images and traditional views of Jesus tend to obscure the inner depth and beauty of his teachings. When I was teaching a class that bore the same title as this book at the Wainwright House, I told my students to throw away all their preconceived notions of Jesus. We have to start afresh. A. N. Wilson, an astute historian who has written a book on Jesus and another on Paul, offers this advice: “It is necessary, before one starts [to try to answer the question about the historical Jesus], to empty the mind and take nothing for granted. The center of Jesus’ teaching was his belief in God, and his belief in Judaism.”2
That is excellent advice. Interestingly, to empty the mind and take nothing for granted is to enter the Zen state of mind. Noted mythologist Joseph Campbell had the same advice for us. During an interview, Bill Moyers of PBS made the comment to Campbell that “there are many Christians who believe that, to find out who Jesus is, you have to go past the Christian faith, past the Christian doctrine, past the Christian Church.” Joseph Campbell replied:
You have to go past the imagined image of Jesus. Such an image of one’s god becomes a final obstruction, one’ ultimate barrier. You hold on to your own ideology, your own little manner of thinking, and when a larger experience of God approaches, an experience greater than you are prepared to receive, you take flight from it by clinging to the image in your mind. This is known as preserving your faith.3
In recent years we have witnessed a wonderful surge in the public’ interest in learning more about the historical Jesus. People want to know what scholars and modern researchers have discovered about what is true and what is false in what we have traditionally been taught about Jesus. The following is just a brief list of the common questions asked:
• What did Jesus really teach?
• Did he claim that he is God?
• What exactly was the Jesus Movement all about?
• Is there any reliable evidence that he rose from the dead, or that he was born of a virgin?
• How reliable are the Gospels as historical documents?
• What is the relationship between Christianity and the mystery religions, which also told a story of a dying-and-rising god?
• Did Jesus start a new religion, or was a religion started after him?
• How much of what today’s Christianity teaches was from Jesus, and how much was from Paul?
• Was Jesus really a Jew?
• Did Jesus exist at all?
• Was Jesus against the Pharisees, or was he a Pharisee himself?
Before you start reading this book, I invite you first to empty your mind. Throw away all preconceived notions on the subject, especially those that who have been handed down through the tradition. If there is a consensus among the scholars in this area, it is that the traditional church teachings about Jesus are hardly a reliable guide to the historical Jesus. Take, for example, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, composed in the fourth century and revised in the fifth, which is commonly accepted as a succinct expression of Christian orthodoxy:
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God,
and born of the Father before all ages.
(God of God) light of light, true God of true God.
Begotten not made,
consubstantial to the Father,
by whom all things were made.
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven.
And was incarnate of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary
and was made man;
was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate,
suffered and was buried;
and the third day rose again according to the Scriptures.
And ascended into heaven,
sits at the right hand of the Father, and shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose Kingdom there shall be no end.
And (I believe) in the Holy Ghost,
the Lord and Giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father (and the Son),
who together with the Father and the Son is to be adored and glorified,
who spoke by the Prophets.
And one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
We confess one baptism for the remission of sins.
And we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Geza Vermes, one of the most respected and authoritative of Bible scholars, a fellow of the British academy and Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies at the University of Oxford, had this comment about this basic creed:
The historical Jesus, Jesus the Jew, would have found the first three and the final two lines of the Christian creed familiar, and though not theologically minded, would have no difficulty assenting to them, but he would no doubt have been mystified by the remaining . . . lines. They appear to have nothing to do with the religion preached and practiced by him.4
Now this is very interesting. If what Vermes tells us is true, then what it means is that the stories of Nativity, Resurrection, the notion of universal salvation, etc., would have been refuted by Jesus himself! In fact, Vermes also states that Jesus “certainly never imagined that he was God. To a pious Palestinian Jew of his time, the very idea would have been inconceivable, pure blasphemy.”5 E. P. Sanders would concur. For he too has issued a shocking statement: “Jesus thought that the kingdom of God was at hand, and his disciples have accepted his message. As I just suggested, he may have died disappointed. His disciples, reasonably thinking that they would be next, hid.”6
In the face of such uncertainty about Jesus, what can we really say about the man? How would the ordinary reader find out what are the true teachings of Jesus. I have asked myself this question countless times. And I have a very simple answer: we can find out by reading the Gospels themselves. It may come as a surprise that my answer is identical to what biblical literalists would give as an answer. True, my views on Jesus and the spiritual life are very much different from those of the fundamentalists. How could this be, you may ask, if both the fundamentalists and I use the Bible as our ultimate source? The answer to this is also simple. Fundamentalists and Christian evangelists claim that they read the Bible, but they rarely “empty their mind” when they do. When they are reading, they have the traditional church doctrines ringing in the back of their minds. Thus, they are not reading the Bible as it is. They are reading it as the church wants them to read it. We cannot reach the “original Jesus” that way.
I take a much different approach. When I read, I try to make no assumptions and take nothing for granted. I read the Gospels over and over with fresh eyes, putting aside what the church and the authorities have said about Jesus. After developing a clear understanding of the language, the historical setting, and the cultural and religious climate of Jesus’ time, I try to formulate a coherent and consistent picture of the man and his message. What is it that impresses me about Jesus? What is it that he said that touches my heart in the deepest and most genuine way? I make a list as follows:
• He is the man who says that we cannot enter God’ kingdom unless we become like little children.
• He asks us to look at the birds and the wild flowers to get inspiration as to how to live joyfully.
• He teaches that the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed. Rather, the kingdom is already in the midst of us.
• He never said that the kingdom of God is reserved and exclusive for his followers. The non-exclusive, non-denominational message is loud and clear when he said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven.” Action counts, not membership in a certain group.
• He was the master who never claimed that he is God. In fact, he wouldn’t even consider himself good.
• He referred to himself not as Christ, not as Savior or God. He referred to himself simply as ‘son of man.’ (According to Geza Vermes, this ‘son of man’ self-reference is nothing more than a self-deprecatory way of addressing oneself, along the lines of ‘this fellow.’)
• He portrayed the Way not as the way of the spiritual superman. To him, spirituality is not just another struggle, not just another way to put oneself ahead of others. He teaches the gentle path. He proclaimed to the world the good news that “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
• He distinguishes love from favoritism. He teaches a gospel of inclusion and a love that doesn’t take sides when he said that “God makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.”
• He teaches love and forgiveness, not vindication. He exhorted his followers to “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”
These I consider as the core of Jesus’ teachings. I put under suspicion any teaching attributed to him or any Christian doctrine that contradicts these basic principles of spirituality that he taught. Ultimately, each of us will have to determine for ourselves who Jesus is and what he represents. For me, he is an artist of life, and what he teaches is the fine art of living. Perhaps this is my bias; perhaps it is not. In any case, I request that you read what follows with an open mind, a mind not colored by previous opinions. Perhaps you too will discover the magic — the magic that Jesus the artist teaches, which does not resort to the supernatural or some kind of divine intervention, but rather can be discovered, if you are mindful, in the ordinariness of everyday living.
— One —
Reading the Gospels, Zen Style
In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer.
– JOHN 16:33
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.
This book is partially a reflection of my journey. It may look like a round trip, but it is not. Without the trip, I do not think that I could have come to any real understanding of Jesus. The point that I would like to make here is that Zen is not a foreign import. Zen is everyday spirituality. And we have always had it in our own backyard! It is just that most of us haven’t noticed what is right in front of our eyes. Zen is a transcultural and transreligious phenomenon. No matter where you are, you can always find it. For Zen is in you.
Jesus is perhaps the most famous figure in human history. The Christian Bible is a perennial bestseller, and Christianity is still the most popular religion in the Western world. But even two thousand years after his death, Jesus of Nazareth remains as enigmatic as ever.
Who is Jesus? What does he really stand for? What did he teach? There is still very little consensus among us on these issues. Paradoxically, the most famous person in history is also the most elusive one.
This is not a book on the search for the historical Jesus. Neither is it a scholarly book on Christianity or the traditional doctrines and notions of Jesus. Rather, it is a book on the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels from a fresh perspective to recover the lost dimensions of his spirituality — joy, humor, and poetry. It is important for us to distinguish between what is said about Jesus and what Jesus has said. To do so is to discover a brave new world full of color and vitality. It is the beginning of an eye-opening adventure.
We often misinterpret Jesus because we tend to take him too “seriously,” or solemnly. Ironically, to take Jesus “seriously” is not to take him seriously. True spirituality begins with relaxation. In reading scriptures, “seriousness” is irreverence!
In order to understand Jesus’ teachings, we must have a sense of humor. Indeed, humor is a key to Zen. Legend has it that the Zen was born in the midst of Mahakashyapa’s smile. Mahakashyapa was one of Buddha’s senior disciples. More will be said about his smile when we discuss the Sermon of the Flower in chapter 2.
Lest we think that the Judeo-Christian tradition is marked by a tight upper lip, it may help to remember that there is always a humorous, fun-loving side to God. For he made Moses, a man who was “slow of speech and tongue,” the most important prophet of the Jews. It was also God who made Sarah bear a child in her old age. This is the reason why the child is named Isaac, which means “the Laughing One.” And the apostle Paul gave us this portrayal of a prank-playing God:
God chooses what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chooses what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chooses what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. (1 Cor. 1:27–28)
Given the fact that God is fun-loving, it should not surprise us that seriousness is a major obstacle for spirituality. For relaxation is a prerequisite for humor. Jesus once exclaimed that God has “hidden these things [truths, secrets about the kingdom] from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes” (Matt. 11:25). This is a most Zen-like utterance but is overlooked by laypeople, clergy, and theologians alike. The point is that little children are more spiritual than adults because they are much more relaxed and tend to rely on intuition rather than on intellect.
What most people refer to as “seriousness” is actually a sign of the ego. Most of us are “serious” because we are too self-obsessed — obsessed by our self-importance and our own notions of what is good, what is right, what is true, etc. I am not an advocator of frivolity, but seriousness is self-defeating to the extent that it is a reflection of a certain obsession. Obsessions obstruct both our vision and our adaptability. On the other hand, relaxation and humor, to the extent that they allow us to be more mindful and effective, are real seriousness.
There are other types of obsessions too. The most common one for most of us is what is called “common sense,” of which rationality is a part. Most people will not take something “seriously” if it is not rational. In fact, this is what “non-sense” means. But as Albert Einstein has observed, our so-called common sense often turns out to be simply prejudices acquired through years and years of social conditioning. The point of Zen is not to defy reason but to recognize the limitations of rationality.
Unlikely as it may seem, humor is a way to truth. While many people often associate humor with lightness and a cavalier attitude toward life, the philosopher Georgias Leontinus sees things much differently:
Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor. For a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious; and a jest which will not bear a serious examination is certainly false wit.1
From now on let us define “humor” as the mental ability to discover, express, or appreciate what is ludicrous, incongruous, or absurd. This suggests a certain mental sharpness or quickness. Humor is closely related to wittyness, which is the mental ability to see illuminating or amusing relationships. Both are key mental qualities that are important for enlightenment.
True humor requires alertness — an alertness that is a result of relaxation and not of fear. Deep spiritual truths appear to be self-contradictory or even ridiculous when expressed in words. A ready example is Jesus’ famous saying that “whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17:33). The statement flies in the face of logic. As Simone Weil put it, “Contradictions are the criterion of the real.”
We have been conditioned to treat rationality as sacred. But life itself is, in a very deep sense, absurd. It will not render itself to the tyranny of reason. Even the most wise cannot help but be flabbergasted by a three-year-old who keeps asking why. If you are not convinced, try asking yourself what is the reason for living. Life is basically a mystery that is not meant to be solved by our intellect. It cannot be “known” through the brain but through the heart. This is a basic message of Zen.
There have been a lot of confusions and misconceptions about Jesus, often because he has been taken too seriously. He is more often worshiped (or attacked) than listened to. Zen is about relaxing, listening, and having a sense of humor while doing so. When we really listen to Jesus, 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.
We can certainly see Jesus as Savior, Messiah, Son of God, and miracle worker. But we may be missing the whole point if we do not recognize that he was, at heart, a poet, and his sayings are the songs of his soul. In the Zen circle, it is widely known that the Tao (Truth), because it is paradoxical in nature, cannot be preached or otherwise verbalized; it can only be hinted at. That’s why Jesus resorted to poetry and humor. Where else but in poetry do we find contradictions coexisting and yet so gracefully harmonized?
If we are to understand the spiritual truth of the Gospels, we must begin to observe their poetry and cosmic jokes. Many Christians (and Buddhists also) have a tendency to undervalue joy, fun, laughter, and jokes, much to their own detriment. During one of my Zen classes, I asked my students to close their eyes and visualize Buddha. After that, I also asked them to visualize Jesus Christ. Then I asked them what their pictures of Buddha and Christ were like. Not surprisingly, most of them described Buddha as a smiling figure and Christ as a sober figure.
Part of what I am doing in this book is presenting the joyful Jesus. Laughter, particularly laughter in what we call the “real” (translated as the “joyless”) world, is a key ingredient to our spiritual health. C. S. Lewis writing in the voice of a devil, made the following observation in The Screwtape Letters: “Laughter of this kind [joy] does us [the devils] no good and should always be discouraged. Besides, the phenomenon is of itself disgusting and a direct insult to the realism, dignity and austerity of Hell.” Similarly, R. H. Blyth, one of the precursors of Zen in the Western world, observes that “enlightenment is always accompanied by a kind of sublime laughter.”
Joy is an ability of the soul. It is not a natural instinct. If it were, we should find most people joyful. Rather, joy has to be learned. In this book, we will see how Jesus taught the art of joy through the Gospels.
Laughter is the beginning of liberation. We have to learn to be less serious and loosen up. In this context, humor is a key ingredient to spiritual awakening. Self-humor is particularly helpful because it loosens up our biggest attachment — our “self.” People who cannot make fun of themselves and their own “holy objects” cannot make good Zen students. For enlightenment is largely a matter of seeing the cosmic joke on ourselves and giving it a hearty laugh!
Therefore, one of the first things we need to learn about Zen is that it is not solemn. There is no “holy object” in Zen, which is the same as saying that everything is holy for Zen. A famous Zen joke goes like this: “When you see the Buddha walking on the road, kill him!” Zen is deliberately “irreverent” or even “blasphemous” because our “holy objects” often turn out to be sources of our greatest attachments. They are the very things that are keeping us from being really spiritual. Is it a surprise then to find Jesus often being accused of blasphemy during his days?
Most of us know that the first two of the Ten Commandments have to do with idolatry. The problem is that we idolize all the time, often without being conscious of it. In fact, 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 of them. Our “punishment” for doing that is that we fail to recognize their beauty, joy, and insight.
As an illustration of the importance of reading the scriptures as poetry, let us take the following verses from the Sermon on the Mount:
Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.
Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you,
And cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy,
For behold, your reward is great in heaven. . . .
(Luke 6:20–22)
One of the saddest errors we have committed is to make the kingdom an event in the future. The apostle Paul has told us clearly that “now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). The word “shall” in the poem above is there to indicate necessity and not futurity. To interpret otherwise is to take away the mystery and the beauty of the kingdom, together with its liberating effect.
The kingdom is available now; this is what Jesus meant when he said that the kingdom of heaven is “at hand.” Once our spiritual eye is opened, we will see that there is richness in poverty, fullness in hunger, joy in sorrow, and blessedness in trouble. All opposites are unified in the kingdom. They are all present realities. Jesus said “Behold, your reward is great in heaven.” The kingdom is in the here-and-now — if we care to look. We will elaborate on this in the chapter titled “The Magic Kingdom.”
Not only was Jesus a poet; he was also an artist. In a sense, this is already implied because a poet is an artist with words. But Jesus was not only an artist with words: he was also a master artist of life. He took life as the raw material to express his soul. He brought quality into life.
Zen is intricately related with art and poetry. In fact, Zen is nothing but the art of living. The practice of Zen means bringing beauty and quality into life — one’s own and that of others. In the next two chapters, we shall see that some of Zen’s basic elements are presence, ordinariness, zest, ease, gentleness, freedom, simplicity, and paradoxity. They also happen to be important elements of art. We shall see in the two chapters titled “What Is Zen?” that the Sermon on the Mount is essentially an “art of living” lesson.
Let me give you a preview of the Zen element of “ordinariness.” There is no doubt that modern civilization has made tremendous progress in science, technology, and material well-being. One of the big issues we will address in this book is why, given this “progress,” we have not found happiness. An article in the New York Times, titled “A Rising Cost of Modernity: Depression” (December 8, 1992), is one of the many to lament this absurd fate of people today. Why are we so unhappy despite our material affluence? Basically my answer to this question is that the modern world has lost the art of “ordinary magic” — the art of transforming our ordinary, mundane, and perhaps humdrum existence into a life of beauty and joy.
This is precisely why Jesus is so relevant to our world. Jesus is a great teacher of “ordinary magic.” But we have completely overlooked this great gift of his because we tend to be obsessed with his miracles and other supernatural feats. It might be fun to occasionally watch a faith-healing session, but it is more important to learn “ordinary magic” because it affects our daily life. The common mind looks for external wonders, but the most important wonder is an internal one — that of fundamentally transforming our way of perceiving the world. Without the latter, “ordinary magic” will not be possible.
Jesus was a powerful guru who taught “inner alchemy” through awakening the latent artist in us. Like in other arts, the objective in this “art of life” is not so much to change the external world but to come up with creative and constructive ways to relate to it. This alone is real miracle. Marianne Williamson offers us the following insight into the nature of miracles:
It [a miracle] is a shift not so much in an objective situation — although that often occurs — as it is a shift in how we perceive a situation. What changes, primarily, is how we hold an experience in our mind — how we experience the experience.2
Even if we have a fantastical way to change the external world, our ego has a way to change its demand from one thing to another. For desires are endless. The only real solution is “inner alchemy,” which means discovering the kingdom (or Quality, or Beauty) within. The initiation rite for the practice of “ordinary magic” is a kind of spiritual awakening. It is only after the awakening that one can be “born anew” and live like a new person.
True spirituality is art — for the practice of spirituality requires imagination and great sensitivity. Piousness is not the right approach to art or to the words of Jesus, which are the poetics of his inner spiritual experience.
The idolization and literalization of scriptures obscures the meaning of Jesus to many religious people. Remember that Jesus is an artist and a poet. Art is possible only if there is a genuine communication between two souls — that of the artist and that of the audience. The problem with an attitude of worship is that it tends to take the two souls apart rather than put them together. Sociologist Ellen Rosenberg makes the following observation about Bible worship: “As the code words have become ‘Bible inerrancy,’ the Bible itself is less read than preached, less interpreted than brandished. . . . The Bible has become a talisman.”3
The fear of individuality or the urge to conform is another obstacle for genuine communication. One simply cannot “follow the party line” to spirituality. Bible illiteracy takes on a new meaning in certain Christian groups that believe in Bible inerrancy. Members of these groups are often quick to quote from the Bible, but their understanding of the Bible is often a result of indoctrination rather than a product of personal realization. As such, it lacks genuineness. Harold Bloom comments on this phenomenon:
One of the great ironies of Protestant history is that the exaltation of scripture, which in the seventeenth century endowed Baptists and other Protestants with freedom from institutional constraints and with spiritual autonomy, has become, as the twentieth century closes, the agent for depriving Baptists and other Protestants of their Christian Liberty, their soul competency to read and interpret the Bible, each person by her own Inner Light.4
The sayings of Jesus are spiritual poetry. We cannot get to their essence through the filter of institutionalized religion. Rather, we have to rely on our own “soul competency” to find resonance with them. Biblical knowledge through the intellect is not enough. We have to feel the truth and vibrancy of Jesus’ words through our own heart. It is only when we can relate with Jesus through our “heart-connection” that we can really come to know him.
This book is also an attempt to clear away the negative images that some people have about Jesus. Some people may think of him as a fire-and-brimstone preacher. But this is unthinkable for a guru who was “outrageous” enough to ask us to seek spiritual guidance from little children rather than from the “religious and proper” Pharisees. Jesus says that the kingdom belongs to the children. Most of our misunderstandings about his teachings can be dispelled if we simply take a close look at how children behave. Children are alive, radiant, energetic, carefree, playful, and fun-loving. They live in the moment and are able to let themselves go completely in whatever they are engaged in. They are adventurous and live life to its fullest. They also practice spirituality without even being aware of it. These are the spiritual qualities of children that Jesus has asked us to learn.
The evidences are that the religion of Jesus is a natural one; there is not even a trace of artificiality or struggle in his spirituality. Just as art cannot be forced, Jesus saw that the way to God is wu-wei (action through no-action). We will see what this means in our chapter “My Yoke is Easy.”
Another misconception about Jesus is that he was a moralist. A moralist advocates a set of explicit rules for goodness. But Jesus did not champion regulations because he realized that there can be no formula for Beauty (or Quality). In fact, the mere attempt to attain Beauty through obeying certain rules is the beginning of ugliness. As Lao Tzu has observed: “It is only after the Tao (Truth) is betrayed that there are talks of goodness and righteousness.” Goodness, just like art, cannot be compelled; it has to be a spontaneous expression of the soul. Some people may look at this no-rules approach to goodness as some kind of moral laxity. But Jesus was really advocating a higher morality — a moral (or, better, a meta-morality) called art! We will explore the issues regarding goodness and evil in the chapter titled “What Defiles a Man.”
Jesus was a lover. Above all, he was a lover of life. The first thing to learn about love is that it is a mystery, i.e., something that cannot be fully understood. In this book I have devoted an entire chapter to Love, but I realize how difficult it is for anyone to speak on this profound subject. In a sense, love is absurd. It follows neither rules nor reason. We know that true love is “unconditional,” meaning that it is a free gift and not an investment or a reward. But “unconditionality” is a kind of irrationality in our world. For in the rational world, we do everything for a reason.
Love and fear do not mix: fear is driven by reason, love is not. But “religious” people often cannot distinguish between the two. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment in the law is, he answered, that “You shall love the Lord our God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
In case you have not noticed, he was being immensely funny in giving this answer. He gave this answer to humor the religious authorities who confused love and fear. He even dropped us some hints by belaboring the point “with all your heart, and with all your soul. . . . ” If we relax and listen to what he was saying, we will realize that this is one of his greatest “cosmic jokes”: it is an impossible commandment! What can be commanded is not real love. Only fear can be commanded. In other words, the greatest and the only commandment that Jesus has given to the world turns out to be a statement of self-contradiction. This “Impossible Commandment” casts in sharp contrast Jesus’ notion of ethics with that of the Pharisees. It reflects his spiritual insight that we are saved through grace, not through effort.
The way to true spirituality is graceful, effortless love, not rigid moralism. True love is art. It is not a restricted form of morality because it defies effort or rules. Love is spontaneous and creative; it is an art that frees the spirit. Moralism consists of rules that bind the spirit. This is precisely why Jesus had so much conflict with the religious authorities — the Pharisees, the scribes, and the like. A strict focus on morality undermines love.
A Gospel story perfectly illustrates Jesus’ notion of moralism:
Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (Matt. 26:6–13)
Mark and John report a similar incident. John identified the woman as Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, who had a special affinity with Jesus. It is also interesting to note that in St. John’s account of it, it was Judas Iscariot who played the role of the moralist and demanded: “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” (John 12:5). Research shows that three hundred denarii represented nearly a whole year’s wage for a working man at that time — a very large sum of money. In the eyes of a moralist, this “waste” would simply be obscene. Hence, we have the disciples’ display of “moral” anger.
There is something ludicrous here. The disciples were raising a serious charge: they accused the woman of moral irresponsibility, and Jesus of compliance. But the only defense Jesus gave for the woman and for himself was apparently a weak one: “for she has done a beautiful thing to me.”
To understand this incongruence, we must remember that Jesus was, first and foremost, an artist and not a moralist. Art is more important than morality because only art can bring true goodness. True art is just “play”; it has no goal or self-consciousness. Morality, on the other hand, is “serious,” or solemn. That seriousness invites the ego. That is why we see so much hypocrisy among so many moralists. Jesus, the artist of life, decided that what Mary did was right. Like a good Zen master, he was able to see right into Mary’s heart. She should not be stopped because what she was doing was a beautiful and natural expression of her soul. Therefore, Jesus accepted it with grace.
“The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me” is a beautiful verse from Jesus’ poetry. Its spiritual dimension should not be overlooked. “The poor” here refers to the heart’s poverty, the inability of the soul to spontaneously express itself. The “me” here refers to those rare moments in our life when we simply let our love flow out in its abundance. Because these moments are few, they should be treasured and not suppressed.
Jesus, the artist, recognized a gem when he saw one. While the disciples focused on the social and economic significance of the event, Jesus focused on the spiritual significance. Therefore, he said that “wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done should be told in memory of her.” He concluded not only that the act should not be despised, but that it actually deserved to be eternalized. For it is within our moments of love that the kingdom exists!
The moralist’s mistake was to put a price tag on art and love. The fact that the ointment could have been sold for three hundred denarii was quite irrelevant. Love, being an art, is not a matter of utilitarianism. Art should be done only for art’s sake. It is an expression of the Taoist wu-wei; it is not a tool for serving any practical purpose. True art is “useless.” The useless/aimless nature of art immunizes it against the corrupting influence of the ego. It is precisely when we try to assign a utility value to love that we debase it. Mary simply seized the opportunity to offer to her love the most precious thing she could offer. She did not calculate.
The story also presents Jesus, the humorist, at his best. Let us contemplate what the story might mean in today’s terms. Imagine that you wake up one morning and you find this headline in the newspaper: “Woman spends $30,000 on bottle of perfume and uses it to wash her lover’s feet.” What vanity! What waste! What folly! The whole scene smells of earthliness and stupidity, and yet Jesus ordered it memorialized!
But it was precisely these elements that prompted Jesus to memorialize the event. Let’s face it, the woman was not out for glory. This is exactly why Jesus chose to glorify her — for he had a way to treat “the first last and the last first.” To common sense, there is nothing laudable about “wasting” money this way rather than using it to feed the poor. It just reflects the ordinary folly of love. Yet the discerning eyes of Jesus found beauty in such “vulgarness.” To him, the act of an ordinary woman pouring out her heart without any consideration of earning praise or moral credit was much more laudable than the piousness of a Pharisee trying to become a moral superhero. Jesus preferred “ordinariness” to heroism because the latter is often just another form of egotism. True spirituality has little to do with moral athleticism but has everything to do with being “ordinary” and letting one’s feelings show.
Last, the story also teaches the importance of living in the moment, which is one of the key messages of Zen. Jesus said, “In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare my burial.” The secret of living beautifully lies in living each day as if it were your last one. Only then will you treasure each moment.
As you can see, once we have learned to listen to Jesus with our heart, we will discover that what he actually taught is much different from what others have said he taught. What is important is to put aside our traditional baggage and prejudice, and start with a beginner’s mind.
