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Reflections on Thich Nhat Hanh in America

10/6/2019

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.Letter to the International Thich Nhat Hanh Order of Interbeing
September 21, 2013
​

Dear Friends,
​I have, for some time, been wanting to share with you some reflections on Thich Nhat Hanh's presence in America. Some of these things I’ve shared with you in small ways over the course of our practice together. I thought it would be good to share them now in a fuller, more thoughtful way. I offer these reflections as a small piece of a large, complex and rich picture, with so much potential for fruitful exchange- my little finger pointing towards the immense moon of truth. As always, I give thanks for our practice together and for all of your support and presence over the years.


I know that we’ve spoken before about the dual nature of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings in the west: on the one hand he is a Buddhist sharing Buddhist teachings and practice; on the other hand, he goes to great pains to reinterpret the Buddha’s teachings in a language that is accessible and helpful to people of various religious (or no religious) backgrounds. He has spoken of the need for Christians to “go back to their roots and find the jewels buried there”. He has spoken of the need to create a “formless practice”. To my mind this means we should not be attached to the particular shape of our words, methods, teachings, but should be open to teaching, practicing in a way which takes down barriers between ourselves and others.

At times I’ve heard sangha members request more “Buddhist flavor” in our practice (i.e. Chanting sutras, 4 noble truths, etc) and I heard a Christian sangha member express disappointment that a Thich Nhat Hanh retreat was “so Buddhist” when the books and practices she had experienced and loved, and a previous retreat were not particularly Buddhist in flavor. In our sangha, I’m aware of this “lovely” tension all the time.

Everyday, at work in my neighborhood, in the grocery store, I’m aware that I am surrounded by people who are mostly Christian. Whether practicing or not, most Americans’ spiritual roots are in the Christian faith. When I consider the well being of these people and their families, I think the best thing is that their Christian roots would be strong, that they would find a good community, a priest, a pastor, a teaching and practice to nourish and support their lives.

In 1997, then Catholic Cardinal Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict) wrote, “In the 1950s someone said that the undoing of the Catholic Church in the 20th century wouldn't come from Marxism but from Buddhism. They were right.” While we have since heard more positive observations about Buddhism from the Catholic Church, I know there can be some uneasiness among even the most open-minded Christians, about what Buddhism’s growing popularity means for the future of Christianity. Sincere, deep and wise Christians hope that their children will continue to nourish and support the beauties of their faith tradition.

That being said, my experience practicing as a Christian is that there are teachings and practices that do not correspond well to the deep reality of life- teachings and practices which contribute to people’s suffering. I have a strong desire to see reform happen. I'm grateful that I have taken refuge in the teachings of the Buddha and can approach Christianity from the clarity of that perspective. I'm not in danger when I encounter the Christian concepts of good/evil, heaven/hell, God/creation, salvation/damnation.

My sense is that our mindfulness teaching and practice can be a great gift to the Christian communities. While there are those who are threatened by Buddhism’s presence in America, there are many Christians who love Thich Nhat Hanh and are hungry for the teaching and practice he offers- they incorporate this into their Christian practice. I hope our Buddhist communities in America could be a help and support to Christian people rather than a threat. Do we encourage young people who come to our centers to go back to their roots, even as we welcome them to our beautiful practice?

In our Omaha community we have tended to emphasize the mindfulness practices and de-emphasize the Buddhist language and other elements. We advertise that we are a practice for people “of all religious faiths and no religious faith”. This is in the spirit of Thay’s request that we create a formless practice. Several of our most devoted practitioners consider Christianity their primary spiritual practice. We hope that they will come, take in the practice and bring back the fruit to their Christian communities. In this way, Buddhism’s presence in America could help nourish and support our Christian roots (or Jewish, or Islamic, etc)- Thay’s vision of the Buddha and Christ as brothers.

I know that many, maybe most sanghas and practitioners wish to identify completely and deeply with the Buddhist roots of Thay’s teachings. They want to BE Buddhist and embrace all that that implies: read the sutras, chant, study the 4 noble truths and eightfold path, and be involved in all the rights, rituals and celebrations. This is a wonderful development.

I hope that the people who have committed time and energy to creating a sangha, could have a lot of freedom to shape the sangha according to their spirit. That the larger sangha body could support and allow a lot of freedom for these sanghas to bloom according to their own nature, even as they work to explore and practice Thay’s teachings. I hope that part of that support would include encouraging the sangha to invite people of all religious backgrounds into the practice, to, when possible, use language which does not set up boundaries between Buddhist and Christian or Buddhist and Jew, and to encourage people who have become alienated from their spiritual roots to find away to affirm the beautiful elements of those teachings. Also, that we would provide opportunities for our Christian, Jewish, etc, sister’s and brothers to teach us, that we would be open to learning new ways of seeing and practicing.

Again, I just offer this as my small perspective as we continue to work to establish Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings on American soil.
​

Blessings as we practice beautifully together into the future,
Mike McMahon
Honey Locust Sangha- Omaha, NE
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Dukkha, Addiction and the Little Flower

7/24/2019

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"The world's thy ship and not thy home"- Therese of Lisieux

​" I have arrived, I am home" - Thich Nhat Hanh 

​Dukkha- The first of the 4 Noble Truths, that all human experience is transient and that suffering (ill-being) results from excessive desire and attachment.

When I was in college it happened on a particular evening, in a conversation with a friend, that I stopped believing that I, and those I loved, had an eternal soul.  I was stunned.  I hadn't been contemplating this point, hadn't had any doubts in the lifelong held belief that my essential distinctive self, was eternal. But in the midst of a long late-evening conversation with a friend, this belief fell away from me.  I stumbled out of my friends house and went for a long walk.  My dad had recently died.  Suddenly I no longer had the image of him continuing in some heavenly realm to comfort me.  It was a new and deep grief on top of what I felt when he died.  I loved Beethoven.  And I had always enjoyed the idea that I would meet him and spend time with him in the eternal realm.  I stumbled back to my friend's house and knocked on the door, "but that means I won't see my dad again,  he's really gone."  My friend invited me in and comforted me as best he could.

Saint Therese of Lisieux was born into an idealic life of deep family love, religious devotion, and simple pleasures like pony rides, fishing with father, butterfly catching.  Her mother and father were devout people. Each of them had contemplated religious life before they married.  They had five daughters of whom Therese was the youngest. All five became nuns.  The family adorned one another with laughter and love- and none was more pampered than Therese- whom her father called, "my queen".

When she was 4 years old Therese's mother died.  The loss of her mother was an overwhelming trauma for the young and vulnerable Therese.  She was cast into a deep and prolonged suffering.  She became a bundle of insecurity, afraid. For the next 8 years of her life she  barely functioned in the world: she struggled mightily at school, could scarcely tolerate being apart from her family, was given to fits and tremors.  

 As someone who has loved Therese, who has spent a lot of time contemplating Therese, her words and her life, I have formed my own impression of the meaning of her response to her mother's death.  These are only my own poetic impressions, the movement of my soul in response to my contemplation over the years of Therese's life.

When we eat food enter into deep communion with what we are eating. We smell, taste, chew, swallow, digest and assimilate the food into our bodies.  At the end of this process, the apple that we ate is now our flesh and blood-it is our life, our self. If , at any point in this process, there is food that we have failed to swallow (food caught in our teeth), digest (food caught in our stomach, intestines) this "unprocessed" food will make us sick.  

Our spiritual Journey is about entering deeply into our experience of life, one might say living life as communion. To live life as communion is to taste, chew, swallow, digest and assimilate each experience- the joyful and the sorrowful- into the life of the heart.  Every experience is food for the soul. Every experience is the real, dynamic life of the cosmos,and in our communion with life we want, above all to enter deeply into that reality and find a way to live with, affirm, and embrace it.  Even the most painful of life's experiences can nourish us if we enter into them deeply, courageously, with open heart and mind and lots of loving support.  It is the undigested experience which makes us ill. The painful realities that we hide from our heart, whose pain we seek to anesthetize with drink, drugs, food, religion, money, philosophy, or any of the myriad addictions which the human heart is prey to.

Therese tasted deeply of her mother's death. She let this loss penetrate into her heart and attempted to assimilate it into a reality that she could affirm as good.  How could the God she loved abide the terrible suffering her mother's death brought upon her?  She had accepted the teaching of the Catholic Church: death is not real, the essential self goes on and, if the soul is a faithful one, goes on in the TRUE LIFE, which follows this one- in the eternity of God's love- or heaven. In heaven, we are reunited with all that we have ever loved, and all abide in God's eternal love and presence.

Therese developed the view that this life we are living is exile- " a boat to carry us to heaven". Real life begins after we are dead. In my rich, nourishing and inspiring encounter with Therese, this is the point where my heart says, "no". I offer this in all humility as I contemplate a soul greater than my own.

To my Buddhist way of thinking, this Christian teaching, which denies the reality of death, which proposes that real life- the kingdom of God- follows this life, this teaching is the point where Therese stops processing the painful reality of death. It is the place where death catches in her mouth, her throat, her stomach. It is a teaching which prevents one from entering and staying with the deep reality of  impermanence- of life and death, of the sorrow of the impermanence of all people, places and things, of all that we love; prevents us from realizing the joy of their eternal nature as part of the cosmos ceaselessly creating itself.

Several years ago, Jeannine, a beloved member of our community, was approaching death. She was a devout, but questioning Catholic.  She wondered if, in the Buddhist view of things, she would again encounter her loved ones after she died. What follows is my response to her:

Hi Jeannine,
Thank you for the lovely reflection- very beautiful. I've been sitting with your question.  It humbles me.  

Death is mysterious to me.  I don't know what will happen when I die. But the miraculous nature of life encourages me.  I just give my body, heart and mind, my daughter, my family, my friends, my country, the earth itself, over to God, knowing all things continue in God's love.  

My own experience is that I've had to walk through the door of death and let go of all persons, places and things.  It has been a real and deep grief process.  Somewhere down the line of that process, the grief has been replaced with a greater sense of intimacy and identification with all aspects of existence- a great sense of freedom for myself and those I love as being eternally part of that intimate, wondrous being- the Cosmos, or God, an ability to see all things in all things. 

At first this "sense of oneness" might look like a little game of ideas with which we console ourselves, but the more I keep looking deeply at life, the more this oneness becomes the true reality, and all the particular relationships I have, though dear to me, are significant as manifestations of that reality.   The relationship I have with my daughter Anna is precious to me. Yet our relationship has died and been reborn so many times. I still grieve the loss of my little girl-the nine year old who used to play with beanie babies with her friend Rose- but it's wonderful that she has gone on. And I see and experience that nine year old still in many children I meet. 

My humble advice is to just keep walking through the reality with heart and mind as open as possible, with much loving support, let it rock you, let it break your heart, let it comfort you,  and the deep beauty and wonder of that reality will reveal itself to you.
  

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Buddhism is Quantum Christianity

12/27/2014

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“Quantum theory thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe. It shows that we cannot decompose the world into independently existing smallest units. As we penetrate into matter, nature does not show us any isolated "building blocks," but rather appears as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of the whole.                                     
                                                                                                                Fritjof Capra- The Tao of Physics

I am that.
I am that which is highest.
I am that which is lowest.
I am that which is All.
                                  - Julian of Norwich



These reflections are only my own poetic and playful  imaginings, which have  emerged from my life of studying and practicing Buddhism and Christianity.  I'm not a scholar- Buddhist or Christian, and I'm not attempting to speak in an authoritative way as to the nature of Buddhism or Christianity.  I hope these words are helpful, but if they aren't please let them pass like clouds on a windy day, or, if you wish, struggle with them a bit. 

We are familiar with the world of classical physics- even if we haven't studied physics.  It is the world we percieve and experience in our day to day life: a world of people, places and things- the sun rising, a bouncing ball, a spaceship headed to the moon- bodies in motion- that interact with one another in a manner that can be measured and quantified.

We may be less familiar with the world of quantum physics- the world of the underlying reality of those people, places and things as we experience them in day to day life.  In this underlying, sub-atomic world, there are no separate or fixed entities. At the sub-atomic level,  the kitchen table, which we perceive to be static, stable, separate, is revealed to be incredibly dynamic, mostly empty space, with vast realms of creation, destruction and communication among particles of energy.  The table has a completely different nature than our perceptions can  discern, than our usual concepts can convey.

In this quantum realm,  reality is seen as dynamic and flowing, with every aspect, every sub atomic particle, intimately connected to every other aspect- all aspects of reality are part of the same fabric. What affects one aspect, affects all the others. According to quantum physics, if you want to penetrate and touch the essential nature of a given molecule (or any phenomenon), you have to take into account the whole cosmos, because the whole cosmos is making the molecule manifest and behave in the way that it does. The molecule is empty of a particular, separate, self-existing nature- it is made up of, one in being with,  the whole cosmos.

When I was a freshman in  high school, I lay on my bed one night, listening to music.  I had a sudden revelation.  It occurred to me that everything in the universe caused everything else in the universe to happen- everything always happened all together. The budding of a flower, the flicker of a candle, and the movements within my mind and heart, all of these emerged from all of the other conditions and events in the universe- this was the impression that came upon me.  I don't know why this epiphany came to me; I hadn't been contemplating these matters.  Afterwards, I would never see the world the same way again.

This new way of seeing things immediately brought into question some of the basic Christian concepts that had always been part of my way of seeing the world; the ideas of good and evil, heaven and hell, sin and redemption- how did these ideas fit into a world where everything caused everything else, everything was part of everything else, a world without separately existing entities?  These questions sent me on a journey that would lead me away from the Christian faith, through scientific thought, and into Buddhism. Eventualy I would return to my Christian faith, "to arrive where I started and
know the place for the first time."

How can I consider myself both a Christian and a Buddhist when the two world views seem so fundamentally different?  For example, in Christian experience, God is THE central reality, in Buddhism, God is not typically mentioned..The seemingly irreconcilable differences between Christianity and Buddhism, as between classical and quantum physics, are really only two different ways of looking at the same reality.  We might call these two viewpoints the Relative (seeing parts
in relation to one another, or classical physics) and the Absolute (seeing parts as aspects of a whole, or quantum physics). In fact relative and absolute are the terms Buddhism uses to describe these two ways of seeing reality.

For example, we might take a relative view of our body or an absolute view. Taking a relative view, we are made of bones, and blood, and dozens of organs, and millions of cells, and proteins, etc, etc. We can look at these "separate" parts and analyze how they are in
"relation" to one another, how they function together, what makes them work. We need for doctors to be proficient in this relative view of our body in order to keep healthy and take care of our well-being. But day to day, our experience of our body is not of a collection of parts, but as one whole, united enitity- we take an absolute or quantum view of our body. 

If we are only able to touch the relative dimension of reality we will suffer alot. If we can only experience the separateness of people, places and things, without experiencing in a deep way the profound unity of it all, then we will be trapped in a world of lonely and futile competition; life as a drama in which all the players end up dead on the stage..  According to Buddhism, most of human suffering has to do with our being stuck in the relative dimension- everything separate-  without having any real access to or experience of the absolute dimension- everything intimately connected with everything else, nothing is separate. It is the primary intention of Buddhist thought and practice to help us to touch this absolute dimension of reality, not just in an intellectual way, but to experience it with our whole being. We want to make this absolute dimension, alive and vital in our day to day life.

We do this primarily by meditation, or mindfulness practice.  In meditation we let go of our thoughts (and with it, we let go of the classical, relative world of reality) and practice experiencing this moment of reality deeply, with our whole self, without putting it through our conceptual filter. We sit and focus on our breathing, feeling the in-breath, feeling the out-breath, feeling our body being in the world.  As thoughts come up, "I have to file those taxes", "That was a fun party last night", etc., we gently let go of the thought and return heart and body and mind to experiencing, with our whole self, the simple, but deeply beautiful act of sitting, being, breathing. We may let go of our thoughts 40 times in our 20 minute sitting.  1000 times in our evening of meditation. One million times in our practice this year.

As the meditative practice becomes more fully integrated into our life, our relationship to our thoughts and concepts changes.  When we began practicing meditation, we saw life through the filter of our thoughts, good and bad, up and down, self and other.  We didn't recognize these as concepts, as tools which we applied to reality to help us make our way in the world. The concepts WERE the reality.  We didn't have the capacity to set the concepts down and see reality independently of them.  WE WERE TRAPPED in the world of our concepts.

With our mindfulness practice, we develop some sovereignty over our concepts. The vale slowly lifts and we have a taste of life in all its undifferentiated wholeness and beauty.  Our concepts (all of our philosophy, theology) appear as clouds floating above.  We can bring them down and use them as needed, but we are not trapped inside them, we are not pushed around by them.

So I can be happily and fruitfully in the Christian realm of God/Creation, sin/redemption, Christ/man, because for me, these concepts and teachings are a beautiful poetry pointing to deep aspects of reality.  They are not an absolute truth.   The deep  reality of Christ, God, the Kingdom, are of a different nature than the concepts.  My own experience is that the living Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of God,  are fully present in our little Buddhist community.  For we are practicing to live simply, to see deeply, to experience the intimate connection between all aspects of reality,  to treat all aspects of reality with respect and love.

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Lamb of God

5/1/2014

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    "I offer my body as a torch 

     to dissipate the dark

       to waken love among men 

    to give peace to Vietnam

       the one who burns herself for peace." Nhat Chi Mai


    One of the iconic images of the 1960s is this picture of the Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Duc, burning himself in protest of the Viet Nam War.   Actually there were several people who performed this act of protest.  One of them was Nhat Chi Mai, a young disciple of Thich Nhat Hanh.  Nhat Chi Mai immolated herself in Saigon on May 16, 1967.

    These acts have at times been criticized as being violent and contributing to the suffering of the world.  But there is little doubt that the shocking and horrific images, broadcast around the world, helped focus attention on the deep and prolonged suffering of the Vietnamese people and contributed to the war's end. It is said that the story of Nhat Chi Mai moved Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to speak out in opposition to the war. Thich Nhat Hanh wrote, "When Nhat Chi Mai burned herself because she wanted to be a "torch in the dark night," she moved millions of Vietnamese. The force she engendered was the force of love for non-violent action."

    The gospels indicate that Jesus had forseen his capture and execution. It seems likely that he could have prevented his death if he had wished.  But, if he had not suffered and died, how could the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." have manifested to show us the way of true and unconditional love?

    In my Christian practice, I approach all of the Biblical stories as literature, pointing to the deep truths of human life. This is in keeping with the Buddhist insight that all teachings are only relative truth and do not coincide with the deep reality of life.  It also fits well with the Jewish tradition of midrash, in which history, stories, poems and prayers are woven freely together to create a living, loving guide and support for our lives.  So, in my Christian theology, "lamb of God" is not so much a particular being or historical event, but a deep reality of human life which manifests over and over again.

    The Lamb is the one who is the source of unconditional love, who speaks truth to power.  When the powerful forces are threatened by the Lamb (his message, his following) and the hand of power comes down, the lamb responds still with love, treating his tormentors with compassion and love.  He shows us that, no matter what is going on, we must try our best to respond with love.  The presence of the lamb, the horror over her burning body, her gruesome death and her loving response to all of this, sows deep seeds of change in the hearts and minds of those who are witness to this profound courage and love.

    For me, the Buddhist monks, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Jesus- all of these manifested the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

    It is one of the most deep and beautiful gifts of Christianity to shine a light on the truth of "the Lamb" through the story of Jesus Christ.  In all great spiritual traditions we are called on to be as the lamb, speaking the truth, even when to do so may threaten our well being, and to respond in a loving way to the forces which cause us pain. One of the Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing says, "We will do our best to speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may make difficulties for us or threaten our safety."


    In conclusion I offer this beautiful poem by Thich Nhat Hanh, which he wrote to encourage his "School of Youth for Social Service" as they moved into the Vietnamese countryside in the midst of the war to put together makeshift schools and rebuild villages.  Thich Nhat Hanh wanted to encourage these young people to respond to the violence and hatred they met daily with courage and love- he wanted to awaken the Lamb in them. 

     Also, please read (link below) Thay's heartbraking and beautiful poem, "Flames of Prayer" which tells the story of Nhat Chi Mai's last day on earth.   
    
    

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Seven Dreams of Flying

1/14/2014

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It seems self-indulgent to share one's dreams with anyone but one's mate, closest friend, or psychiatrist.  What seems fascinating to the dreamer may be tiresome to the disinterested listener-who has her own dreams.  Nonetheless:

One night a couple of years ago, I had seven lovely dreams. In most of the dreams, flying was a central theme.

When I woke up, there were many vivid images in my mind.  I began going through the 
images, describing them in my mind in as much detail as I could. To my surprise 
the details kept coming. I remembered fully dream after dream.  When I finished 
remembering and recalling all the details of the seven dreams I went back to the 
beginning and started over.  I spent the rest of the night recalling and remembering and
savoring the dreams. I had never had an experience like this. I usually feel 
lucky to recall details of even one dream. The next evening I did it again, and 
again, could recall everything. I spent many nights recalling the seven dreams. 

They seem, at least in part,  like a poem or story about  my spiritual journey in the Catholic and Buddhist
traditions.  After being raised a Catholic, leaving the church in high school, and finding Buddhism,
 I returned to the Catholic Church. I have been practicing in both traditions for 20 years.


The first dream happens in the hallway of a public building, with high ceilings, stone walls
and marble columns. It is shadowy and empty of people- cold and austere.  There is a table in the hallway with all of my worldly possessions on it- mostly clothes it seems. In the pockets of the clothes
are stuffed scraps of paper; each scrap is filled completely, almost desperately, with writing.
It reminds me of the scene from the film, “A Beautiful Mind”, which shows us the room
where the main character has written and posted thousands of notes about his schizophrenic
obsession with an imagined spy scenario.  In the dream I think, “If people were to read these
notes, they would think I’m crazy”, then the firm conviction, “but they’re wrong”.

The second dream takes place in a large room in a private home.  The room is large and spacious with no furniture, yet warm and inviting; it is sunny and bright with white walls, a hardwood floor and lots of
windows revealing green trees and shrubbery.  In the middle of the room in a chair sits an
old woman.  I can't identify who she is, but I feel great warmth and affection for her.  Maybe she is one or more of the women who have served as a spiritual guide to me.  There then appears a group of dogs, quiet and well-behaved, and  fairly large- waist-high or so.  I am in the room, floating several feet off the floor.  One of the dogs comes up to me on its hind legs,as if reaching up to me.  I attempt to lift it up but I can’t.  In the next moment there is a large group of people in the room.  They are excited that I am “flying” and they applaud me. .  I think, “It’s no big deal, I’m just a couple feet off the ground”.

In the third dream, I’m flying high above a lovely, European-looking village with stucco houses and
shops and cobblestone streets.  It is dusk and there is a warm golden glow in the air.  I have
 a beautiful view of the sun setting on the bright horizon.  Many people are out and about on the
streets below, and to my surprise, many others are in the air, flying with me. In the dream
this is an epiphany- “There are others who fly!”.  It makes me happy. Even better, the folks on the ground and in the air all seem to know and care about one another; we are not strangers but part of a community.  The flying people are all moving in the direction of the sun.

The fourth dream happens in a cozy suburban home. There are happy playful young children and
pillows and cushions all around.  There is a beautiful Indian woman.  I have come for her to
massage me, to give me some kind of help and healing.  I am happy and comforted
to be here. I lay down; standing over me on my right is the woman, on my left is
a man from my Buddhist meditation group- an ex-Jesuit who is now an atheist. I notice the Indian
woman’s neck which is full of wrinkles.  I’m disappointed, because I was romantically attracted to
her, but now I think she is too old for me. The ex- Jesuit leans over me and kisses the woman. 
I’m surprised and intrigued.  I have mixed feelings about the kiss, smiling about it- but what does it
mean?

In the fifth dream I am on a well-known street in my home town with a man who is a part-time
chaplain where I work. I see him as a good hearted follower of church dogma. He is a
deacon in the Catholic church and a man of simple reverent faith.  He is one of the most kind
and gentle people I know.  He is my guide. The street we are on is well known to me,
but I know it as being in a different part of town.  So we have discovered this familiar street, only there
is another version of it in another place than what I am used to.  The street reminds me of the
European village in dream #3.  We have reached a point where my guide can either return to his home,
which is close by, or continue with me on the path.  I tell him to go home- I’ll be fine.
Suddenly we are at a body of water.  It is ocean-like- a deep blue and vast so you can’t
see across it, but peaceful like a lake.  Suddenly I take off and leave my guide behind on the ground.  I
look back and see him receding away from me as I head out over the water.  Suddenly I’m afraid..
“Can I fly well enough to make it across the water?”

In the sixth dream I’ve arrived at a church, and there are a few women in the vestibule with me.
It reminds me of the Methodist church I know- a sprawling structure with a large sanctuary
and many, many attached rooms for meetings and such. The women leave the vestibule
and go to the sanctuary.  A man comes into the vestibule.  He is the pastor of the church,
perhaps a well-known local religious figure.  He is smiling broadly and embraces me.  My feeling is 
he is only interested in me because he knows I can fly.  I’m ill at ease with him.

In the seventh dream I’m flying very high and very fast.  I become aware that my body is soft
and vulnerable.  I could be hurt if I hit something, a bug, a speck of dust,  while flying.  I wish I had a pair of goggles to protect my eyes but there are none.  Suddenly there are many pastel colors and candies in the sky with me.  Somehow the scene invokes the presence, joy and playfulness of children. I feel calm, secure and happy. 
Then, I begin to suspect that all these flying experiences are just a dream.  I’m sad and disappointed.  To encourage myself that it isn’t a dream I fly over to a large bush.  I think if I can feel the texture of the leaves it will prove that my experience is real- not a dream.  I reach out and can feel the texture of the leaves- then I wake up.








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Salvation and the Double Dribble

6/16/2013

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Picture
Jesus was once asked when the kingdom of God would come. The kingdom of God, Jesus
replied, is not something people will be able to see and point to. Then came
these striking words: “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for,
behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
(Luke 17:21)

A player shall not dribble a second time after the player’s first dribble
has ended, unless the player subsequently loses control because
of: a. A try for field goal; b. A bat by an opponent; c. A pass or fumble that
has then touched or been touched by another player.
                                                               (Section 7: Article 1)
                                                               NCAA 2013 Men's And Women's Basketball Rulebook

These reflections are only my own poetic and playful  imaginings, which have emerged from my life of studying and practicing Buddhism and Christianity.  I'm not attempting to speak in an authoritative way as to the nature of Buddhism and Christianity.  I hope these words are helpful, but if they aren't please let them pass like clouds on a windy day.

If you take everything that we now describe as Christian,  all of the texts, every bible, every book, every church, every song and prayer, every practice, and every person, and remove them from the face of the earth, the presence of the Living Christ on earth would not be diminished at all. The living Christ of unconditional love, of simplicity, of intimate connection with and responsibility for all life, would attempt to manifest in this world again and again, as it has so many time in the past (in Buddhism, in Native American spirituality, in Hinduism)

If you see the Buddha in the road, kill him. Because the living Buddha is not something outside of yourself. Kill the idea of the Buddha as a fixed being, separate from you. The living Buddha can only manifest out of our life and being in the present moment, when we touch life deeply with a heart and mind of openness and love. You won't find the living Buddha by following Thich Nhat Hanh or the Dalai Llama- though it might help you to follow them.  You won't find the living Christ in the Bible, or modern theology- though it might help you to study them. But being the best disciple of Thich Nhat Hanh,  being the most expert Christian scholar is not touching the Living Buddha, the Living Christ.  In fact, those things can become a hindrance if we become too attached to them. We must find the living Buddha, the living Christ in life as we live it.

In all the cosmos, the only thing that is real is the present moment of life that we are living- everything else is just a thought, it does not have the nature of living reality.  If you want to find the living Christ, the kingdom of God, you must find them right now, in this moment, not in some distant world of your or someone else's imagining. Failing to find Christ in this moment, we must find him in the next, whatever that moment may consist of- a prison cell, a wonderful job, a difficult marriage, a loving family, a painful death, sudden wealth.

Compared with the living reality of this present moment, our religion, science and philosophy are vast architecture, or poetry that we have created (in response to that reality).

James Naismith invented the game of basketball. With a peach basket and a round ball, he created something which hadn't existed before.  Out of this invention a vast world has emerged.  A world of legends and stories, and rules and regulation, and leagues and fans, of extraordinary skill, grace and beauty, of money greed and ugliness, of brutality, of TV, stars, and owners.  Some people spend the great majority of their life energy and attention living inside this world.  It's ok to spend a lot of time in the world of basketball, if we don't mistake it for the deep reality of life. That is suffering-we invest our heart and mind and being in a world of temporary, shifting manifestations of reality.  It's wonderful that we are able to spend our time in the world of Buddhism, in the world of Christianity- they can help us a lot if we don't mistake them for the deep reality of life.  We don't live in a Buddhist cosmos, a Christian cosmos, or even a basketball cosmos- they are temporary manifestations of the deep reality of life.

In conclusion, I offer this little parable:


Three Fish

Once there were three fish who lived in a cool mountain stream.  Life was, for them, simple, delicious, and fresh. . . heaven.  One day a boulder shook loose form the mountain and crashed through the water striking one of the fish.  The fish suffered from the wound and, gradually becoming helpless, was eaten by a larger fish.  All of this was witnessed by the other two.  Having suddenly become aware of the inevitability of their own suffering and death, the two plunged from heaven into a hell of fear and sorrow.

The first of the two decided that the stream was not safe- he could no longer live there. He gathered scraps of stick, bark and plant and, fashioning a raft, climbed out of the stream.   Soon others joined him.  They felt safer now that they could anticipate falling rocks and avoid the larger fish in the stream. 

Soon a large and painful longing came upon them- to return to the stream.  However, over time they forgot the cause of their longing.  In order to alleviate their suffering, they brought many things onto the raft with them: songs, stories, poems, dancing, crafts, cuisine, philosophy, work, economy, religion.  In response to this painful longing, they fashioned a vast culture, a world where they could abate their longing for awhile.  But whenever they rested from the creation of and living out this culture, the longing returned.  Thus, they were compelled to resume, again and again, the burden/blessing of what they had made.

The second fish was much less industrious.  She remained in the stream, remained in grief and pain and fear. She ate grief, swam pain and slept fear.  She held and carried this painful reality as her life- her self. For a long time she suffered a lot.  One day something wonderful happened.  She didn't really know what it was or where it came from.  She was swimming in the stream.  She began to notice, again, as if for the first time, how cool and refreshing the stream was.  She saw the rocks along the side of the stream- she was aware of their color and texture.  She was aware of the larger fish and the smaller fish- how different from one another, how beautiful they all were!  She saw the light of the sun shining deep into the stream, saw the vegetation that grew along the banks.  How fresh and wondrous this stream was!  She was deeply moved.  In that moment, something turned inside her.  A deep peace came upon her.

She recalled the fears that had haunted her.  She knew that she too would die one day.  But now it was clear to her that she would always be part of the life of the stream- how would it be possible for her to leave it?

Suddenly a shadow passed over head- it was the raft carrying the fish that had left the stream.  Her heart filled with compassion.  She decided she must try to communicate the great truth that she had discovered.  But how she had suffered to realize that truth- that her true nature was not that of a fish, but of the stream!  Would the others be willing to fully endure this suffering in order that they might be fully freed from it?

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God and Emptiness

1/18/2013

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Picture
"Everything that I have written seems like straw to me compared to those things that I have seen and have been revealed to me."
Thomas Aquinas- Catholic theologian, Doctor of the Church

"So for me now when I say the word God, what I image, what I feel, thanks to Buddhism, is the interconnecting spirit -- this ever-present spirit, this ever-present, interconnecting energy that is not a person, but is very personal, that this is the mystery that surrounds me, that contains me, and which I am in contact with in the Eucharist, in liturgies, and especially in
meditation."
  Paul Knitter, Catholic theologian and Buddhist practitioner

“I looked for Him on the Christian cross, but He was not there. I went to Hindu temples and shrines- but nothing. I visited the Ka’aba in Mecca, I did not find Him. I questioned learned scholars, but He outstripped their understanding. Finally, when I peered into my own heart- there, and nowhere else, was His home.” ~ Jalal Al-Din Rumi- Sufi poet


 Once I sat across the table from a Catholic nun who is a good friend and who is sympathetic to my Buddhist/Christian practice. We were talking about various things spiritual, including the Buddhist way of talking about reality vs the Christian way, the existence of God, etc. I told her the Buddhist experience is that, at the deepest levels of reality, there really is no such thing as Mike McMahon."

"But I'm sitting here looking at and talking to Mike McMahon."

My response went something like this: Something is going on across the table from you, something is happening here, but we can't say exactly what it is. Whatever is happening here, it is completely dynamic, constantly changing, more a process than a thing or being. It is intimately connected with, interpenetrating, one in being with all other aspects of the cosmos (the energy of the sun is a constant aspect of Mike McMahon's being, the oxygen of the plants, the waters of the ocean, the minerals of the earth, the experiences of others penetrate and shape Mike McMahon's heart and mind- if I keep going, I wind up naming every molecule, every person, place and thing, every event in the history of the cosmos as comprising my being.)". According to Buddhism, Mike McMahon is composed completely of non-Mike McMahon elements.  He is empty of a separate self, but
full of the entire cosmos!

Living life day to day, we live in the relative world of people, places, and things in relation to one another. We need to use concepts like Mike McMahon, sun, tree, up, down, high, low, good, bad, to function in this world. But if we are not able to touch deeply the ultimate level of reality- not just as an idea,but with our whole being, if we are not able to touch the realm where there is no separation, is no person, place or thing, and if we only have the capacity to touch the relative world where everything is separate, then we bring tremendous and unnecessary suffering into the world. From the Buddhist point of view, separating reality into God/Creation can be,
if we are not careful, part of this suffering. According to Buddhism, confusing concepts with reality is the cause of most unnecessary human suffering- and most human suffering is unnecessary.

If we want to use the word "God" to describe the ultimate reality that we are all part of, that's pretty safe. But when we begin to use other words, God as father, God as Judge, God as creator (and we, creation, separate in a fundamental way, "less-than" in a fundamental way, fallen), then, according to Buddhist experience,
if we are not careful, we will be moving out of touch with the deep nature of reality and creating suffering.

When we begin using words to describe something in the world, we take a reality that is living, dynamic, infinitely large and deep, mysterious and beautiful, and interpenetrating and interbeing with all other aspects of the cosmos, and,
if we are not careful,we make it small, separate, static- an entity amidst other entitities playing out as some sort of drama (usually with we humans in the center of it all). With words we can drive a thick wedge into the
deep intimacy connecting all aspects of existence.

We need to use words and concepts in order to live, but we must be very careful. We must understand the nature of words and
concepts versus the deep, living nature of reality. Words and concepts are tools which we have created to help us organize, understand, and manage our life in this world. When we confuse our words with living reality, we create a lot of suffering for ourselves and others. When we use fire, we must know the nature of fire, the nature of ths situation we're using the fire in, how we are applying the fire, etc. We want to have sovereignty over the fire and use it to help and not hurt.

Whatever the ultimate reality of being, whether we call it God, Buddha nature, the cosmos-  that reality will be infinitely deeper, richer, more elegant and beautiful, and, in my experience, more consoling than all of our concepts, philosophies  and theologies could ever describe.  It's more important that we enter into deep and meaningful relationship with that reality than that we define it.

Below is the song,  "Mystery"  from Paul Winter's "Earth Mass"- a beautiful evocation of the fullness/emptiness of God.




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Thich Nhat Hanh: Mindfulness and the Holy Spirit

10/15/2012

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In this article, Thich Nhat Hanh compares the Christian notion of "Holy Spirit" to the Buddhist notion of "mindfulness". This is likely to be a matter of contention with at least some Christian theologians. Reading a number of Christian reviews of Thich Nhat Hanh's book ""Living Buddha, Living Christ", the most oft-heard criticism is that the Buddhist is interpreting the Christian concepts through a Buddhist filter- and thus, getting it wrong.  A Buddhist will compare Christian concepts to his experience of
reality
then weave it creatively into the Buddhist, poetic description of the world, with the understanding that all of the words- the Christian theology, the Buddhist teachings, and his poetic attempt to weave
them together-are all of a completely different nature than the deep, living,reality of life. The Buddhist doesn't take the words so seriously as a Christian might (he might say, “OK if that concept doesn't work for you, how about this one?”). Using words and concepts to describe reality is like using
grains of sand to describe the ocean.  The Buddhist experience, born of meditation, is that concepts we use to describe reality are not an absolute truth, but a kind of poetry, pointing to our experience of reality. Buddhism is always saying, don't get attached to the ideas and concepts, or you won't be
able to touch deeply the truth of the living reality before you. So Thich Nhat Hanh takes a bit of Buddhist poetry, “mindfulness”, and compares it to a bit of Christian poetry, "the Holy Spirit".


When I was doing my masters work in Christian Spirituality, one of my last classes was on Catholic Doctrine. At some point in the class, I asked the teacher if "God", "Christ" and "Holy Spirit" are considered poetic expressions pointing to the mystery of God, or are they fundamental entities existing in some absolute way in the world. "It is the latter"- she said. As we prepared to write our final papers for the class, I asked her if I could talk about the Buddhist approach to doctrine for my paper. She said yes. I described the Buddhist notion- all concepts, all theology, cannot express the deep reality of life- only a relative description of some aspect of that reality.  I handed in the paper on the last day of class and never got it back. My final grade went down from the "A" it had been to a "B".

Here is Thich Nhat Hanh's article:

Many years ago when I visited Italy, I met a Catholic priest who organized a public talk for me. We had time to talk with each other, and I asked him this question: “My friend, what is the Holy Spirit to you?” And he said that the Holy Spirit is the energy of God, sent by God to us. I thought that expression is
beautiful, and as a Buddhist practitioner I can accept it very easily.

The Holy Spirit is the kind of energy that helps you to be compassionate, to be healed of your ill being. I
think Catholics and Protestants would agree about that: the Holy Spirit is the agent of healing, of transformation, of joy, of being there.

In Buddhist circles, we say very much the same thing to describe mindfulness. To us, mindfulness is the energy that can help us to be there, in the here and the now. Mindfulness helps us to be alive, and since we are there, we are capable of touching life deeply, of understanding, of accepting, of loving.
If we continue to develop that energy of understanding and loving, then we will get the healing and transformation that we need. That is why the Holy Spirit is exactly what we call the energy of mindfulness.

I can say that a Buddha or a bodhisattva is someone who is made of the energy of mindfulness. Each of us has a seed of mindfulness within ourselves. If we practice walking, sitting, smiling, breathing, eating, doing things every day with mindfulness, we help that seed of mindfulness in us to grow, and it will generate that energy of  mindfulness that helps us to be alive, fully present in the here and the now, helping us to understand, to accept, forgive, and to love, to be healed. That is why it is correct to say that the energy of mindfulness is the energy of a Buddha, of a bodhisattva.

We have that energy in ourselves, and if we know how to practice, we can generate that energy from
within. To me, the expressions “Holy Spirit” and “Mindfulness” both point to the same thing—something that is very concrete, that is available us in  the here and the now, and not just an idea, a notion.
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Buddhist/Christian Dialogue

8/25/2012

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Dear Friends,

I've been contemplating how to use this blog aspect of our web site.  Practicing in both the Christian and Buddhist traditions these past 20 year,  my hope and intention is that Christianity and Buddhism should find a way to be together as sister and brother, helping, supporting, teaching and nourishing one another as they each seek to bring healing and well being to human culture. This is also Thich Nhat Hanh's vision as expressed in his books, "Living Buddha, Living Christ" and "Going Home, Jesus and the Buddha as Brothers", and in his encouragement to Westerners who have taken up a Buddhist practice to go back to their ancestral faith tradition and "find the jewels buried there" and to "find a way to help".

 So I think, at least initially, I would like to use this space to share, reflect, and dialogue about these two beautiful spiritual traditions. For me, it is Christian/Buddhist because those are the two traditions I have spent my life studying and practicing in. But I hope people with connections to other spiritual traditions will feel free to offer from their experience.

In the Buddhist/Christian dialogue section of this web site I have already collected a dozen or so beautiful reflections from Christian and Buddhist writers/teachers, including Joan Chittister, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Merton, Athony DeMello, and David Stendl-Rast.  I humbly include some of my own reflections in this section.

I thought I would begin posting these reflections in our blog section. That way people can comment on the post, and hopefully a genuine, loving,  mindful dialogue could emerge.

To begin the dialogue, I will share this brief story about the Catholic monk, David Stendl-Rast:

 David Stendl-Rast, a Catholic monk, who had been studying and practicing Buddhist meditation on his own, wanted permission from his superiors to study with a Buddhist monk/teacher.  The superiors invited the teacher to spend some time in the monastery and requested to interview him at the end of his stay.The teacher lived at the monastery for several days working, living and practicing with the Catholic monks. At the end of his stay the superiors interviewed the Buddhist teacher.

After the interview the superiors talked with Stendl-Rast.  They  said that the Buddhist teacher’s answers to their questions made no sense to them, but they could see by the way he lived that he was a deeply spiritual person. They gave permission for Stendl-Rast to study and practice with the Buddhist Teacher.


This story reminds me of the "Road to Emmaus" scripture in the Bible.  After his death and resurrection, Jesus met some of his disciples on the road to Emmaus.  The disciples at first did not recognize Jesus- he had experienced death and re-birth.  In outward form and appearance, he was not the same.

Upon their arrival in Emmaus the disciples encouraged Jesus to have dinner with them.  And it was here, "in the breaking of bread" "their eyes were opened" and they recognized Jesus as their beloved teacher who had just been crucified. In "living with" the risen Jesus they saw the true Christ, beyond external forms and appearances.

The external forms of our religious teachings and practices are relative, poetic means to help us open to the living reality of life in this moment. As it is expressed in the the Mindfulness trainings of Thich Nhat Hanh's Order of Interbeing (adapted):

"I am determined not to be idolatrous about or bound  to any doctrine, theory or ideology... Buddhist (Christian, Jewish, etc)  teachings are  guiding means to help me learn to look deeply and to develop my understanding  and compassion. They are not doctrines to fight, kill or die for.... Truth is found  in life and I will observe life within and around me in every moment, ready to  learn throughout my life."

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    Author



    Mike McMahon is a long-time practitioner in both the Christian (Catholic) and Buddhist Traditions.  He has been ordained as a lay member of Thich Nhat Hanh's Order of Interbeing, and has been certified as a spiritual director through Creighton University. He is a founding member of the Honey Locust Sangha- a group in Omaha, NE which practices mindful living in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.

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