Demarcation Lines

I was pondering again on Holy Books and the authority of texts. Just who gives them the authority? Just who decides which are "holy" and which can join the others in the dustbin of history, the ones that never made it into the official canon?

Authority. Now we've decided who to follow....

 Looking closely at the Christian tradition I find that there are in fact various canons, so I suppose first we must choose just which authority we trust, Catholic, Protestant or perhaps even the Armenian, who have a Third Letter to the Corinthians. Are there others? Maybe. Whatever, once we have our very own Canon of choice we must then determine which interpretation to go with. I will leave it there. 

Translation or Interpreting. Which is which?

One thing I did find in my Googling was that the Eastern Churches had, "in general, a weaker feeling than those in the West for the necessity of making a sharp delineation with regard to the canon", that they were "more conscious of the gradation of spiritual quality among the books they accepted."

In Buddhism too there is a Canon, the Pali Theravada Tipitaka, pictured here:- 

What price Zen, the doctrine beyond words and letters? (Though the Therevada is very strong on what is known as the "Silence of the Buddha")

 But when we get to the Mahayana no such canon exists, just a virtually never ending succession of Sutras, the "spiritual quality" of which seems to be decided by just which of them have stood the test of time and remained favorites for study and devotion. Just a bit more democratic, for better or worse, and possibly one reason why the Mahayana is called the "Great Vehicle" (of salvation). Ultimately I see it as leading to being able to find "authority" in virtually anything, or as Saichi once exclaimed, Namu-amida-butsu is blooming everywhere!

Blooming everywhere!

Now that I have got rid of demarcation lines I can drift onto speaking of one particular text and verses that I have found "spiritual quality" in. 

The Suttanipata, which I have mentioned in a previous blog, contains the famous Loving Kindness Sutta, often memorised in full by lay folk of the Theravada tradition. It contains the following two verses:-

Verse 149

Just as a mother would protect her son,

her only son, with her own life,

so one should develop toward all beings 

a state of mind without boundaries.

Verse 150

And toward the whole world

one should develop loving-kindness,

a state of mind without boundaries -

above, below, and across -

unconfined, without enmity, without adversaries. 

("Without boundaries" certainly keeps me on topic for once)

 But I have to wonder again about the authority of words. Would the first thought of some, in reading the above two verses, be to compare them with the great Hymn to Love of St Paul in the New Testament? And if so, what would be the point or purpose in doing so? Are some words better than others? Do some enshrine the "holy spirit", carry the power to transform, while others do not?

 I'm reminded again, even as I ramble, of the words quoted before from the Bodhicharyavatara, of how "like a blind man finding a precious gem" inside some heap of dust, "by some strange chance, bodhichitta (selfless love) has been born in me." How do we find the capacity to love? Can it ever be purely by choice?

 For me, whatever love we have, whatever love we share, is pure gift, the unfolding of grace. As another has said, the Tao can only be shared, never divided. To think it "ours", attained, is to divide it. Divided into "Mine" and "yours", "Christian" love and "Buddhist" love. And therefore into wars, crusades and inquistions.

Faith does not arise

Within ourselves

The entrusting heart is itself

Given by the Other Power. 

(Rennyo)

Love or the entrusting heart, whatever. And as Saichi said when asked to speak of the Other Power:-

Yes, but there is neither self power nor Other Power

What is, is the graceful acceptance only.

Related Quotes:-

  If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough. 

(Meister Eckhart)

When eating fruit think of the person who planted the tree. 

(Anon)

To say "How grateful!" is a lie; the truth is, there is nothing the matter; and there is nothing more that makes one feel at home. Namu-amida-butsu! Namu-amida-butsu!

(From Saichi's Journals)