I have a little day-planner that I use (when I can find it!) to schedule workshops and events. Today I was going over this spring's schedule with a Japanese colleague. I like the day-planner I have because it lists every international holiday in the corners of the date boxes. It's always nice to know when the Chinese New Year goes down (Jan. 26th) or Tomb Sweeping Day in Taiwan (April 4th) or something called Whit Day in France and Denmark that falls on June 1st.
Anyway, my Japanese friend was looking at some of these funny holidays, and asked about one that falls on April 6th called "Good Friday."
Hoo boy. Fortunately I went to Catholic School so I know the answer to all this kind of stuff.
"Well, that's the day Christians mark the death of Jesus. It's two days before Easter."
"And what's Easter for?"
"Uh, it's the day that Jesus came back to life. And then he walked around for a few days and went back to heaven. There's a special day for that too. (Ascension)"
"What was he doing for the two days?"
"He was in a cave."
"Why?"
"That's where they used to put the dead bodies after they died. I don't know why..."
"Why did it take two days to come back?"
"I don't know. He needed a break?"
It went on like this for a few minutes, and the more I talked the more ridiculous the whole thing sounded.
My friend was genuinely puzzled that anyone would believe this stuff. I didn't go into how people kill each other over it.
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13 comments:
I dont think its any more ridiculous than the religion you belong to with the miracles that buddha supposedly performed or the whole concept of reincarnation. Every religion is ridiculous looking from the outside in.
Ah but I don't buy into the Buddha performing miracles stuff either. All that was added on over the years and is non-essential ornamentation.
As far as "the Buddha" goes, he was just a guy who pointed out some aspects of reality that I find to be extremely true and useful. No miracles necessary.
Many Christians seem to have come to this settlement with the Jesus myth. Take the wisdom, and let the supernatural stuff lie.
Aww man, you gotta believe in magic though or at least the supernatural.. ghosts or OOBE's
I think everything looks ridiculous when you aren't fully educated. For instance I have a totally different view of what Zen Buddhism is now than about 5 years ago and personally I think it falls under the category of spiritual and not religious. Zen can add value to any practicer of any religion. But at the same time I don't think it offers the answers in life I personally look for. And I'm sorry to say this Patrick but I don't think being raised Catholic has any relation to understanding Christianity. As a matter of fact I think it's probably the biggest thing that could ever get in your way to knowing what it's really about. And about who Jesus was/is and what he did and why. But whether you believe the miracles or not has no bearing on the value of his teachings, just like in the case of Buddha. Jesus even said that those following the first century Christians would not have his presence or miracles to see to prove it to them so obviously the miracles aren't what is important. It's about following a set of principles and values. It's about finding a belief system that works for you if following it makes you happy. Especially if you have tested it out, you think for yourself and make your own choices, and it still makes sense and adds value to who you are. Most importantly if it helps you avoid adding more toxic behavior into the world around you.
It's fun to take a step back from religions (any of them) and consider, objectively, the messages they are passing along. The core precepts (damn, I'm sorry I just used that word...but what the hell) are typically sound - don't kill each other, be nice in fact, don't eat meats that spoil easily, don't sleep with your neighbour's wife.
It seems like the basic "be good" works and is somewhat universal. But then the ornamentation is great. Monty Python or the original - your choice - both silly yet fun.
All that said, for anyone interested in studying Christianity, I highly recommend CS Lewis's "Mere Christianity". It's a great thinker's logical way of approach the possibility that Christianity is 'true'. I love the core ideas he develops in that book. It's funny how he argues that men have to have veto power in a relationship. "You see, there are 2 people in a marriage...and 2 people can always vote in opposite ways...no decision...therefore, one of them just has to be the 'decider' and it just happens to be men. OK?
I don't know. What do you think Patrick? Wonder if Gwen would be convinced by that? Ha!
Peace and humour,
Dean
Buddha, Jesus, Mohamed, and others never founded the religions that they are linked to. They were merely teachers who taught about life and how to live it. Along the way, their followers started "religions" in their names. Unfortunately, the original teachings often are lost or forgotten in the face of all the dogma the formal religions have.
Dean, good question. Let me think about that one for a minute...
First and Third Anon poster here: I was wtaching a special on PBS a long time ago and they were doing a segment about CS Lewis and his conversion xianity. The narrator was reading from one of Lewis's books and i burst out laughing at the part when lewis says that on the night of his conversion he considered himself to be the most reluctant and dejected convert to xianity on the history of the world. lol
ps...i was just re-reading my posts and i noticed that it might come off like i'm a xian...for the record, I'm not.
pps...keep up the good work, patrick...and i know you're probably pulled in all different directions but post more!
-Byron
There was this guy named Jesus...
That's just about how it began but we humans being humans screw things up sometimes--or a lot of times and that's when we get away from "this guy named Jesus." Miracles or not...its practicing what he taught that is more important. Don't we do that with the Buddha's teachings or the teachings of master Dogen?
People didn't go to war because of Jesus. People (humans) went to war because they didn't take Jesus' words seriously.
I practice zazen and I also pray the rosary..what's the difference? They can both quiet the monkey inside our heads.
Whether your goal is samadhi or mystical contemplation, can't we just get along? I don't see Jesus and Buddha fighting it out...they are both enlightened after all.
--Father James.
I'm reading a very fascinating and amusing book right now - The Year of Living Biblically, written by A J Jacobs. It's a different kind of spiritual journey, a story of a man attempting to follow all the rules of the Bible for one year. Through this he explores a lot of funny but also profound stuff, while trying to keep his mind open.
It's a good read, maybe you would like it too?
And thank you Patrick, for your brilliant blog posts and podcasts!
Yeah, it's much better to believe that you will gain something by (get this) ...sitting on a pillow! No really, that's what they do! And they say that it will bring them 'enlightenment' or helps them 'see reality, not the illusion'. Poor fools, any type of sensory deprivation (such as sitting on a pillow, staring at the wall) will bring about hypnotic effects.
:)
Re: Anon
I get the joke here but sitting on a pillow staring at the wall has no intrinsic value. It's spending time with your mental patterns and seeing how they work that changes you.
I wish the "religions of the book" allowed more time and training for this kind of introspection.
Patrick,
The "religions of the book" do have their own ways of introspection. The tradition I'm familiar with has several, i.e., the mystical teachings of John of the Cross (Dark Night of the Soul), Lectio Divina of the Benedictines, mental meditation by the Jesuits. I grant you these are not practiced--or known--by mainstream Catholics--as you know.
--Fr. James
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