Thich Nhat Hanh
“I think God is on Earth, inside every living being. What we call “the divine,” is none other than the energy of awakening, of peace, of understanding, and of love, which is to be found not only in every human being, but in every species on Earth. In Buddhism, we say every sentient being has the ability to be awakened, and to understand deeply. We call this Buddha nature...
We’re not reading from Matthew’s gospel, or any other Judeo-Christian scriptures to start off our today’s study. The point of our message for today, as clearly as I can articulate it here, is to see the inter-connectedness of all creation as part of the very nature of God. We’ll be looking at that question from several different sources to see where and how they might differ and how they might agree.
The piece I read at the beginning is from Thich Nhat Hanh, a renowned Vietnamese Buddhist monk, author, peace activist, teacher, and spiritual leader. He was known and honored around the world until his death two years ago at the age of 95. We’ll come back to talk more about him in a while.
Another piece we will hear is from St. Francis of Assisi -- God’s “little servant” – whose feast day, October 4th, is this coming Wednesday. He and Thich Nhat Hanh shared more in common than we might think possible between two men – one a Buddhist, one a devoted follower of Jesus, with a thousand years or so spanning between them.
We’ll also hear from Henri Nouwen, a Dutch Catholic priest, teacher, and theologian, from the latter half of the twentieth century.
I am not in any way trying to start an in-depth comparison of Buddhism and Christianity. I am not remotely qualified to expound on Buddhist thinking or beliefs. What I am looking for here is some thoughts on language – specifically, how we speak of the ineffable – that which cannot be named because it is simply too far beyond human speech or comprehension. We use words like “God”, the “Divine”, “Holy One” and we think we all mean the same thing – but do we?
To go back to my primary point today let’s start with the longer statement by Thich Nhat Hahn from which our opening reading comes. He speaks here about the “Buddha nature” of all creation. He likens Buddha nature with “the Divine,” and it might perhaps enhance our understanding if we mentally make that substitution as we go along. I’ll start from the beginning again,,,
Henri Nouwen – using more familiar Christian language, says much the same thing:
And there is Brother Francis, who expresses much the same in his beautiful prayer/poems where, for instance, he addresses “Brother Sun” and “Sister Moon” and makes it clear these are God-created beings as much as are we humans. One of our favorite hymns is composed of couplets that extoll all creation as fellow beings in God’s family:
All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing
O burning sun with golden gleam
O silver moon with softer gleam
O rushing wind with voice so strong
You clouds that sail in heav’n along
O flowing water pure and clear
Make music for our God to hear
And here we run into the primary difference between the Buddhist form and the Judeo-Christian form. In the first, God is seen as existing entirely within all that is – all that is, is God.. In the second, God exists outside of us all, but chooses to place part of godself within all creation. It’s a subtle difference, but it’s there. Maybe that matters, maybe it does not.
As I was putting this together for today I realized it was going to be more than a one-week message. Next week, I think, we’ll look into some input from our Judeo-Christian scriptures, both Hebrew and Christian to see what the writers of the Old and New Testaments may have to say on this subject of the inter-connectedness of all creation and the nature of God.
What are your thoughts on the nature of God? Certainly not a question to be resolved with a few quotes and a couple of questions... We’ll see where next week takes us.
The piece I read at the beginning is from Thich Nhat Hanh, a renowned Vietnamese Buddhist monk, author, peace activist, teacher, and spiritual leader. He was known and honored around the world until his death two years ago at the age of 95. We’ll come back to talk more about him in a while.
Another piece we will hear is from St. Francis of Assisi -- God’s “little servant” – whose feast day, October 4th, is this coming Wednesday. He and Thich Nhat Hanh shared more in common than we might think possible between two men – one a Buddhist, one a devoted follower of Jesus, with a thousand years or so spanning between them.
We’ll also hear from Henri Nouwen, a Dutch Catholic priest, teacher, and theologian, from the latter half of the twentieth century.
I am not in any way trying to start an in-depth comparison of Buddhism and Christianity. I am not remotely qualified to expound on Buddhist thinking or beliefs. What I am looking for here is some thoughts on language – specifically, how we speak of the ineffable – that which cannot be named because it is simply too far beyond human speech or comprehension. We use words like “God”, the “Divine”, “Holy One” and we think we all mean the same thing – but do we?
To go back to my primary point today let’s start with the longer statement by Thich Nhat Hahn from which our opening reading comes. He speaks here about the “Buddha nature” of all creation. He likens Buddha nature with “the Divine,” and it might perhaps enhance our understanding if we mentally make that substitution as we go along. I’ll start from the beginning again,,,
- I think God is on Earth, inside every living being. What we call “the divine,” is none other than the energy of awakening, of peace, of understanding, and of love, which is to be found not only in every human being, but in every species on Earth. In Buddhism, we say every sentient being has the ability to be awakened, and to understand deeply. We call this Buddha nature.
- The deer, the dog, the cat, the squirrel, and the bird all have Buddha nature. But what about inanimate species: the pine tree in our front yard, the grass, or the flowers? As part of our living Mother Earth, these species also have Buddha nature. This is a very powerful awareness which can bring us so much joy. Every blade of grass, every tree, every plant, every creature large or small are children of the planet Earth and have Buddha nature. The Earth herself has Buddha nature, therefore all her children must have Buddha nature, too.....
Henri Nouwen – using more familiar Christian language, says much the same thing:
- “When we think of oceans and mountains, forests and deserts, trees, plants and animals, the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the galaxies, as God’s creation, we realize we are indeed brothers and sisters not only of all other men and women in the world but also of all that surrounds us.
- Yes, we have to love the fields full of wheat, the snowcapped mountains, the roaring seas, the wild and tame animals, the huge redwoods, and the little daisies. Everything in creation belongs, with us, to the large family of God.”
And there is Brother Francis, who expresses much the same in his beautiful prayer/poems where, for instance, he addresses “Brother Sun” and “Sister Moon” and makes it clear these are God-created beings as much as are we humans. One of our favorite hymns is composed of couplets that extoll all creation as fellow beings in God’s family:
All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing
O burning sun with golden gleam
O silver moon with softer gleam
O rushing wind with voice so strong
You clouds that sail in heav’n along
O flowing water pure and clear
Make music for our God to hear
And here we run into the primary difference between the Buddhist form and the Judeo-Christian form. In the first, God is seen as existing entirely within all that is – all that is, is God.. In the second, God exists outside of us all, but chooses to place part of godself within all creation. It’s a subtle difference, but it’s there. Maybe that matters, maybe it does not.
As I was putting this together for today I realized it was going to be more than a one-week message. Next week, I think, we’ll look into some input from our Judeo-Christian scriptures, both Hebrew and Christian to see what the writers of the Old and New Testaments may have to say on this subject of the inter-connectedness of all creation and the nature of God.
What are your thoughts on the nature of God? Certainly not a question to be resolved with a few quotes and a couple of questions... We’ll see where next week takes us.
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