Matthew 5:27-28 (KJV): Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Each deed performed, however secretly, leaves its impression somewhere. Our lives unfold, and in-fold, at a number of different levels: We have our public personas, our private lives, and our secret selves. Those with whom we are most intimate dwell with us in our private worlds. They see our faults and shortcomings. They know that we often fail to live up to the images that we project - the people we hope to be seen as in the world. Those who are privy to our private selves may witness some of our struggles, but they also see our complexities, our depths, our efforts; those with whom we are most intimate may also be more aware of the hidden goodness, the kindnesses, the little unselfish gestures that weave through our days. I had a friend that committed armed robbery and didn’t make it to his 40th birthday, but I remember the night when we were young men - I was drunk on the floor and this friend, thinking I was asleep and unbeknownst to anyone else, found a blanket and gently covered me where I lay. Each deed performed, however secretly, leaves its impression somewhere. Behind our public and private selves lie our secret selves. We may seldom give them voice. They just whisper quietly in our hearts and minds - and sometimes we even suppress that whisper. Here, from the distance of twenty centuries, Jesus calls us out. He challenges us to bring an integrity of awareness to our secret thoughts, just as we bring mindfulness to our words and actions.  Our reaction may be inflammatory: How dare anyone attempt to control my thoughts, my thinking! I’ll think what I damn well please! Our thoughts, however, inter-are with our words and actions. Our thinking plays an incredible role in shaping our lives, private and public. True, we do not act on every thought (thank goodness!), but the words we speak and the actions we take our constantly informed by the springboard of our thinking. As Jesus says, what’s “in our hearts” matters. Deeply. On the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism, one of the eight strands is Right Thinking. The Buddha says, “When there is Right Thinking and one knows it is Right Thinking, it is also Right View. What is wrong thinking? It is thinking that leads to desire, hatred, and harming” (Discourse on the Great Forty - Mahacattarisaka Sutta in The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, p. 244-245). Lustful thinking, hateful and violent thoughts, place us on a path that is not beneficial to ourselves or others, but we needn’t “beat ourselves up” over such thoughts. In fact, that would be just more non-beneficial thinking - now, aimed at ourselves! The Buddha says something else extraordinary on this topic, “When there is wrong thinking and one knows it is wrong thinking, it is already Right View” (Discourse on the Great Forty, p. 244). When we bring our integrity and mindful attention to our harmful thinking, we regain the Right View, we begin to make our way back to the path of wholeness and healing and benefit for ourselves and all beings. Such thinking brings compassion and kindness back into our hearts. Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Jesus is essentially teaching the same lesson as the Buddha. He’s teaching us to converse with ourselves, to say something to ourselves like, “Ah, here’s those lustful thoughts again - or, here’s those angry thoughts again (see Matthew 5:22). C’mon, you know this thinking is not beneficial. Be mindful. Know that this is not beneficial thinking. Remember that. Know that...Yeah, that’s the Right View, you’re already heading back to the path of wholeness and healing and benefit for yourself and others. And when your thinking grows harmful again, bring y

1 Corinthians 12:12-14: For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ The Diamond Sutra states that there is no self, no human being, no living being, and no lifespan. Its longer name is The Diamond that Cuts Through Illusion because it cuts through these four illusory concepts of self, human being, living being, and lifespan. For example, we don’t think of magnesium as a living being, but listen to what the National Institute of Health says, “Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. It helps to maintain normal nerve and muscle function, supports a healthy immune system, keeps the heartbeat steady, and helps bones remain strong. It also helps regulate blood glucose levels and aid in the production of energy and protein.” Is not magnesium a member of the body? Imagine if there was an immense interstellar vacuum that could be programmed to just suck up certain elements. Imagine that it came to Earth, sucked up all the magnesium into its interstellar vacuum bag, and shipped it off to Neptune. Immediately, you and I would die. There would be no human beings. Our lives would cease to exist. Magnesium is essential to all cellular life. Our bodies are not just fingers and toes, eyeballs and lungs, a heart, liver, blood, and skin. Our bodies are also magnesium and iron and oxygen and so much more. Biologically, you have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, sixteen great-great-grandparents, etc. Do you know what your maternal grandmother’s grandmother looked like? I have a single photograph of my maternal grandmother’s mother from Czechoslovakia in the early 1900s, but I have no idea what her mother looked like. Few of us have any idea how our maternal great-great-grandmother looked, but, still, try to imagine her. See the shape of her hand, the knuckles, veins, fingernails. Envision her gait as she walked. Picture her eyes as she smiled and frowned. Regardless of your family history, whether you feel deeply connected to your blood heritage or completely removed from your biological kin, you simply could not exist without that great-great-grandmother with her hands and her walk and her eyes. She is part of you. Inseparable. Your body is as dependent upon her as it is upon magnesium. There is no human cellular life without the great-great-grandmother. If you can, recall your 2nd grade teacher. You may remember much or little from 2nd grade, but I submit that you are different than you would have otherwise been because of her or him. The trajectory of your life may have been influenced in significant ways that you do not know by that 2nd grade teacher. My 2nd grade teacher was Mrs. Ruark. I sometimes say: Know Mrs, Ruark, know me. No Mrs. Ruark, no me. No magnesium? No maternal great-great-grandmother? No 2nd grade teacher? No you. Know magnesium, your maternal great-great-grandma, and your 2nd grade teacher - know you. Like muscles in your forearm or tendons in your leg, like magnesium, your 2nd grade teacher is also part of your body. Your life is impossible to describe without her or him, even if you can’t picture them. And...no magnesium, no Jesus. Without lungs, intestines, blood, oxygen, iron, trees, soil, and much else, Jesus could not exist. No trees, no Jesus. Know trees, know Jesus. What is the body of Christ? We are. And that “we” includes magnesium and trees and Mrs. Ruark and soil and your great-great-grandmother. We inter-are with Jesus. If we were to change that interstellar vacuum setting from magnesium-removal to Christ-removal and have it suck up everything Christ-related, everything influenced by Jesus on this planet, we would cease to exist. Thich Nhat Hanh sa

Numbers 3:23-26:  The clans of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle on the west, with Eliasaph son of Lael as head of the ancestral house of the Gershonites. The responsibility of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting was to be the tabernacle, the tent with its covering, the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting, the hangings of the court, the screen for the entrance of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords—all the service pertaining to these. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Nobody reads Numbers. Why would they? In the deep mythology of the Judeo-Christian tradition, we have the tabernacle or arc of the covenant wherein unfathomably dwells the Source/Creator/Great Sacredness in all its majesty and terribleness (see also Exodus 25). Imagine having the Mysterium Tremendum in the box; the seed of the Big Bang in a jar. In Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, it says that there is this Tremendous Power belonging to no one, but available to everyone. To access this sacred power requires meticulousness. One has to pay attention to personal details: the way one turns on the tap, combs their hair, brushes their teeth. All the details matter. This Power is like a great typhoon that can create tidal waves and knock down huge buildings but “the personal experience of this wind comes as a feeling of being completely and powerfully in the present” (Shambhala, p. 114).  If the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh know and largely dwell in Deep Compassion and Vast Joy, it is because they lead incredibly disciplined lives of mindfulness and meditation. Did not the Buddha and Jesus dwell in meticulous discipline? How would the Buddha move his hand? How might Jesus walk? Thich Nhat Hanh’s movements have been described as “a cross between a cloud, a snail, and a piece of heavy machinery." Presence. Mindfulness. Meticulous attention to the details. The Book of Numbers continues: The head of the ancestral house of the clans of Merari was Zuriel son of Abihail; they were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle. The responsibility assigned to the sons of Merari was to be the frames of the tabernacle, the bars, the pillars, the bases, and all their accessories—all the service pertaining to these; also the pillars of the court all around, with their bases and pegs and cords.(3:35-37) What is required of those who would dwell with the Great Sacredness? Meticulous attention to the details. Deep presence. The disciplined lives of the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh may seem like too much for us. Why would we even want to lead such disciplined lives of mindfulness and meditation? We don’t even have the patience to read about disciplined lives in the Book of Numbers, let alone lead them. Why would anyone read Numbers? Nobody reads Numbers. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ We want ease and a lack of constriction in our lives, but the ironic truth is that this requires discipline. Recall that Thay is described as both a cloud and a heavy piece of machinery. Today, give yourself five minutes to enjoy meticulous focus. We see this concentration of attention in children all the time: As they watch a bug crawl or draw a picture. Take five minutes and attend totally to the way your hand turns, or pick one bird in the backyard and follow its every move, or hold that hammer with all your mindfulness as you pound that single nail. Move like the sons of Gershon on the west side of the arc, working responsibly, meticulously handling the cords for the screen for the entrance of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar with the discipline of their full mindfulness. (Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )

Matthew 20: 1-16: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ We like numbers, measurements, things we can “count on,” ac-count-ability. Jesus’ story in Matthew 20:1-16 (like many of his parables) messes with us. Things don’t add up. We tend to think of infinity as a really, really big number. Jesus (and the Buddha) are in the “infinity business” - but they don’t appear interested in the big number ideal. John O’Donohue writes about our ceaseless greed as a grasping for infinity. We have traded in the infinities that Buddha and Jesus hint at for a really, really big number. Our cultures mock and belittle the unknowable and ineffable, but our souls thirst for the infinite - so we acquire and acquire, filling our houses and minds to the brim, yet our souls are not sated. O’Donohue writes, “It is our nature to seek the infinite. Consequently, the functionalist mind constructs its own infinite out of things, possessions, achievements, stimulants, and distractions. It is fixed on the treadmill of multiplication.” (Eternal Echoes, p. 80). Fixed and unsatiated. Dudjom Rinpoche writes, “The pure awareness of nowness is the real Buddha” (The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying, p. 45).  The Eastern Orthodox monk Father Maximos says, “Whenever you meet someone on your way, in reality you meet God. And as you honor God you must honor the other because you have in front of you the presence of God. You don’t turn the other way to avoid someone you don’t like” (The Mountain of Silence, p. 64).  The infinite is immeasurable. Dudjom Rinpoche is writing of “the real”; Fr. Maximos speaks of “in reality.” These religious leaders dwell in “the real,” in reality that is soaked with the Infinite. Here, there is no thirst. Jesus’ parable of the landowner in Matthew 20 teases us about our obsession with numbers. The last is first? The first is last? What?! Wait, this doesn’t add up. It doesn’t make sense. But the problem is not with the kingdom of heaven which is like a landowner, the problem is with our worldly sense of measurement - our focus on the empirical, our measuring tools that simply can’t do the job. The Infinite is not a really big number. The Infinite is, instead, available - you don’t need an abacus, a calculator, the most powerful super high-speed computer, or even a “good math brain” - the Infinite is right here, right now, right

John 3:16 (KJV): For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Most Christians are familiar with the phrase “only begotten son” to describe Jesus. In the King James Version of the Bible, this phrase is found four times in the Gospel according to John (John 1:14; 1:18; 3:16; 3:18), but this phrase is not found in the other three gospels. Similarly, in the translation of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), John is the one Gospel where Jesus is referred to as G-d’s only son. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all reference Jesus as a son of G-d, but these other three gospels (known collectively as the synoptic gospels for their similarities to each other and because of their differences with John) never say that Jesus is the only son of G-d. In fact, Matthew especially emphasizes that we are all sons and daughters of G-d. The most famous prayer in Christianity begins “Our Father which art in heaven…” The “Our Father” prayer is only found in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. When talking with others, the Matthean Jesus tells the people that G-d is “your father” fifteen times (Matthew 5:16; 5:45; 6:1; 6:4; 6:6a; 6:6b; 6:8; 6:15; 6:18a; 6:18b; 7:11; 10:20 10:27; 18:14; 23:9). John uses the “your father” phrase only twice (8:42; 20:17) as a descriptor of G-d, and one of those two times, he is using it to show that others are not the children of G-d. John 8:42 & 44 reads,  Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here...You are from your father the devil. This is a very different usage of the phrase “your father” when compared to the words of Matthew’s Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). It should be no surprise that the Johnanine Jesus would not suggest a prayer that begins, “Our Father which art in heaven…” because from John’s theological viewpoint, only Jesus is the son of G-d. The point here is not to elevate one understanding of Jesus over another; the point is to awaken those of us who love Jesus and his teachings to the reality that - from very early on - different people understood Jesus quite differently. Councils and theologians have worked hard to meld and conflate these differing understandings into a unified whole and you may wish to do the same, but we risk losing much of the depth and breadth of Christianity in the process. Just as there are many schools of Buddhism, we may attempt to discern what some of the early schools of Christianity were - and how they differed. As a beginning point, a careful study of different gospels will show you that different early Christian groups held not marginally different understandings of Jesus - instead, they held radically differing theological perspectives on both who Jesus was and what the primary message was of Jesus’ life and teachings. What might be gained by recognizing, exploring, reaffirming, and celebrating the rich diversity of meanings that Christianity has offered its advocates for two thousand years? ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Before trying these activities, try to let go of your understanding of Jesus - try to read the Bible with completely fresh eyes, as if you’ve never heard of this fellow named Jesus. Choose one of the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, or Luke) and study it, read it deeply from beginning to end. What is the gospel writer trying to convey about Jesus and the importance of his life and teachings? Then, read John’s Gospel - studying it, reading it deeply from beginning to end. How does it compare with the message from the synoptic gospel that you read? How is it similar? Where is it different? (Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )

Mark 4: 5-6, 16-17:  Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil.  And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away... And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ “To plant a seed or a seedling is to entrust it to the earth. The plant will live or die because of the earth. But the earth also entrusts herself to the plant. Each leaf that falls down and decomposes will help the soil be alive. When we take refuge in the Buddha, we entrust ourselves to the soil of understanding. And the Buddha entrusts himself or herself to us for understanding, love, and compassion to be alive in the world,” says the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (aka Thay) (The Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings, p. 162-163) In Jesus’ parable of the sower, we hear of the seed falling on rocky ground; we think of the lack of root in the plant and the person. Even Jesus says, since “they have no root, [they] endure only for a while” (Mark 4:17). The problem is the lack of root...Or is it? The lack of roots is an effect, not the cause of trouble. The real problem is mentioned earlier by Jesus: The soil has no depth (Mark 4:5). The soil is key. The soil has been ignored. Acknowledging the value and importance of the Clean Air and the Clean Water Acts dating back to the 1970s, the soil scientist Dr. Rattan Lal asks us, where is the Clean Soil Act? Our lack of focus on soil health has been devastating for our Earth. The soil has been ignored. The soil is key. Thich Nhat Hanh says the soil is alive and Dr. Lal agrees. What happens when the “soil of understanding” has depth and great life? Then the Buddha and Jesus’ teachings can take root, then we can fulfill our trust to bring to life understanding, love, and compassion. If our soil lacks depth, we may receive the teachings with joy, but everything quickly withers. Our spiritual and religious work is to improve the soil. How? We must compost what is not beneficial, that which does not serve compassion and agape love. A garden of loving kindness and compassionate understanding will grow. Some people assume that those who embrace a melding of traditions like Buddhism and Christianity have a surface-level spirituality, one that lacks roots. Certainly, “seekers” risk remaining “spiritual shoppers,” skimming the surface, lacking depth - but that need not be the case for those called to “double belonging.” The Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh includes an image of Jesus on his altar and recognizes Jesus Christ as one of his spiritual ancestors. Thay says he is stronger for having these two roots (Living Buddha, Living Christ, p. 99-100). Two roots may grow well when the soil is deep and alive. Among spiritual and religious leaders of the world, Nhat Hanh is known as one of the leading voices in caring for our planet. Having deepened, enriched, and enlivened the soil of compassionate understanding within himself, he recognizes that we are all part of the Earth. Thay emboldens us to open our hearts and raise our Earthen voices, to care for the living Earth beneath our feet, just as Dr. Lal calls us to enliven, enrich, and deepen the living soil of our planet. What is true of the seeds of the Buddha and Jesus’ teachings is also true of our plant seeds - as well as the plant seeds of future generations. They require a depth of living soil. The soil is key. It must no longer be ignored.     ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Seeds sown on rocky ground in soil that lacks depth may spring up quickly, but they will soon wither and die. What teachings and practices deepen and enrich your soil? We are entrusted by Jesus and the Buddha to grow in compassionate understanding and loving ki

Job 39:1-4: “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer? Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, when they crouch to give birth to their offspring, and are delivered of their young? Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open; they go forth, and do not return to them. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ To think of the Book of Job is to reflect on Job’s long suffering; we note Job’s devotion to God, even in his despair, despite the loss of his property, his ill health, and the deaths of all his sons and daughters. After extended dialogue and counsel from friends, near the end of the Book of Job, the LORD speaks. In chapter 38 of Job, G-d speaks of laying the foundation of the Earth (38:1) and ordering the stars (38:31), and then, in the beginning of chapter 39, the LORD asks Job, “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?” This  man has had all his sons and daughters crushed to death after the roof caved in at a party they were all attending at the eldest brother’s house (1:13-19) and the LORD wants to talk about goats in the mountains? The Judeo-Christian Bible is a strangely constructed set of sacred texts. While repeatedly (and seemingly vociferously) offering a focus on humans and human concerns, the Bible suddenly (and repeatedly) explodes in vibrant spikes of non-human concern. The Book of Job is such an explosion. (Revisit Episode 1 of Fresh Green Blessings for a reflection on the LORD’s seven-fold covenant with all the Earth at the end of the flood narrative - as another one of these periodic, colorful, non-anthropocentric explosions.) From the birth of mountain goats and the calving of deer, the LORD will go on in Job chapter 39 to speak of wild asses, oxen, horses, hawks, ostriches, and more. We have all gone through “down times” or difficult periods. Imagine being depressed, anxious, or suffering and seeking remediation, health, and healing. How might we respond if our compassionate friend or our professional counselor responded to our pain with this question: “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?” The Book of Job is not simply calling us to be wowed by G-d who knows all; The LORD is giving Job (and us) images to see: The mothers crouch to give birth...the young ones become strong...they grow up in the open...they go forth...they do not return. These are the LORD’s words. These wondrous things are happening, right now, far from “the tumult of the city” (39:7). This is the Earth. This is the world. This is the purview of the LORD and we are being invited into envisioning this, as well. The LORD is inviting Job (and us) into this range of sacred awareness and concern. Right now, as you read (or listen to) these words, there are mountain goats and deer and their young.  In this very moment, a young deer is growing up in the open; right now, a young goat may be going off, never to return. With all our heartfelt joys, with all our horrific pains, the calving deer are breathing in and out - right now. It is thousands of years later and the mountain goats will crouch and give birth to their offspring and be delivered of their young. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ We have all suffered. Some people have survived unspeakable horrors. For some, the level of trauma is so great. For others, there has been pain and hurt, but not such a depth of suffering. It is worthy to think of how we can bring health, healing, or even respite from pain to ourselves and others. Countless people have written of “nature as healer.” Can our Mother Earth and the natural world bring healing to your body, mind, and spirit? What happens to you at those times when you step beyond the boundaries of anthropocentric concern? What happens to your body, mind, and spirit in those moments of “vaster vision” when you are appreciating a tree, an animal, the woods, a mountain? Ask yourself a simple question: Do you know when the mountain goa

Mark 6:1-6a: He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ The Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (aka Thay) writes, “The first source of energy is faith. When you have the energy of faith in you, you are strong. In the Gospel, Jesus said that people with faith could move mountains...Faith is having a path that leads you to freedom, liberation, and the transformation of afflictions...If you have some experience that this path leads in a good direction, you will have faith in your path...If you use a method of practice and find it effective, if it brings you mindfulness, concentration, and joy, then faith and confidence are born from this...If we look carefully, we can see that the energy of awakening, compassion, and understanding is already there inside us. Recognizing these energies as an inherent part of your very being, you have confidence in these energies. And if you know how to practice, you can generate these energies to protect yourself and to succeed in what you want to do” (The Art of Power, p. 15-16). Buddhism speaks of both the outer teacher and the inner teacher. The mission of the outer spiritual teacher is to help the student awaken to their own inner teacher. As Thay says, “Compassion and understanding…[are] an inherent part of your very being.” Similarly, Jesus tells the people that they are the children of G-d; there is an inherent goodness within them. It simply needs awakening. If there were no possibility of this inner awakening, Jesus would be senseless in his attempts to teach the crowds. Jesus may have been the perfect teacher, but, even for him, in his hometown, “He could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them” (Mark 6:5). No matter how pure and genuine the teacher or the teachings, for a teacher to be effective, the listeners must be receptive. If the student has no faith in the teacher and refuses the outer teacher’s teachings, there is no possibility for inner spiritual transformation; the inner teacher will remain dormant and asleep. Contemporary spiritual and religious teachers are far from perfect, some of them are quite flawed, and far too many have abused their power and brought terrible harm to trusting students. As spiritual and religious students, we must exercise great care, being aware of signs of danger or abuse. And those who follow the path of being spiritual or religious leaders must be ever watchful of their own wily egos and ever mindful so as to avoid doing harm as teachers or through the teachings. When we find a “path that leads in a good direction,” our inner teacher can dance with the worthy teachings of the appropriate outer teacher(s). If we find a spiritual or religious teacher whose teachings resonate with our inner teacher, we may find ourselves in the sacred dance between the outer and inner teachings. To protect ourselves from harm, however, Thay cautions that we must always put our greater faith in the inner teacher. When we are on a path that leads to “freedom, liberation, and the transformation of afflictions,” then we may have faith in the path. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Jesus was known as a great healer, but his healing is quite limited in his hometown because people simply do not accept that

Psalm 34:4- 11: I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed. This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him. O fear the Lord, you his holy ones, for those who fear him have no want. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Fear, fear, fear. Verse 4: Delivered me from all my fears. Verse 7: Those who fear him. Verse 9: O fear the Lord...Those who fear him. Verse 11: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Shouldn’t we be seeking a religion of love and compassion rather than one of fear? What possible value is there in a theology of fear? In a G-d to be feared? In teaching us fear? These are worthy questions. Certainly, there is much in the Judeo-Christian Bible that does support a “theology of fear.” However, like many other Biblical passages, Psalm 34:4-11, even with its five references to fear in eight lines, need not be understood as simply promulgating a “theology of fear.” At issue here is translation. Multiple Hebrew words are translated as “fear” in the Bible; where the original text offers many words with various and subtle meanings, the English text has been reduced to a single word, in this case: fear. Compare the Hebrew word megurah in verse 4 of the psalm with yare and yirah in verses 7, 9, and 11. In verse 4, the Lord delivered me from all my megurah (fears). Megurah here is referencing “fear” that is terror related to evil. Now, let’s look at yare and yirah that are also translated as “fear” in this psalm from verses 7, 9, and 11. 7: The angel of the Lord encamps around those who yare (fear) him. 9: O yare (fear) the Lord, you his holy ones, for those who yare (fear) him have no want. 11: I will teach you the yirah (fear) of the Lord. Yare and yirah here are referencing a melding of awe, dread, wonder, fear, respect, and reverence. This is expressed by Rudolph Otto in his 1917 book The Idea of the Holy when he speaks of the Mysterium Tremendum, this awe-inspiring mystery that is simultaneously fascinating and terrifying, causing us to step back while also leading us to move towards. As we compare the terror megurah that we are protected from in verse 4 of Psalm 34, with the awe/wonder/reverence yare/yirah that we are invited into in verses 7, 9, and 11, we see that the Hebrew writers are speaking of fundamentally different experiences - even contradictory experiences - but our English-language Bibles explain it all in one word: fear. Unfortunately, the complexity, differences, and nuance of megurah, yare, and yirah are all simply reduced to “fear” in our English translation of the Bible. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Religion and theology should be focused on love and compassion, but this does not preclude entering into the sacred dance with wonder, dread, awe, fear, respect, and reverence that are expressed as yare and yirah. Our world is awe-inspiring and awe-ful. Watch a robin catch an earthworm and then feed it to her young. How amazing! There are, living amongst us on this planet, these illustrious, magical beings called worms. They are amazing, awe-inspiring creatures! And then birds - flying through the air! Building homes with sticks and bits of mud! What about the wonder of the baby robin coming out of the egg! And what about the awfulness and wonder that the flesh of the majestic worm will be torn to shreds in its terrifying death. Is not this the loving work of the mother bird? Through its pain and sacrifice will not that worm help the lovely young bird to grow so that it too can fly and sing? The Great Sacredness that may be called G-d encompasses the full yare-yirah of life on Earth. W

Matthew 25:43: I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ There is a Tibetan Buddhist story of people throwing stones at a dog. One of the stones hits the dog in the leg. Immediately, a revered Buddhist master who is present cries out in pain. As the people look, they see a welt rising up on the leg of the monk. Not only does this cause the people to have even greater respect and reverence for the master, it also causes them to treat that dog and other dogs with greater kindness. Lest we miss the message of this story, the greatest effect is not on the Buddhist monk or on the dogs; the greatest effect is on the people themselves. The stone-throwing incident and the lesson of the monk’s welt and pain lead the people to grow in compassion. Many of us engage in a lifelong quest to answer the questions of who is/was this Jesus of Nazareth. Just as in the story of the two followers who did not recognize Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35), we may be fascinated by questions of how this Jesus is mystically, metaphysically, spiritually present in our world today? When and where is Jesus truly here? As proclaimed in Matthew 25, there is both exhilaration and warning in the presence of the Christ in the prisoner, the stranger, the naked, and the sick. Such quests and cautions and percolations may be worthy fodder for reflection as we walk the spiritual path, but Matthew 25 may also serve as a simple and profound teaching that is exemplified in the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. A 20th Century Christian monk writes of what happens to one who engages in continuous prayer and spiritual practice, “When Grace is energized in the heart of the one who prays, then the love of God floods his entire being to such an extent that...this love is transferred to the love of the world and the human person. His love becomes so powerful that he asks to take upon himself all the suffering and unhappiness of the others so that they themselves may be relieved. He suffers with those who are suffering even for the suffering of animals, so much so that he sheds bitter tears when he becomes aware of their pain. These are attributes of Love.” (quote of Monk Joseph in Kyriacos C. Markides' The Mountain of Silence, p. 47) What is the practice of Christianity? To welcome the stranger. To give clothing to the naked. To visit the sick and imprisoned. To do all this with compassion for the other. What is the practice of Christianity? To so grow in compassion that we cry bitter tears when the dog is struck with a stone; to so grow in compassion, to so take on the suffering of the other, that when a dog is struck with a stone, a welt rises on  our own leg. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ The homeless person begging for change, the stranger wanting to enter your neighborhood or your country, the prisoner accused of a violent crime - can we even begin to see Jesus in them? An animal is hurt or in pain - can we feel it? These “practices of Christianity” (and Buddhism) may seem far beyond our capabilities - and perhaps, in this moment, they are beyond our capacity, but they are not beyond our potential. The Buddhist and Eastern Orthodox Christian monks engage in hours of daily prayer and meditation. We may not be ready to commit to hours of spiritual practice each day, but what might happen if we increase our prayer and meditation time just a bit? What might happen if we devote just a little additional time and spiritual practice this week to holding in our hearts the suffering of the naked, the stranger, the sick, the prisoner? What might happen if we also devote just a little spiritual practice time to holding the suffering of an animal that might be in great pain? (Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )

Genesis 37: 23-28, 31-34 (KJV): And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, “What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brethren were content. Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt...And [the brothers] took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, “This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.” And he knew it, and said, “It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.” And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Previously, in Genesis 27, Jacob, with assistance from his mother Rebekah, tricked his father Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing that had been intended for his elder brother Esau. Esau was a hairy man so Jacob tricked his blind, dying father into thinking that he was really Esau by wearing goat-skin gloves. It is a generation later in Genesis Chapter 37, Jacob is now the elder. The trickster son has become the tricked father. Jacob’s sons, after thinking about killing their favored brother Joseph, instead toss him into a pit and later sell him as a slave to the despised Ishmaelites. Returning home without Joseph, the brothers have doused Joseph’s multi-colored robe (made famous in modern times by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Technicolor DreamCoat) in goat’s blood. They return the besmeared coat to their father saying they found this and presume their brother was killed. The father is tricked with a sacrificed goat by the deceit of one or more sons because of their harsh sibling conflict. For Jacob, we might think of the karma of his own deception returning - biting him back for his own goat-infested lies to his father. More generally, we will see that motifs come around again and again as we delve ever more deeply into Biblical tales and teachings. There is a circling, swirling helix of themes and problems and words and symbols. There are even additional layers of the coil in this particular story: the Ishmaelites who buy Joseph as a slave are the descendants of Ishmael. This adds  another layer to the circle of ancestral sibling tension because Ishmael was Abraham’s excluded son, the elder half-brother of Isaac. The Bible stories swirl and whirl in circling convolutions of repetition and complexity. Ecotheology invites a non-linear approach to the Divine. The cosmos shows us that the Sacred has created a world of revolving orbs and orbiting spheres. Spinning and circling round again and again seem inherent to the natural order. Our spiritual and religious growth mirrors the seasons. Spring comes around again. There are blossoms on the cherry tree again.  This year there is a fine crop. A late frost killed the blossoms last year. Things are the same. They are not the same. Such is the nature of ritual and tradition and seasons and the helix of Biblical stories. To impose a linear theology on the Bible is to deny the helix. There are reasons that slaves in North America could recognize and be inspired by Moses and the Israelites freedom from bondage centuries before. There are reasons why stor

Matthew 27:50-51 (KJV): Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ “My master [Jamyang Khyentse] passed away in ‘the sleeping lion’s posture’...“ says Sogyal Rinpoche, “Crowds of people were there, filing around the temple, to show their respect. Then something extraordinary happened. An incandescent, milky light, looking like a thin and luminous fog, began to appear and gradually spread everywhere. The palace temple had four large electric lights outside; normally, at that time of the evening they shone brightly...Yet they were dimmed by this mysterious light. Apa Pant...was the first to ring and inquire what on earth it could be. Then many others started to call; this strange, unearthly light was seen by hundreds of people. One of the other masters then told us that such manifestations of light are said in the Tantras to be a sign of someone attaining Buddhahood” - Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, p. 275. It is strange to think that the death of a Buddhist master could be connected to a milky, luminous fog. It feels like mythic hyperbole to consider Jesus’ death accompanied by an earthquake and the splitting of rocks. Wendell Berry asks a question, “Why do the health of the body and the health of the earth decline together?” He asks, “Why does modern society exist under constant threat of the same suffering, deprivation, spite, contempt, and obliteration that it has imposed on other people and other creatures?” Forty years ago, another Buddhist teacher pointed out that, despite our resistance to “superstitious views” linking harmony in nature with harmony in human affairs, we are beginning to acknowledge “the connections between the social [or societal problems] and the natural, or environmental, problems that we are facing.” We destroy our environment as we destroy one another. Berry again, “The willingness to abuse other bodies is the willingness to abuse one’s own. To damage the earth is to damage your children. To despise the ground is to despise its fruit; to despise the fruit is to despise its eaters. The wholeness of health is broken by despite.” Teachers like Jamyang Khyentse and Jesus recognize this deep inter-being nature of reality. Jesus notes that there is no distance between caring for him and caring for the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned, or stranger (Matthew 25). Jesus points out that if his followers stop singing out their praise songs, the stones themselves will start to sing (Luke 19:40). The soil, the fruit, the children, the teachers, the sick, the imprisoned, the stones themselves - why do the health of the body and the health of the earth decline together? There are rare beings who embrace the deep ecology of our mutual belonging, who live in near-constant awareness of our inter-being natures, and who, through their lives and teachings, work to give the rest of us some little glimpses of this Heaven on Earth. Upon the death of such a rare teacher, the sky itself just might respond with a mysterious incandescence that dims electric lights, causing people to phone each other in wonder. With the dying of such a precious teacher, rocks may begin to rent themselves in two, the earth may suddenly shake and quake in homage. Why do such reactions make sense? Because there is no distance - no distance between these teachers and the sky and the rocks and the earth and the rest of us. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Time alone in nature can be a beautiful practice as we contemplate the death of Jesus or one of our other teachers, as we reflect on the death or dying of a loved one, as we contemplate our own mortality. The water flowing in the creek, the pebbles, the grains of sand, the wind wandering over the grass, a single bird’s song, a solitary insect, the roughness of the tree’s bark - what feelings, thoughts, moods, words, silence

Luke 9:23: Then [Jesus] said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ “Tonglen for Others: Imagine...someone who is suffering and in pain. As you breathe in, imagine you take in all their suffering and pain with compassion, and as you breathe out, send your warmth, healing, love, joy, and happiness streaming out to them.” - The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, p. 208. Over the centuries, Christians have often understood Jesus’ suffering and dying on the cross as the work of Jesus taking on the suffering of others, even taking on the suffering of all of humanity. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying continues, “Practicing Tonglen on one friend in pain helps you to begin the process of gradually widening the circle of compassion to take on the suffering and purify the karma of all beings, and to give them all your happiness, well-being, joy, and peace of mind. This is the wonderful goal of Tonglen practice, and in a large sense, of the whole path of compassion” (p. 209). Luke’s Jesus proclaims, “If any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (9:23). In all three synoptic gospels, Jesus declares that his followers must “take up their cross” (Matthew 10:38, 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 14:27). The Lukan text in chapter 9, however, includes the word “daily,” clearly pointing to something beyond literal martyrdom. The task of “taking up the cross” is an event repeated day after day after day. If Jesus is our teacher, our model, and our exemplar, then our work as his followers is to try our best to follow his lead. It may seem frightening or overwhelming to visualize taking on the suffering of others, but the Tibetan Buddhist tradition offers us the visualization practices of Tonglen whereby we are invited to imagine the suffering of someone else as a dark cloud within them. We are invited to breathe in this dark cloud and use it to crack open the fortress of ego that so often keeps our heart from truly feeling the pain of the other. We are invited to use that darkness to split open our hearts so that the bright rays of love within us can flow out to others who are suffering and in need. Some people may fear that “breathing in the suffering of others” will bring harm to themselves. The Tibetan Book states, “Know for certain...that the only thing Tonglen could harm is the one thing that has been harming you the most: your own ego, your self-grasping, self-cherishing mind, which is the root of suffering” (p. 212). The practice of Tonglen gives us a fresh meaning to Jesus on the cross and invites us each to “take up our cross” as often as possible, perhaps eventually following the full dictate of Luke 9:23 and practicing Tonglen daily. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ It is recommended that you begin Tonglen practice on yourself, allowing the caring, compassionate part of your self to purify and heal the angry, fearful, sick, embittered, and/or hurt parts of yourself. Breathe in the dark clouds of your pain and suffering, give to yourself the healing bright joy of your loving kindness. Begin with yourself, expand to friends and loved ones, then practice Tonglen for those you feel neutral toward, and later offer healing to people you dislike or those who have caused you pain. Offer ever-widening circles of healing. Be a follower of Jesus, our teacher on healing. Take up the cross again and again through your Tonglen practice. (Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )

Genesis 27:1-27 (abridged 1,2,4-6,8-27): When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called his elder son Esau and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “See, I am old; I do not know the day of my death...prepare for me savory food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.” Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father [speaking] to your brother Esau...Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you...you shall take [savory food] to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a man of smooth skin. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.” His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my word”...and his mother prepared savory food, such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob; and she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. Then she handed the savory food, and the bread that she had prepared, to her son Jacob. So he went in to his father, and said, “My father”; and he said, “Here I am; who are you, my son?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.” But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” So Jacob went up to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” Then he said, “Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed... ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Jacob, following the commands of his mother Rebekah, tricks his blind father Isaac and steals his elder brother Esau’s blessing. Isaac is not fooled by Jacob’s voice, but Isaac’s senses of touch and smell betray him. Feeling Jacob’s hands covered in goat-fur gloves, Isaac thinks he is touching Esau’s hairy hands. When Jacob kisses his blind, dying father after lying repeatedly to him, the father Isaac smells Esau’s clothes and is fully convinced that he is giving his blessing to Esau. Isaac is deceived on his deathbed and the Abrahamic religion continues from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. “The Bible reflects, with an astonishing realism, the existence of man as a creature living in the realm of time and space...and this makes [the Bible] curiously relevant to human life, in its complexity, as we have to live it,” writes the Biblical scholar C. H. Dodd in 1947. In the 1970s, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher says, “The challenge of [spiritual] warriorship is to live fully in this world as it is...with all its paradoxes.” Much of what we tend to critique in the Bible is that which we rightly critique in the world: senseless murders, vengeance, arrogance, supremacist views, hate, even the rivalries, tensions, and deceptions within families or among siblings. Oftentimes, we turn to sacred texts to give us refuge, inspiration, a perspective on humanity and the world that

Matthew 5:43-44 (KJV): Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Thich Nhat Hanh writes, “When we hate someone, and are angry at her, it is because we do not understand her or the circumstances she comes from. By practicing deep looking, we realize that if we grew up like her, in her set of circumstances and in her environment, we would be just like her. That kind of understanding removes your anger, and suddenly that person is no longer your enemy. Then you can love her. As long as she remains an enemy, love is impossible.” Have you ever prayed for a loved one with your heart wide open? Have you ever entered that space inside yourself where you so want your loved one’s pain and suffering to cease, or at least be diminished, that you are moved to tears? We, as humans, may be brought to tears as we enter into the anguish and suffering of another person. What a lovely thing it is to be a human being! Most of us only enter into this space of deep and compassionate prayer rarely, but many of us have, at times, experienced this level of connection with a loved one, so that some element of their pain is our pain; we do not know “exactly how they feel,” but we can enter into some facet of their suffering. This is the work of the bodhisattva. This is the “practice of deep looking” that Thay speaks of. We may be angry with a friend, but when we open ourselves to their suffering, “that kind of understanding removes your anger.” ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ A blessing and challenge of the Bible is that there are multiple translations. The King James Version (KJV) of Matt 5:44 reads, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Compare this with the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the same verse: “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” The NRSV is a respected translation, typically used by Biblical scholars, and it is a base translation for us in Fresh Green Blessings, but we will also use and encourage familiarity with the KJV in this podcast series. Not only is the poetry of King James beautiful, there is sometimes much that is lost, as is seen in Matthew 5:44, if we limit ourselves to the more modern and terse New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). Pick a verse and compare the KJV and NRSV. (Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )

Jeremiah 14: 3-7, 20: ...Nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns, they find no water, they return with their vessels empty...because the ground is cracked. Because there has been no rain on the land the farmers are dismayed...Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass. The wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jakals; their eyes fail because there is no herbage...our iniquities testify against us...We acknowledge...the iniquity of our ancestors. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Water has been referred to as “the new oil,” a precious liquid commodity that people will monetize and fight and kill over. At the time of this writing (2019), it is common to hear reference to “the drought” in California, but a California friend says such statements are misnomers. “Drought” implies a temporary circumstance; the dryness of California is “the new normal.” Verse 7 of Jeremiah 14 admits that “our iniquities testify against us.” The word “iniquity” is not part of our common parlance. One definition of “iniquity” is “grossly unfair behavior.” They find no water...the ground is cracked...the farmers are dismayed...the doe forsakes her fawn [because] there is no grass... There is no herbage...therefore, the panting wild asses are going blind. Where does responsibility fall for this famine and draught? Our iniquities - our grossly unfair behavior - testifies against us, along with the grossly unfair behavior of our ancestors. Humans are responsible. We may say it is “an act of God,” we may even plead with God to save us (as the author of Jeremiah 14 does), but it comes back to our iniquity, our grossly unfair behavior. The interdependence of humans with other creatures is painfully highlighted in this reading. The wild asses are panting like jackals and going blind. The mother deer has failed in the mothering of her newborn. Surely, the baby fawn will die. And who is to blame for this iniquity? Jeremiah answers, We are, and our ancestors are, as well. The depth of our interdependence can be painful, but it is also our source of worthy hope. Our human actions matter...and reverberate across the web of life. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Our aspiration in Fresh Green Blessings is not to misappropriate Biblical texts, but to wisely re-appropriate them in beneficial ways. Just as it was helpful for the Exodus story of the Hebrew slaves to be re-appropriated and applied to the conditions of the African-American slaves, it is beneficial to open our hearts afresh to prophetic voices that cry out when the Earth and its creatures, including humanity, are suffering. “You shall say to them this word: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease” (Jeremiah 14:17a). Yes. Let us begin with tears. Let us begin by opening our hearts and spirits to the dead and suffering animals, recognizing our accountability and responsibility for their pain. Can we let our eyes run down with tears for even five minutes? Can we cry for just a few minutes? Dare we? We must begin. (Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )

Isaiah 2:4 (NRSV): He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Joel 3:10: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.” ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Many people who regard the Bible as sacred focus on the overall meaning of the entire Bible. They want everything to fit a set of ethical or moral norms or to fit within a specific creed or a particular theology. Such is the work of a contortionist. If we are to fit every line of the Bible into a single theological framework, we must twist and bend the text. Like the effort of creating a tightly twisted coil, such work requires great force and endurance. The text is likely to spring back in defiance if the contortionist relaxes. Those who mock the sacrality of the Bible claim victory every time the Biblical text recoils: Look at the inconsistencies! Do you claim that that misogynistic story of rape and violence is a spiritual teaching?! How can you call this book “sacred”? Can every line fit a specific creedal view? Is every line sacred? Is any line sacred? What is possible beyond binary thinking? Relational dialectics allows for the tensions of contradictions in interpersonal relationships. For example, a healthy couple may value both predictability and novelty in their relationship. We all dwell with contradictions and within contradictions. We may celebrate, enjoy, regret, or be confused by the contradictions we see in ourselves and our loved ones. Within Buddhism, koans, such as the famous “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” embrace and value contradiction, as do Buddhist sacred texts, such as the Diamond Sutra. In Buddhist sutras and koans, such tensions are intentional and instructional. Within the Judeo-Christian Bible, with its many books and countless authors, the tension of contradictions may be far less intentional, but it is no less instructive. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Beat your swords into plowshares. Beat your plowshares into swords. What do we do with diametrically opposed views that claim truth or sacrality? How do we handle contradictions within the Bible? Do these Biblical contradictions serve to teach us anything about greater contradictions in our present lives and current culture? How do we resolve the tensions when one line of the Bible touches our soul and nourishes our spirit while a line in the next paragraph revolts us? And, if we do not “resolve it,” how do we “sit with it”? Can we learn by listening to how others sit with the same text? What about the unheard voices that might respond to disturbing Biblical texts? Can we generate such voices? What value does that hold? What do you do when the text supports your theology and refutes a contrary theological view? And what do you do when the text confronts or opposes your own perspective? Is there “spiritual value” in this process of wrestling with the tensions of Biblical text and/or “sitting with” the tensions? What makes any text, Biblical or otherwise, sacred? (Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )

Psalm 4:4 (NRSV): When you are disturbed (or angry), do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Thich Nhat Hanh writes in the Fourth of his Five Mindfulness Trainings: “When anger is manifesting in me, I am determined not to speak. I shall practice Mindful Breathing and Mindful Walking in order to Recognize my Anger and Look Deeply into My Anger. I know that the Roots of my Anger can be found in My Wrong Perceptions and in My Lack of Understanding of the Suffering in Myself and in the Other Person.” Many people interpret Buddhist teachings, such as Thay’s, as being aligned with contemporary entreaties for each person to “speak their truth,” but neither Buddhism nor Christianity offers such an individualistic model. Thich Nhat Hanh holds that it is certainly ideal to speak one’s truth, but only - and this caveat is non-negotiable - only if one is not speaking out of anger or speaking in a way that is hurtful or harmful to others. Thay’s Buddhist teaching aligns sweetly with the Judeo-Christian teaching of Psalm 4:4, When you are disturbed or angry, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent. Neither the Buddhist Mindfulness Training nor Psalm 4 are saying we should suppress our anger. Instead, they are calling for a response of silent awareness, contemplation, and mindfulness. Drawing from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, this pondering on one’s bed in silence fits well with Thich Nhat Hanh’s mindful breathing and mindful walking in order to look deeply into one’s anger. The wording in the King James Version (KJV) however, is even more befitting:  rather than Ponder it on your beds and be silent, King James reads, Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. In other words, When anger is manifesting in me, I am determined not to speak. I shall be still and commune with my own heart. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ As a response to our own anger, the first thing that Psalm 4:4 and Thich Nhat Hanh’s Fourth Mindfulness Training call for is silence, but what then? The psalm suggests lying in bed. The monk suggests mindful walking or mindful breathing (perhaps while lying in bed?). Practice mindfulness. Get to stillness and presence. Then what? Commune with your heart - recognize that anger and look into it. At first, we may not even recognize that we are angry. Have you ever said, “I’m not mad!” in the midst of your raging storm? Most of us have made such false declarations. Once our anger is acknowledged, however, we can move toward observing it. There is a vast ocean between, “I am angry,” and “I can feel and sense the anger that is in me.” If we ponder in our beds or commune with our hearts at this level, then we can begin to explore the roots of the anger. Thay suggests three roots: 1) Our misperceptions; 2) the suffering within us; and 3) the suffering of the other that is spilling out and causing us to suffer. Any of these three elements or any combination of the three may have contributed to our anger. As we move toward mindful stillness within ourselves, we can consider each of these three root causes to anger with questions like: 1) Did I misunderstand or misperceive something here? 2) What deeper suffering in me was triggered because of this incident? 3) What suffering in him or her caused them to behave that way toward me? (Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )

Jeremiah 10:12-13,16b: It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and he brings out the wind from his storehouses...for he is the one who formed all things. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Jeremiah 10:1-16 is a polemic against the worship of carved wooden images painted with silver and gold by artisans. Jeremiah says that they are “like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk” (v. 5). For Jeremiah, the Great Sacredness is a living, breathing G-d who is deeply immersed in Earthly life, “He makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.” One with even a rudimentary knowledge of Earth sciences or meteorology and weather patterns might smile condescendingly at Jeremiah’s primitive understanding, but please do not allow a rational, empirical mindset to negate your access to the poetry and epistemology behind Jeremiah’s words. To view the “quaking Earth” (v. 10) or the “rising mist” (v. 12) as G-d-powered (v. 12) may appear quaint and archaic, but to embrace Jeremiah’s way-of-knowing is to experience each flash of lightning and gust of wind (v. 12) as sacred; it is to embrace every element of the natural world as G-d-inspired; it is to celebrate every act of nature as imbued with the Sacred - and, dear Lord, what positive environmental change could be wrought if we would even begin to look at our Earth through such eyes? This is not an other-worldly theology focused on individual eternal prizes given to the selves with the greatest self-focus on their individual salvation. No, this is a theology of wholeness - a theological embrace of the entire Earth. This is a theology wherein G-d is alive in this present moment, voiced in “a tumult of water” (v. 13), wrathful in an earthquake (v. 10), breathing and being with us here on this planet, in this present, “the one who formed all things.” ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ We tend to think of scientific or empirical thinking and spiritual or religious thinking like a single light switch: To turn on one is to turn off the other; to turn on religious thinking is to turn off empirical thinking OR to turn on scientific reasoning is to douse the light of a spiritual worldview. Need we be so naively dualistic? A room can be lit by an overhead light that allows us to delineate lines and contours and examine details with meticulousness. Alternatively, a candle or small lamp can be used for lighting, allowing for shadows and darkness, giving us a diffused melding of lines and contours while creating a “warm feel” in the room. Is one truth and the other a lie? Might a candle-lit room create an experience that is palpably different than that created by good, strong fluorescent lighting, but no less true? Can we access “various lighting” at different times? Can we even simultaneously combine different types of lighting - creating new experiences - giving us fresh insights, new perspectives, greater understanding, and fueling further curiosity about all that exists in the room? (Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )

Matthew 5:30 (KJV): And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ D.T. Suzuki tells the story of Gutei who, when confronted by a nun to “say a word of Zen,” finds himself unable to say a proper word and feels pitiful. After the nun leaves, a Mountain God tells Gutei that he will be visited in the flesh by a Bodhisattva to enlighten him regarding Zen. Sure enough, the Bodhisattva Tenryu visits Gutei. Gutei tells Tenryu of his humiliation with the nun and of his “firm resolution to attain the secrets of Zen.” Tenryu says nothing, but just lifts one finger and, all at once, Gutei’s mind opens to “the ultimate meaning of Zen.” Thence, whenever anyone visited Gutei and asked him about Zen, he said or did nothing, but just held up his little finger. A boy in the temple observed his master Gutei and imitated him. When the boy told Gutei about this imitative practice, lifting his own little finger, his master Gutei cut off the boy’s finger with a knife. “The boy ran away screaming in pain, when Gutei called him back. The boy turned back, the master (Gutei) lifted his own finger, and the boy instantly realized the meaning of the ‘one-finger Zen’ of Tenryu as well as Gutei.” Neither Matthew 5:30 nor the D.T. Suzuki story are invitations to self-mutilation. They provide images intended to jar us out of complacency, without the need for actual bloodletting. In this life, if we do not die suddenly, we may spend many hours, weeks, or months on our deathbeds. What will we do with such an opportunity to reflect on our lives? At that point, we might ask, Have I, like the boy in the Buddhist temple, maintained some “outer form” of ritual and tradition - perhaps even posing as pious? Have I maintained some “outer form” of “responsibility or success” though truly my words and actions were devoid of depth and meaning? Drawing from Matthew 5:30, on our deathbeds, we might ask ourselves, What actions, speech, ideas, concepts did I hold onto as essential even though they wrought me in “hell” on this Earth? What so-called “necessities” might I have cut away? And, if I had, would I have escaped the hellish hungry ghost realm in this life? Would I have been more than a “living corpse,” “one of the dead burying the dead”? What would it have taken to jar me out of my complacency? ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ We are all dying. Of course, in this moment, few of us are on our deathbeds. Death may be years - perhaps several decades - away, yet we may still begin to ask the above questions. You may, today, choose to copy down or compose one “deathbed question” and tape it to your bedroom wall as a daily reminder. You are invited to choose a question that invites you into the difficult, on-going praxis of cutting and casting away the ideas, words, projects, lifestyles, thoughts, things, and actions which place you in the hellish hungry-ghost realm. You are invited to do this so that  “thy whole body” may dwell in heaven on this Earth, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. (Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, "Circle of Life." )