A Major Difference Between Christianity and Buddhism

   

     A Major Difference Between Christianity and Buddhism

                   
              Christianity and Buddhism are radically different in multiple ways. One way is clearly displayed in this quotation:

"If you see something horrible, don't cling to it; and if 
you see something beautiful, don't cling to it."

                                Dudjom Rinpoche


               Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje is the supreme leader of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was appointed to his position by the 14th Dalai Lama. The quotation represents the Buddhist concept that clinging to the passing and ephemeral phenomena of life produces suffering.

Suffering is eliminated when the clinging is eliminated. This has been described in numerous ways. Here are two of them: that which is left after a flower has been crushed and the hand removed; that which is left after a candle has been extinguished.

               Christianity totally disagrees. Christianity calls for a deliberate choice to focus on positive things, because that pleases and glorifies God. God is involved in every aspect of the life of the believer. He knows how may hairs are on your head.

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, 
whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and
if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
                                                     
                                   Philippians 4:8


"Whether then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, 
                        do all to the glory of God."

                              1 Corinthians 10:31

Scriptural quotations are from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.

Film Comment: Woman In the Dunes

In the black and white 1964 film Woman in the Dunes (Japanese Title: Suna no Onna), an insect collector from Tokyo escapes his boring existence by spending time in the desert region of Japan, collecting bugs, and staying in the homes of local people.  On his current trip, the only place to stay is with a woman who lives at the bottom of a sand pit.  The man happily climbs down the unstable wooden ladder into the pit to spend the night.

The next day the man realizes that the ladder is gone and that the walls of the sand pit are sliding down onto the house.  Then comes the surprise: he is expected to to stay with the woman and help her shovel sand away from the house.  In return, he gets her.

At first the man struggles to leave, but soon, he gives in and wouldn't leave even if he could.

This film received two Oscar nominations and won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.  It is obviously an allegory, lacking any logical story sense, being more a situation than a narrative.  With nudity, vaginal, and phallic symbols abounding it is obvious that the ensnarement is sexual.  The man finds himself trapped in a situation for which he is partially responsible; he was not forced to climb down into the pit and he should have known better than to do so.

The woman is the sugar and the glue, and the pit is the trap.  The man is the fly, but he does not struggle for long, because the sugar is so sweet.  Before he is even aware of it, the man does not want to leave.

People often create their own prisons by the bad choices they make.  Each choice, good or bad, makes it easier to make the next choice in the same direction.  It also makes it less likely that we will turn around and go back the way we came (μετάνοιά/repentance.)  Each bad choice can limit future choices.

Many things (food, sports, career, hobbies, etc) which may on their surface seem to be benign, innocent, or essentially harmless, can, if we make them our entire lives, ensnare us like the Woman in the Dunes. Some situations and activities (gambling, smoking, recreational drug use, pornography, drinking, heavy flirting, promiscuity, etc) must be avoided because of their ability to ensnare us in unexpected ways which can rapidly escalate out of our control and from which it becomes impossible to extricate ourselves.

A Little Fable

I believe that "A Little Fable" is in the public domain.  If I am in error on this I will remove it immediately.

A Little Fable, by Franz Kafka.

""Alas," said the mouse, "the whole world is growing smaller every day.  At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when at last I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into." "You only need to change your direction," said the cat, and ate it up."

When I was in college, there was a student there, a very free-spirited girl, who had a reputation for never missing a party.  She was friendly, never met a stranger, and everyone liked her.  Then, one day, she disappeared.

Eventually, her body was found and her murder was linked to a serial killer after one of his victims was able to escape.

Everyone was talking about the case.  When the idea was advanced that the girl contributed to her own murder by the situations in which she placed herself, one person became incensed.  "You're saying that she deserved to be raped and murdered!"  Others insisted that no, she did not deserve to be raped and murdered, but she did place herself into dangerous situations which she could have avoided if she had chosen to do so.

We sometimes create our own boxes, our own mazes, our own traps, our own prisons.  There is an old Southern saying (I've "cleaned it up" for this blog), "If you walk in the sewer, you will get sewage on your shoes."

We all make many choices and each choice we make in a particular direction, good or bad, makes it easier to make the next choice in the same direction.  It also makes it less likely that we will turn around and go back the way we came. (Remember our old friend, μετάνοιά/repentance, from the 9 February 2011 post?)

Each bad choice we make can limit our future choices and we can paint ourselves into a corner.  This is an American idiom which calls to mind the image of a man with a can of red paint who begins painting the floor as soon as he enters a room.  When he reaches the far corner of the room, the only way out is to walk back across the wet red paint.

The foolish mouse in "A Little Fable" made poor choices, increasingly boxing itself into one particular direction.  When it finally realized its error, it turned around, and there was the cat.

Film Comment: Getting Ready Morally

This 1951 black and white film, Getting Ready Morally, would invoke groans and eye rolls from modern audiences, but the points it makes are still as valid as ever. It was made, surprisingly enough, by the United States military. The concern of the film is with innocent young men being suddenly away from home and family and expected to cope with the almost total lack of restraints and guidelines of free unsupervised adults.

Anyone whose son or daughter "went wild" during their first semester at college knows the validity of this film. One of the main points is that one's parents aren't there to help the young man (remember, this is 1951) make the right choices so the right choices must come from within the young man, ie. personal responsibility. The film counsels choosing one's friends wisely and avoiding some people altogether. Finding a mentor is also important as is thinking about consequences before taking actions. As the narrator says, "When you choose the start of a road, you also choose the end."