No Rush
Psalm 71
In you, Adonai, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
Ecclesiastes 11: 1-8
(NRSV)
5 Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother's womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything.
(CJB)
5 Just as you don’t know the way of the wind
or how bones grow in a pregnant woman’s womb,
so you don’t know the work of God,
the maker of everything.
(Paraphrase from Hebrew Interlinear)
5 Since you are not knowing what is the way of the wind-as-bones in the belly of the full (pregnant),
so it is you are not knowing the act of the Elohim who is making the All.
Galatians 5: 16-24
16 What I am saying is this: run your lives by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your old nature wants. 17 For the old nature wants what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to the old nature. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism.
Matthew 16: 13-20
17 “Shim‘on Bar-Yochanan,” Yeshua said to him, “how blessed you are! For no human being revealed this to you, no, it was my Father in heaven.
My mind is all over the place this morning, jumping from the distortion of the Way that is legalism, to the intersection of the Psalm verse with my recent ‘taking refuge’ ceremony, to my notions about the discernment that comes to us directly from the Breath of the Spirit (which could just as well be called ‘the Breeze of Enlightenment’).
How shall I connect my thoughts about the widespread legalistic perversion that has infected modern Christianity, as well as my ideas about what happens when the words ‘taking refuge’ are connected to the word ‘refugee’? Although I will say this, if God is the Source in which we all live and move and have our Being, then within that great Field of Refuge, what form does “refuge” take? Are we all refugees who loan one another moments of refuge? More reflection needed.
So, that leaves me with The Way of the Wind. That Wind is the same as the One that breathes our bones into being in the dark of the womb, in the ‘belly of the full’.
I am moved (by the Spirit?) to re-cast the verse from Galatians into Buddhist terms. Please cut me some slack since I am very dubious about how to put the words together….
“What I am saying is this: run your lives according to Awakening. Then you will not be claimed by delusion. For delusion requires what is contrary to Awakening, and Awakening requires a discernment that is contrary to delusion. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions. But if you are led by Awakening then you are not subject to the system that results from perverting the true teachings of the Principles (Dharma) by means of the kind of insensible egotism that is always trying to conquer discontent (dukkha) through denial and the illusion of control.”
That leads me to the Gospel reading, which I hesitate to paraphrase in this particular case, only wanting to point out that Jesus’s response to Peter bears all the marks of an intuitive recognition that Peter’s understanding arises from the discerning insight-that-comes-from-within (prajna) and does not depend on any outside influence or information. In Zen terms, Peter experienced “kensho” or a moment of true understanding. What struck me was Jesus’s delight with it, and that his immediate impulse was to re-name Peter. I couldn’t help connecting this with the long-standing tradition in both Christianity and Buddhism of giving people new names in affirmation of some choice or commitment that they have made. So, in Zen terms, “Kefa” would be Peter’s Dharma name. I will answer to my own Dharma name with even more delight, because of this connection.
Bodhisattva Refugee
I will loan you this sheltered corner of mine,
such as it is—but I don’t know how long it will last.
There’s bad weather, and cops, and municipal ordinances—but no shame.
Here’s this warm old blanket—but it doesn’t really keep out the wind.
Here’s coffee in a cup with no handle,
and some stale muffins—but I don’t know where they came from.
I’m in no rush—hope you don’t mind if I keep you company.
In you, Adonai, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
Ecclesiastes 11: 1-8
(NRSV)
5 Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother's womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything.
(CJB)
5 Just as you don’t know the way of the wind
or how bones grow in a pregnant woman’s womb,
so you don’t know the work of God,
the maker of everything.
(Paraphrase from Hebrew Interlinear)
5 Since you are not knowing what is the way of the wind-as-bones in the belly of the full (pregnant),
so it is you are not knowing the act of the Elohim who is making the All.
Galatians 5: 16-24
16 What I am saying is this: run your lives by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your old nature wants. 17 For the old nature wants what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to the old nature. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism.
Matthew 16: 13-20
17 “Shim‘on Bar-Yochanan,” Yeshua said to him, “how blessed you are! For no human being revealed this to you, no, it was my Father in heaven.
My mind is all over the place this morning, jumping from the distortion of the Way that is legalism, to the intersection of the Psalm verse with my recent ‘taking refuge’ ceremony, to my notions about the discernment that comes to us directly from the Breath of the Spirit (which could just as well be called ‘the Breeze of Enlightenment’).
How shall I connect my thoughts about the widespread legalistic perversion that has infected modern Christianity, as well as my ideas about what happens when the words ‘taking refuge’ are connected to the word ‘refugee’? Although I will say this, if God is the Source in which we all live and move and have our Being, then within that great Field of Refuge, what form does “refuge” take? Are we all refugees who loan one another moments of refuge? More reflection needed.
So, that leaves me with The Way of the Wind. That Wind is the same as the One that breathes our bones into being in the dark of the womb, in the ‘belly of the full’.
I am moved (by the Spirit?) to re-cast the verse from Galatians into Buddhist terms. Please cut me some slack since I am very dubious about how to put the words together….
“What I am saying is this: run your lives according to Awakening. Then you will not be claimed by delusion. For delusion requires what is contrary to Awakening, and Awakening requires a discernment that is contrary to delusion. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions. But if you are led by Awakening then you are not subject to the system that results from perverting the true teachings of the Principles (Dharma) by means of the kind of insensible egotism that is always trying to conquer discontent (dukkha) through denial and the illusion of control.”
That leads me to the Gospel reading, which I hesitate to paraphrase in this particular case, only wanting to point out that Jesus’s response to Peter bears all the marks of an intuitive recognition that Peter’s understanding arises from the discerning insight-that-comes-from-within (prajna) and does not depend on any outside influence or information. In Zen terms, Peter experienced “kensho” or a moment of true understanding. What struck me was Jesus’s delight with it, and that his immediate impulse was to re-name Peter. I couldn’t help connecting this with the long-standing tradition in both Christianity and Buddhism of giving people new names in affirmation of some choice or commitment that they have made. So, in Zen terms, “Kefa” would be Peter’s Dharma name. I will answer to my own Dharma name with even more delight, because of this connection.
Bodhisattva Refugee
I will loan you this sheltered corner of mine,
such as it is—but I don’t know how long it will last.
There’s bad weather, and cops, and municipal ordinances—but no shame.
Here’s this warm old blanket—but it doesn’t really keep out the wind.
Here’s coffee in a cup with no handle,
and some stale muffins—but I don’t know where they came from.
I’m in no rush—hope you don’t mind if I keep you company.
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