The more I learn

…the more I seem to want to learn about my Eastern-based religion of Buddhism. I like the fact that I can embrace it fully without having to give up anything I've already learned in my past. I appreciate the fact the Tibetans have a much more holistic manner of seeing death and dying as an equal and important part of living. In many true Tibetan funerals it is said that bodies are dismembered for birds and animals to feast upon then once the bones are dried they are ground into powder the birds can use in their craw to help them digest food. Now, this may seem somewhat vulgar and perhaps even inhumane, yet how can one giving oneself, all of oneself, back to nature to sustain other creatures in need of food be inhumane? I learn as a newcomer to the faith. Honestly, the vast majority of Westerners are new to Eastern based religions like Buddhism. We don't understand them because while we were founded as a nation based upon "religious freedom" that was quickly re-interpreted to mean "Christianity." There are even places in the southern United States today where one of the first questions a local will ask you is "what church do you go to?" Amazing isn't it? Why do I like Buddhism? Am I running from something? I don't think so. I gave my first 18 years to the Protestants (did little if anything for me) followed by the next 30 to the Roman Catholics (taught me faith even while teaching me the administration, not to be confused with all priests and deacons, is corrupt as hell) and finally Buddhism which accepted me with open arms. It was 1999, we were on a vacation to Australia with some wonderful friends (Lori and Pete) and stopped just outside of Sydney, Australia to tour a Buddhist Temple, the second largest in the world. I cannot begin to explain it but I felt more at home in this strange, new, place than I had ever felt in my life. I didn't know what to do or how to even begin but I felt like I was home. I suppressed the feeling for years and tried to abandon it but the sicker my late wife and partner became the more I began to understand it. It was not until she passed that I realized that to me life did not end with death. God is not a judgmental and harsh father-like figure who judges us for our actions but rather we are judged by ourselves and we are sent here because we choose to be here, to learn new lessons. Lessons of compassion. Yes, we live many lives and perhaps even some simultaneously because humans are the only species to keep time in a linear basis. We seem to think we have to see something to believe in it yet so much of Christianity is built squarely upon faith. Science has proven that when a person dies an essences (I call it a soul) leaves the body. They can measure it now and I like to think that soul returns to "the other side" to join all the other essence that is there made of all the others who have died and who are in a state of bardo or waiting for their next journey. How else could God be all knowing, all seeing and so able to understanding this flawed human species? As I watched Micheal fight pancreatic cancer so valiantly for three (3) long years it became more clear to me that she had not accomplished all that she wanted to accomplish here on earth. That is not to say that she had not done enough because she had done more than enough and together we forged a good life even if it did include a divorce along the way (which is nobody else's business). We knew the truth and that's all that matters. Micheal told her children she would live on in the breeze, the waving grass, the hummingbirds and the butterflies and that she would always be with them. Who is to say she is not? I view her in each species and am grateful for her presence. I have yet to call upon her and not have her respond in some manner helping me along the way. Buddhism allows me the opportunity to connect with someone, something larger than myself. In this day of so many false Christians, it is easy for one to lose hope with the differing faiths. Some faiths like the Westboro Church really don't even have the right to claim church status because God was never portrayed as a hater. Nor did s/he pass along the right to judge others except when he told St. Peter (who was not a saint back then) that he was entrusting him with the keys to heaven and that whatever man held bound on earth would be bound in heaven and whatever was loosed on earth would be loosed in heaven. There is the age-old argument of what Jesus meant when he described the rock upon which he was going to build his church. Did he say "petros" or "petras" because there is a huge difference. If he said one it would mean that he was building his church upon a solid and immovable rock while if he said the other he would have been a small stone (or series of them) which might imply he was entrusting his church to Peter. It is from this the Roman Catholics seem to pull their own idea of Jesus appointing the first Pope. Who knows for sure? All Christian doctrine has been messed with by mankind for so many renditions that one would have to go back to the Aramaic and utilize a translator. Then, one must consider the money that today's churches generate and they do not want to give that "tax free" money source up! It ain't gonna happen folks. A brand new Pope who is quick to say that being homosexual is not a sin but homosexual acts are? Sorry, that's a little confusing to me especially from someone who has yet to get his own flock under control. The church has no place in the bedroom….at least not in mine and I doubt you want them in yours. Then, the guilt, all of the concern of being judged by a white bearded harshly acting God who decides to allow you into heaven or cast you into hell? That just doesn't work for me. Sounds more like something that it made up by man to control mankind. God? Well, if I am made in his image, and I believe the Bible says that I am then I should think and act like him/her right? Guess what? There is no way I would sacrifice my own son for the sake of the world, NONE. We would all perish together instead. Of course I would offer myself as a replacement as would any loving parent but to kill a child is wrong let alone the killing of an animal. Therefore either I am not in line with what the Bible says about being made in his/her image or it's all bullshit. Buddhists don't believe in sin. We certainly don't believe in the concept of "original sin", at least this one doesn't. So God tempted Adam and Eve and told them not to eat from the best fruit tree of the bunch. Well, Eve did and found it to taste good so she gave some to Adam. Parable or not she was a good wife. She gave her husband a great apple. Their eyes were opened. And, God was mad? Hmmm. did we all live in an aquarium? What's the point? Hint: There is none! Another story made by man to CONTROL man. Buddhists believe in virtuous and non-virtuous acts. Honestly, our code makes the Christian code of ethics resemble a walk in the park. Not saying one is better than the other only that the two are not mutually exclusive. Some Buddhists choose to believe in God while others do not. Personally, I do but not in the same way as most mainstream Christians do. In my belief, whenever someone or something dies, its soul leaves it's earthly body (we can measure that scientifically now) and has to go somewhere. That soul is made of energy and it returns to "the other side" which is a parallel universe vibrating at a different frequency than the one we know to be here. (This is why some folks have psychic abilities because they are sensitive to those frequency.) The soul/essence/energy then joins with the whole which makes it "all knowing, all seeing, all thinking" because it is made up of a little bit of everyone. From that aspect I believe in God. I will say no more at this time about that. If you disagree with me that is absolutely fine and I fully respect your opinion(s). The Buddha (meaning the first Buddha) was not in the God business but rather in the enlightenment business. He was a moral human being who never claimed deity status of any kind before or after death. He asked not for worship but only wanted to teach a better way of living and convey the road to enlightenment. That is what all Buddhists seek. Nothing in Buddhism will stop a person from seeking or worshipping God but nothing will ever require he or she does. Buddhism is a truly liberating philosophy that plays well with all other religions or allows one to practice it as a religion in and of itself.