Living Buddha, Living Christ
by
Thich Nhat Hanh
Read May-June 2007
Copy borrowed from Ramsey County Public Library, Roseville branch
Essay written June 29th, 2007
I decided I'd read up a little on Eastern religion, and this is one of about six books I checked out one day, but the only book I finished reading.
He had me for about the first half of the book. I was up to speed with the mindfulness and the Holy Spirit and the breathing ("Breathing in I calm my body, breathing out I smile. Dwelling in this present moment, I know this is a wonderful moment"). But then he lost me. Too much vagueness and ambiguity, which maybe was the point, because he does say that concepts are bad. Don't think about nirvana, just be in it. Or something. I suppose that's the nature of Buddhism in general.
Also I don't know that his interpretation of Christianity was in line with mine. He claims that if you're a true Christian then you're also a Buddhist by default and vice versa, but I don't know if I can completely agree with that. Which is fine, I don't have to, and I'm not dragging Thich Nhat Hanh down because of it. We just have different interpretations of the Gospel, that's all. It only makes sense that we would, since he's a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and I'm a midwestern pork-fed Lutheran.
A good introduction to Eastern religion for me, all told. Enough to make me want to learn more. Buddhism isn't merely a religion, I take it, but also a practice. I personally don't believe the same can be said for Christianity. It's a religion. Or more accurately, a relationship. Buddhism is also a way of life, and there's no reason one can't be a Christian and also do his or her best to incorporate elements of the Buddhist tradition into that faith. That seems a little bit like cheating though, to pick out the things you want to believe out of this tradition and that. Like covering all of one's bases.
This all much too deep of a subject for me to be going into here in this little essay.
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