THE HIGHEST FORM OF PRAYER

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"Ye have heard that it hath been said,

Thou shalt love thy neighbor, 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;

that ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven:

for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,

and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
Matthew 5:43-45

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"Many people pray to God because they want God

to fulfill some of their needs.  If they want to have a

picnic, they ask God for a clear, sunny day.  At the same

time, farmers might pray for rain.  If the weather is clear,

the picnickers will say, "God is on our side; he answered

our prayers."  But if it rains, the farmers will say that

God heard their prayers.  This is the way we usually pray.

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When you pray only for your own picnic and not for

the farmers who need the rain, you are doing the opposite

of what Jesus taught.  Jesus said,

"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you..."

When you look deeply into your anger, you will see

that the person you call your enemy is also suffering.

As soon as you see that, the capacity of accepting and

having compassion for him is there.

Jesus called this "loving your enemy."

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When you are able to love your enemy,

he or she is no longer your enemy.  The idea

of "enemy" vanishes and is replaced by the notion of

someone who is suffering and needs your compassion.

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Doing this is sometimes easier than you might have

imagined, but you need to practice.  If you read the Bible

but don't practice, it will not help much.

In Buddhism, practicing the teaching of the Buddha

is the highest form of prayer.  The Buddha said,

"If someone is standing on one shore and wants

to go to the other shore, he has to either use a boat

or swim across.  He cannot just pray, 'Oh, other shore,

please come over here for me to step across!' "

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To a Buddhist, praying without practicing

is not real prayer."

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From Living Buddha, Living Christ

Thich Nhat Hanh

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UNDERSTANDING BRINGS COMPASSION

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Before the Vietnamese monk

Thich Quang Duc burned himself alive

in 1963, he meditated for several weeks and

then wrote very loving letters to his government,

his church, and his fellow monks and nuns

explaining why he had reached that decision.
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When you are motivated by love and

the willingness to help others attain

understanding, even self-immolation can be

a compassionate act.  When Jesus allowed

Himself to be crucified, He was acting

in the same way, motivated by the desire

to wake people up, to restore understanding

and compassion, and to save people.

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When you are motivated by anger

or discrimination, even if you act in

exactly the same way, you are doing

the opposite.

When you read Thich Quang Duc's

letters, you know very clearly that he

was not motivated by the wish to oppose

or destroy but by the desire to communicate.

When you are caught in a war in which the

great powers have huge weapons and complete

control of the mass media, you have to do

something extraordinary to make yourself heard.

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Without access to radio, television,

or the press, you have to create new ways

to help the world understand the situation

you are in.  Self-immolation can be

such a means.

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If you do it out of love,

you act very much as Jesus did on the cross

and as Gandhi did in India.  Gandhi fasted,

not with anger, but with compassion,

not only toward his countrymen but also

toward the British.

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 These great men all

knew that it is the truth that sets us free,

and they did everything they could

to make the truth known.

Buddhist and Christian practice

is the same - the truth about ourselves,

the truth about our brothers and sisters,

the truth about our situation.

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This is the work of writers,

preachers, the media, and also

practicioners.  Each day we practice

looking deeply into ourselves and into

the situation of our brothers and sisters.

It is the most serious work we can do.

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From Living Buddha, Living Christ

by Thich Nhat Hanh

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SEEING THE WAY, TAKING THE PATH

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When Jesus said, "I am the way,"

He meant that to have a true relationship with

God, you must practice His way. In the

Acts of the Apostles, the early Christians always

spoke of their faith as "the Way." To me,

"I am the way" is a better statement than

"I know the way." The way is not an asphalt

road. But we must distinguish between the

"I" spoken by Jesus and the "I" that people

usually think of.
 The "I" in His statement

is life itself, His life, which is the way.

If you do not really look at his life, you

cannot see the way.
 If you only

satisfy yourself with praising a name,

even the name of Jesus, it is not

practicing the life of Jesus.

We must practice living deeply, loving,

and acting with charity if we wish to truly

honor Jesus. The way is Jesus Himself

and not just some idea of Him.
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A true teaching is not static.

It is not mere words but the reality of life.

Many who have neither the way or the life

try to impose on others what they believe

to be the way. But these are only words

that have no connection with real life

or a real way.

When we understand and practice deeply

the life and teachings of Buddha or

the life and teachings of Jesus,

we penetrate the door and enter the abode

of the living Buddha and the living Christ,

and life eternal presents itself to us.

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From Living Buddha, Living Christ

Thich Nhat Hanh

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THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN BE IDENTIFIED

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In every school of Christianity,

we see people who follow the same spirit,

who do not want to speculate on what cannot

be speculated about. "Negative theology"

is an effort and practice to prevent Christians

from being caught by notions and concepts

that prevent them from touching the living

spirit of Christianity. When we speak of

negative theology, the theology about the

Death of God, we are talking about the

death of every concept we may have of God

in order to experience God as a living

reality directly.

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A good theologian is one who says almost

nothing about God, even though the word

"theology" means "discourse about God."

It is risky to talk about God. The notion

of God might be an obstacle for us to touch

God as love, wisdom, and mindfulness.

The Buddha was very clear about this.

He said, "You tell me that you are in love with

a beautiful woman, but when I ask you,

'What is the color of her eyes? What is her

name? What is the name of her town?'

you cannot tell me. I don't believe you are

really in love with something real."

Your notion of God may be vague like that,

not having to do with reality. The Buddha was

not against God. He was only against notions

of God that are mere mental constructions

that do not correspond to reality, notions

that prevent us from developing ourselves

and touching ultimate reality.

That is why I believe it is safer to approach

God through the Holy Spirit than through

the door of theology. We can identify

the Holy Spirit whenever it makes its

presence felt. Whenever we see someone

who is loving, compassionate, mindful,

caring, and understanding, we know

that the Holy Spirit is there.

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From Living Buddha, Living Christ

Thich Nhat Hanh

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