More Buddhism

Theravada Buddhism

--of the elders

KIng Mongkut (Rama IV) - a righteous king in Thailand

Thamayut movement--wanted to purge the movement of superstition and return it to original basic teaching--a more conservative movement

His son was Chulalongkorn

As a result, Buddhism in Thailand is strongly connected to the Royal Family

Aung Sang Suu Kyi

Freedom from Fear.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Burma/FreedomFromFearSpeech.html

Courage, Patience, non-violence

Mahayana Buddhism

Lotus Sutra

Bodhisatva Ideal - renounces nirvana to help lead others there.

Values opens up to the lay people, not just monks and nuns.

There's Buddha potential in all of us

Budhism Interlude

Four Noble Truths of Buddhism

1) Everything is suffering

• everything is impermanent
• there is no self or permanent identity---just a series of causal process and continuity.
• Life constantly changes and their is no permanent identity that endures from one moment to the next---the self is transient and constantly changing.
• no permanent reality that endures

Recognizing this allows us to let go of the things that cause suffering

2) Arising of Suffering

• ignorance leads to desire which leads to birth
• Our desire for stuff that thinks will fulfill us leads to the ongoing suffering cycle

3) Nirvana-Cessation of Suffering - blowing out the candle of suffering

4) Path to Nirvana (Noble Eightfold Path)

• Right thought, action...etc
• Can be boiled down to 3 things - Moral conduct, Mental concentration, Wisdom

Don't do evil, do good and purify one's mind

Shrines to the Buddha aren't really praying to the Buddha because he has achieved nirvana and is no longer available; technically, its about reminding oneself of the teachings and practices. However, through certain relics left behind by the Buddha, its possible to access the power which reminds us of the Buddha's absence.

20 December 2009 - Fourth Sunday of Advent

John 1:35-51

³⁵The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" ³⁷When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. ³⁸Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"

They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

³⁹"Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

⁴⁰Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. ⁴¹The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). ⁴²And he brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter.

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."

⁴⁴Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

⁴⁶"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip.

⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."

⁴⁸"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

⁴⁹Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

⁵⁰Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." ⁵¹He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

East Side Morning Service

You Shall See Heaven Open - Dr. Timothy Kellar

• Jesus is connected to Jacob as Jacobs rough times are described in Genesis 28
• Heavens are open for the humble
• Rudolph Otto - Idea of the Holy -- Angels are scary because they represent God which represents perfection which makes us feel "inadequate" in their presence
• Jesus is the gateway to heaven -- the bridge between our world and heaven
• Jesus is humbled in birth - helpless baby, Nazareth is a dump
• Jesus is humbled in life - simple carpenter, not rich or a person of high standing/station
• Jesus is humbled in death - dies alone on the cross
• We should be humbled before God and before others--we have to be willing to be ridiculed for standing up for what we believe

13 December 2009 - Third Sunday of Advent

John 1:1-14

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning.

³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

⁶There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. ⁸He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ⁹The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹²Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—¹³children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

¹⁴The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

East Side Morning Service

The Word Made Flesh - Dr. Timothy Kellar

• Jesus as the Word is the way we get to know God, because our words define us---you get to know us by the words we say
• Jesus isn't water tight proof of the existence of God, but He is a water tight person
• As the Word becomes flesh--through Jesus, God came down and becomes vulnerable unlike any other religion, God knows what its like to be us so He can empathize with us.
• As the Word becomes flesh at Christmas, its a case where the Ideal (perfect God) becomes real....becomes human.
• Since Jesus is God, its all or nothing; you have to get behind him.