Bddhism

Today I went out to walk around Old Town, what's left that is, a fire consumed most of it a couple of months ago.  Shangri-La is pretty close to the Tbtn border and is mostly Tbtn people who are Bddhst.  There are Bddhst in other parts of Chn, but here it's really prominent and there are stuppa's and pr@yer flags everywhere.  At the edge of Old Town there is a Bddhst temple and the world's largest pr@yer wheel.  Getting up to the pr@yer wheel is quite the pilgrimage, the elevation is high in Shangri-La so it's difficult to breath.  The pr@yer wheel is up a pretty big hill and you have to climb up steep steps.  As I was walking up the steps, taking a break on every landing so that my heart didn't explode, I noticed two Tbt women in front of me.  They were both elderly with the one being probably 80 years old and using a walking stick.  As I watched them struggle up the steps and as I watched the monks chanting at the foot of the Bddh, I felt a combination of relief and sorrow.  I felt relief that I believe that we are saved by grace... as Chrstns we believe that our salvation is secure because He has bought us by His sacrifice.   Bddhsm is different, (it's actually really complicated and outside of the scope of this blog (and life) to explain the belief system, especially the branch of Tbtn Bddhsm) but there seem to be so many hoops to jump through.  I see people chanting with beads, lighting incense and spinning pr@yer wheels...basically they're begging for something that they don't now possess.  They're longing and struggling to do enough and to be enough for a distant, unreachable deity/dieties/personal nirvana.  It looks stressful, because in reality what is ever enough?

But this also led me to really think about chrstnty (not really pure Chrstnty but more how we actually practice it)... we believe that we are saved by His grace, but do we always live in that freedom?  How often have I said a lifeless, empty pr@yer out of ritual in the same way that the Bddhst recite mantra's while spinning pr@yer wheels?  Is my need to attend chrch on Sunday morning, read my Bbl and volunteer similar to the Bddhst women's need to climb up a mountain of steps while gasping for air?  Are both all of us really  attempting to buy G0d's love via ritual?  I feel like the similarity between Chrstnty and Bddhsm is that both involve sinful, broken humans that long to be saved from this life by something or someone.  The difference is that in Chrstnty, G0d hasn't asked us for the impossible, He hasn't asked for our perfection, He's asked for our faith, our love, our obedience and our devotion.... but when we lack faith that can move mountains, love that is patient, kind etc, obedience despite our sinful nature and our devotion waxes and wanes..., His grace  His mercy and His love engulf us.  

I love this quote by Timothy Keller regarding righteousness talked about in R0mans chapter 3, " Every religion and culture believes that it's the same with G0d (referring to a previous example about righteousness being like a performance record).  It's not a vocational record; it's a moral or spiritual record.  You get out your performance record and if it's good enough, you're worthy of life with G0d and you're accepted.  And then Paul comes along and says: But now... For the first time in history--and the last--an unheard of approach to G0d has been revealed.  A divine righteousness-the righteousness of G0d, a perfect record--is GIVEN to us.  No other place offers this.  Outside of the Gspl, we must develop a righteousness and offer it to G0d and say (hopefully and anxiously), 'ACCEPT ME'.  The gspl says that G0d has developed a perfect righteousness and He offers it to us, and by it we are accepted. This is the uniqueness of the Chrstn gspl; and it reverses what every other religi0n and worldview and even every human heart, believes."  

I don't say any of this to attack other religi0ns... I despise hatefulness for any reason, but especially when it is used to disrespect other people's religio0n...I share this post with you only to express the sweetness of my faith that I was reminded of today.  Sometimes we get lost even in religi0n and need to be reminded of His grace.   

"Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!"