Karmaic Christianity

My journey into the "Caves" has led me in many different directions. One of those has been a study of Buddhism. The book I started with was "The Four Noble Truths" written by the present Dalai Lama. The four noble truths are, simply put, the foundation of Buddhism; and shockingly quite similar to Christianity. 1. The Truth of Suffering; 2. The Truth of the Origin of Suffering; 3. The Truth of Cessation; 4. The Truth of the Path. Putting these Truths through my little "christian" filter, I changed the word "suffering" to "sin". So the four noble truths of Buddhism can be translated: the truth of sin, the truth of the origin of sin, the truth of the ceasing of sin, and the truth of the path to the ceasing of sin. This didn't make the Buddhist terms easier to swallow, but rather made them MORE TRUE to me. Suddenly Buddhism is teaching me more about my current beliefs; and from the writings of this book, I believe that the Dalai Lama would be pleased.

When I entered the sections of this book dealing with Karma, I got a little cynical. The typical christian response to concepts I really wasn't at all familiar with. I just thought that living a life based in Karmaic Law means trying to always do good stuff, and not bad stuff, just so you don't get reincarnated as a worm. Basically, a life of faith based in fear. But the more I read, and the more I tried to put aside my christian history and my biases, I started to see Truths in how the Buddhist approach Karma. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I don't think that the Dalai Lama would say that living a Karmaic Life in fear is a good thing; more so, I think it's probably a bad thing. Now these are totally my thoughts, and should in no way be interrpreted as the thoughts of Buddhism or the Dalai Lama, but I think that if a Buddhist lived a life of fear, and based all of their actions on that fear of coming back as a worm, that's probably exactly what they would come back as. The Dalai Lama's writings speak to a development of a "good heart". And that from that good heart will flow "Bodhichitta" or compassion. That a Buddhist, practicing Karma with a "good heart" will not be compelled by fear, but rather, he will be compelled by compassion, which speaks to who he really is. The Buddhist cannot fake goodness, for Karmaic Law would see right through it. You must TRULY be a good person, and your actions will be but a reflection of yourself.

Now throw all of that into Christianity and a picture starts to form. One of a faith that is not about doing the right thing under compulsion, but doing the right thing because it is right. One might say that Jesus lived a life perfectly in harmony with his Karma, and perhaps when asked to "conform to the image of Christ" we are asked to do the same. I sat down for a cup of coffee with a friend yesterday, and she said her chief issue with "Protestant" Christianity (she is Catholic) is that they seem overly-concerned with appearances. More concerned about "doing the right thing" instead of "being a good person". I think goodness is under-rated in christian circles, as if "goodness" isn't a high enough aspiration; that we should be shooting for "greatness" instead. As was said in "What about Bob", what's called for seems to be "baby steps". And that may be the quickest way to greatness; in the midst of contradiction, often God seems to be found.