Theos-Talk Archives (August 2004 Message tt00495)

I would like to say for the record that among all the religions, churches, and philosophies I have been part of throughout my 59 years, none has impressed me as much or made me a better man than has the original teachings of Siddhartha Gotama, the Buddha, mostly from a Mahayana perspective. When I am at my lowest, I always fall back on reading and trying to practice some form of Zen or other Buddhist meditation. There are a lot of wonderful tangential things that have sprung up around the teachings of Buddha and His followers, but none are as satisfying as listening to the words of the Tathagata Himself as they have come down to us in the Pali (and Mahayana/Theravada) Canon (the Sutras). I have lost faith in christendom many times, even as I did also recently, but I have never doubted the Buddha, not as a god, but as the wisest man. I can see no future for christendom, but I can see no end for the necessity of the Buddha and His Dharma. Buddha was a realist and was truly compassionate in all He did--unlike the mythical founder of christendom. If this was to be my last night on earth, I would want this to be my epitaph in tribute to Him who crossed the sea of samsara and found nirvana, and told us how to at least enter the stream behind Him. The Bodhisattva is the most sublime concept ever to come from any religious or philosophical tradition. I hope in some small way, I have been a man of integrity,which is to say, a Bodhisattva.

Andrew W. Smith


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