i resemble that remark
i think judih is foxy too
especially in silk
not alone in dharma,amigos, we got
our cyber-sangha-unprogrammed meeting for worship
we got sangha anda dancia too
and taoist tai chi,
confucious say
lady who tai chi
carry tiger to mountain
you mean i all alone in dharma?
i once saw an elderly asian lady briefly in my former nursing home
it was in the afternoon
i was walking down the long hallway to a room farther down
i saw out of the corner of my eye this lady, new to the home,
standing alone by her bed, with a look of cerebral centerdness,
calm, old, alone, not afraid, yet composed and gracefull.
never saw her again, forgot about it,
but here she is in my valued memory.
she was alone in dharma right then, yes.
remember the wailing wall at the foot of the mountain for jews the central point
and the tomb of the sepulchre halfway up the side and the church of jesus there
and atop the same mount the golden dome of the mosque of islam
why is that?
everybody knows what happenned to Jesus after he confronted the head priest
what happenned to the head priest?
Jesus loosed the Holy Spirit into the world, and lanced the festering wound of the Pharisees, just as the Roman lanced his side to lessen his suffering and commit him to the inevitable. The Pharisees were essentially a Roman construct, as great colonial empire needs local support, not resistance. The entire local kingdom was maintained, within Roman command. The king and his court and the elitist class were all reinforced by Rome, which made things easier for the empire. Local control meant both taxes from the domain and also protection for the wealthy class. Sloth, torpor, vanity, gluttony set in and the spiritual laws became controlling, shallow, designed for image and authority.
When the Romans left, the Pharisees dissappeared.
Judiasm was helped by Christianity, with favored protection generally, as both religions dispersed widely. Post-Pharisee Judiasm, that is, post-Roman Empire Judiasm, flourished and recaptured the sacred covenant of Moses and continues to nurture and grow the faith. This growing up of the Old Tree of Judiasm is an essential part of the historic peace that is to come.
Likewise, Christianity has grown and dispersed, has had fits and starts, and has been xenophobic and corrupt, but the essential Jesus as prophet and liberating Messiah for the meek still stands, and I stand with him. He ain't no throw away prophet either.
The Old Testament starts out with an authoritarian, third person-singular impersonal voice that says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, .... and God said let there be light....and God said let there be lights in the sky at night to inspire and a moon also andd a sun in the daytime, and God said, let the earth tilt on its axis 23 degrees and so forth, " which is why we have the problem of so much shallow and distorted literal interpreting religious right wingers foaming at their mouths.
These are ancient writings, and include a creation story of mythic proportion, which is essentially how all clans begin their clan stories.
Of course, there are beautiful and profound writings embedded throughout.
The New Testament also begins with a narrator, expept than now the narrator is a specific person, Matthew, so he is third person singular but not impersonal and he is telling the geneology of the life of Christ, speaking to us, the impersonal third person plural. With Acts and the letters, a specific writer is speaking to a specific person or grtoups of persons. This suggests an evolution in literary style, as much as pre-rennaisance painting was two-dimensional and then discovery led to more evolved technical capability.
Then we got Islam. The Koran is not designed to be an historical storytelling, although historical figures from Judiasm and Christianity populate the text. "Children of Israel." All I know right now is that the origins of Mohammed were steeped in the religious teachings of his time. He did not grow up in a vaccuum. And the book itself, the text of the Koran, is different again. Not started as an historical document, but with a prologue, praising the Creator from an uncertain "We" speaking, and then in the second chapter, The Cow, a statement telling the purpose of these revelations, for the well-being of "those who believe in the Unknown," and want to have a good life of charity, devotion, and straight living. Ane again this "We" speaks directly to "you," second person singular, Mohammed.
This is a definate evolution in literary technique. Mohammed was here 700 years after Jesus, and received a series of revelations, inscribed into the Koran. He got these revelations from a mysterious "We'" which I ascribe to be the Holy Host, the heavenly host, who knows? And the titles of the chapters are beautifully ordinary.
As we know, there is much oppression within Islam, and extreme sects, but the heart is one that is sublime. The mysterious connections are profound with both Judiasm, for the old origins are the same, and with Christianity, as they are expressed within the Koran by Mohammed receiving inspiration during his meditation period.
This is a trilogy of great books and a deepening faith awaits us, as we open up our hearts into the infinite sideways.