Stoned Sermon #4

Laughing Buddha Jesus
Excerpted from Zenarchy by Kerry Thornley

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In his book, Zen Catholicism (Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963), the Benedictine monk, Dom Aelred Graham, says: ``The word `Buddha' means simply the `Enlightened One'; so understood, there have been many 'Buddhas.' As Dr. Edward Conze points out: `In the official theory, the Buddha, `the Enlightened,' is a kind of archetype which manifests itself in the world in different personalities, whose individual particulars are of no account whatsoever.' From this point of view, Jesus of Nazareth would undoubtably be accorded the title `Buddha,' since He is revealed, according to St. John, as both uniquely `Enlightened' and the `Enlightener.'''
      Moreover, the Edgar Cayce readings (quoted in Many Mansions by Gina Cerminara, New American Library, 1967) inform us that ``Those who walk closer with the Creative Forces should indeed be full of joy, pleasure, peace and harmony within,'' and that ``the principle of the Christ life is joyous!'' ``Remember,'' they urge, ``He laughed -- even on the way to Calvary -- not as so often pictured; He laughed.'' Yea: ``This is what angered them the most.'' So: ``Cultivate the ability to see the ridiculous and retain the ability to laugh.''
      Wow! Can you dig that Jesus was a Buddha? Can you grok a laughing Savior? A Zen Buddha from Nazareth?
      Nothing is more heretical. Nothing is more treasonous. Jesus had a sense of humor. That idea will destroy Western Civilization as we know it.
      Come, brothers. Come, sisters. Let's all join hands and enter the Church Invisible of the Laughing Christ. Let's all join hands and find the Hidden Temple of the Happy Jesus. Let's all join hands and giggle.