Bits Missing in Christian Tradition By Reijo Oksanen

Bits Missing in

Christian Tradition

By Reijo Oksanen

”However, as an Orthodox Christian I did find myself in quite a strange situation for exactly 50 years (1961 - 2011). The tradition of the Prayer of the Heart is part of the Orthodox tradition. Who is teaching it? I thought that one should find someone among the priests, but, and this is in spite of meeting many spiritually advanced people, I I did not come across any such priest. Where were those people who could teach me how to pray continuously?

Jesus Christ

From the time I started my 'search for truth' there has been a popular tendency in the western world to look for spiritual teachers (and also teachings) from among the many 'gurus' from the East; earlier more from the Far East (Buddhism, Yoga, Vedanta), and now also from the Middle East (Sufism and Kabbalah). No doubt this tendency is also fully justified as the spiritual teachers in our time in the West have been few and far between. Moreover, is Christianity not also a teaching from the Middle East?

In our time teachers of all sorts can be found also in the West. For example within the Catholic Church there is a strong 'movement' to fetch knowledge and practice from Zen Buddhism, and this seems to continue. It is quite common that instead of a priest, we have a Zen Master whose prior education is Christian theology. Why does a priest not learn what he should learn - like how to pray, and also to teach others in how to pray? This is a confirmation of a sad state of affairs: Christian practice is not taught in the Universities! What are taught are morality, psychology and theory; what are not given and taught are the tools and the ability to be able to apply them into practice.

As the education of the average Christian priests does not include the learning of the 'art of arts' (although Orthodoxy is an exception) it is not possible by any even superhuman efforts for a priest to teach others how to pray; both the knowledge and the ability are lacking. This is why those who are in the position of 'educators' (priests) in the churches need to go to other religions and find their 'gurus' to learn the basics of spiritual practice. In other words they have a need to fetch the 'know how of spiritual life' from outside Christianity.

This search for the 'know how' is highly necessary.”

Source: http://www.prayerofheart.com/index.html

Nothing More Precious Than One's Own Beliefs

Nothing More Precious

Than One's Own Beliefs

I thought so too and worked on humbleness, kindness, compassion and perspective for countless internet messages, taking all those opportunities to practice and reflect as they arose. In the process I shed a lot of my insecurities, angers, fears and anxieties; and shed tears of a sad bodhisattva. How could anyone who has all beings in one's heart, avoid shedding tears when feeling their dread and horror that makes them endlessly terrified? This returns our heart to softness, openness and equality. We become mothers and care-givers to all beings. However, being a mother does not mean accepting everything without discrimination. There is confusion and there is liberation. These are two, although liberation is found in the midst of confusion. Lotuses, too, grow from mud.

Samsara is vast and humans who have the greatest potential, are also the biggest fools. We are experts in fooling ourselves, masters in shunning reality. When through sincerity and skillful effort, we shed traits of ignorance and ill behaviour, we access reality as it is, without the slightest bit of self-deception. Those moments and permanent shifts are the moments of being gurus ourselves, assuming the grip of Guru Rinpoche's personal vajra.

Having great amount of light results to great knowledge. It is light of knowing that should be the foundation of practice for shadow of darkness can never replace the light. Yet, as people shun the reality in all possible ways, we mistakenly believe we could replace light with a shadow, and some think their shadow is light, even if it's just a shadow. Then people go around waving the banner of dharma, shouting slogans, "This is dharma! This is what the books say!", like religionists always do. For those idiots, bodhisattvas keep shedding tears. Fortunately(!), the heart of a bodhisattva has no bottom and cannot be broken. If such stubborn and ignorant people have the immense fortune of meeting an exceptional vajrayana lama, there is hope for them, but if they waste their time with donkeys dressed up in yellow and maroon, they'll just keep occupying the wheel of existence like everyone else.

Unless we know we are confused and are ever willing to admit it, faith for dharma cannot arise. If faith for dharma doesn't arise, there will never be correct and sincere practice. If one doesn't practice and isn't hit by the thunderstrike of reality, that kills ignorance, attachment and aversion, one will remain confused and will never understand even a word of the buddhas. It all boils down to acknowledging our own confusion and the immense depth of it. Those who don't acknowledge that, will never understand the dharma. This is the reality of samsara and the destiny of those who cherish the self-view. See, if we fall under the poison of arrogance, there is nothing even the greatest lama can do, except wait.

I am not a guru nor a great lama but what I learned in my years of online debates is that for someone confused, there is nothing more precious than one's own beliefs.

-Kim, 17.5.2019

Open Heart Sangha,

www.en.openheart.fi