Download Going Home: Jesus And Buddha As Brothers Conveyed By Thich Nhat Hanh Released As Text

have traditionally had trouble relating to Thich Nhat Hanh's writing but I think I may be making some progress in my Buddhist explorations because I liked this book and got much more out of it than I have from other of Thay's books.
Jesus is like Buddha but with sleeve tattoos and a pack of cigarettes a more rebellious and potentially angry enlightened dude yet focused on the same philosophical truths.



I love reading a Buddhist account of Christianity, Like my default interpretation of the world is through English, my default interpretation of religion is through the lens of my childhood religion Catholic and the country I grew up in USA.
I enjoy a cross cultural perspective because it resets my standard thinking patterns,
Given the books title, I expected more comparison between the two teachers, It was mainly Hanhs regular meditation interspersed with Jesus/Buddha would approve kind of moments, The Our Father prayer is examined, but again, mostly this is a standard Buddhist meditation with sprinkles of comparison.

I did find several moving passages and good ideas in this book, The first is the idea of unknowing, the second is the idea of presence, the third is that of potential.

Unknowing
“Knowledge is an obstacle to understanding, ”
To people who read in order to understand the world this sounds like an attack, What do you mean, I shouldnt learn The accumulation of knowledge is important, I find life fascinating and I want to learn about everything that I can.
Let me read, my ego shouts in response,
And yet, that distractibility and default mode of seeking facts is a deterrent in the spiritual realm.
If you have an idea of God, Jesus, Buddha in your head, its important to let it go.

“Let go of God for God” is how Meister Eckhart says this same truth, We have to let go of our default method of thinking rationalism and let go of any personal pictures of the divine we have formed in our minds in order to grow in faith.

A mystical vision, be it moving, powerful, and beautiful, is not a permanent truth, If I let my mind settle on a vision or even phrasing of God, that becomes stagnant, I do not grow in faith, This book is a good reminder to let go of images and sink into the present moment where the divine manifests constantly.
Mystical visions, when the i dissolves into The Real, are to be treasured but not clung to, This leads to further and deeper contemplations into the nature of The Real,
Presence
Speaking of the moment, what a beautiful reminder to return to breath, Return to the smallest details of life and give them their proper respect,
At each moment, your life can begin anew, That is why each moment is a point of singularity, What I enjoy about this author is reminding you that importance of being mindful, being present, Presence and attention to the moment is the antidote to the blur of screens and the rush of modern life.

Potential
When you are fully present, you realize the full and sacred potential of each moment.
There is an image of waves and water he returns to frequently, In essence, waves in the ocean can look one at the other and say, “you are a wave, I am a wave.
” This is what people usually do to other people and other objects, It is the horizontal plane,
However, a wave is also water, And water is everything. That is the vertical plane, Basically, the dimension in which the sacred potential is in everything, Be present to see and recognize this plane, Be thankful that you can tap into Nirvana/the Kingdom of Heaven whenever you feel this place, At the core there is always love throbbing, if only we are still enough to feel it,
More than any other message, thats the main point of his work, To feel peace and divinity and to not get stuck in any word combination that limits your experience.
To feel the oneness and to love others is Jesus ultimate commandment, and in the end, all truths converge.
Not to try to fully comprehend It but to be still and love, The question is can we feel that in the moment,
My question is, can I live the message and sit still to listen instead of just plowing through spiritual books The path is that of acceptance, contemplation, and stillness, not the path of accumulating knowledge.


Quotes
Fresh air is available to ushours a day, The question is whether we have the time and awareness to enjoy it,
If you do not succeed in getting in touch with the horizontal dimension, you will not be able to get in touch with the vertical dimension.

The practice of looking deeply reveals to us that one thing is made up of all other things.
One thing contains the whole cosmos,
If the wave is capable of deeply touching the water, her ground of being, she will transcend her fear, jealousy, and all kinds of suffering.
By touching this ultimate dimension, we get the greatest relief, We have to practice in our daily life so that we will be able to touch the ultimate.
We can touch the noumenal world by touching the phenomenal world deeply,
To the Buddhist, “To be or not to be” is not the question, The question is whether or not you can transcend these notions,
Every time you feel despair, anger, or instability, you have to know how to practice going home.
Mindful breathing is the vehicle that you use to go back to your true home where you meet the Buddha.

In Buddhism, knowledge can be seen as an obstacle, Many people try to accumulate knowledge, and one day they may realize that the knowledge they possess has become an obstacle to their understanding.
The Sanskirt word for “knowledge as obstacle” is jneyavarana, To know and to understand are two different things, When you climb a ladder, unless you abandon the lower step, you will not be able to climb to a higher one.
Knowledge is like that. If you are not ready to let go of your knowledge, you cannot get a deeper knowledge of the same thing.

Concentration is the food of understanding,
When you are motivated by the desire to transcend suffering, to get out of a difficult situation and to help others to do the same, you get a powerful source of energy that helps you to do what you want to do to transform yourself and to help other people.
That is what we call bodhicitta, the mind of love, It comes from a strong feeling that you dont want to suffer anymore, You want people not to be caught anymore in that kind of situation, This is a very important beginning,
If you are committed to one idea of happiness, then you are caught, You may not be happy all your life, You think that if your idea cannot be realized, then happiness will never be possible, That is why a notion is an obstacle, There are many ways to be happy, but you are committed in only one way, That is why a notion is an obstacle,
The Five Faculties faith, diligence, mindfulness, concentration, insight is sometimes described as the five powers,
The greatest relief is nonfear abhaya and that greatest relief can be obtained by touching nirvana, by touching the ultimate, by touching the Father.

I am very fond of everything I have read by Thich Nhat Hahn, and this work is certainly no exception.


His powerful commentary about the existence of suffering as it pertains to the human condition has really stuck with me.
This is an interesting book on comparative religion, While it does not directly compare Buddhism with Christianity, it delves into where the two unite, Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist, whose contemplative nature, gives analysis of the spiritual and what it means to be human.
A good read for anyone interested in Religion and Spirituality, .