Religion is not the Truth

          This is an article I wrote for one Chinese member. She was very confused and questioned me. Before she was a Christian, but then she wanted to join the temple and she was puzzled and confused. She did not know how to free herself from confusion and guilt.

          I'd like to share this, because some of our students are also from different backgrounds and now they are in the Buddhist temple.

          I just told her that to have a religion, or to have a faith, is in order to liberate and to purify the mind, to cultivate this freedom in the mind and to have it in control.

          Lots of people believe in God. What is God? What does God mean? God is beauty. God is compassion. God is wisdom. God is reality.

          We are Christian and we are Buddhist, but no matter what teaching you believe in, the truth is only one. It does not matter that your understanding of the truth is a different version to mine. Both are human versions, ordinary versions of the truth, not the truth itself.

          That is not the truth that Jesus Christ tried to tell us. That is not the truth the Buddha tried to tell us. No matter how hard they tried, they could not get the message to us, because we do not have the Christ mind or the Buddha mind. Because we don't get what the truth is, we think religions are different, that some are higher or lower and we fight against each other. That is wrong. That is because we don't have a clear mind.

          From the defiled mind everyone has a different version of the truth. So now our point is, not to change to a religion of a different name, or adopt a different faith or to change to a different God. We need to make it all one within us.

          Everyone has the potential for that oneness, that clearness, that openness of mind. That is the purpose of religions. It is okay to have many names for different religions and different faiths, but we have to realize that religion itself is not the truth. It's okay to have different methods and ways, but don't cling to the methods or cling to the ways.

          Ways and methods are not the truth, they only help us to realize the truth.

          If you are Christian and you are defiled you cannot see the Lord. If you are Buddhist and you are not selfless then you cannot see Buddha.

          With this kind of defiled mind you try to fight against each other's religions, but in doing so, you move away from God, away from Buddha. You are not going to be close to God or close to Buddha if you are fighting or in conflict.

          If you are a Christian and you cultivate that great love towards sentient beings, then the Lord is in you. If you are Buddhist and you cultivate that selflessness and egolessness, then Buddha is in you.

          No matter what religion you have, your obstacles are ignorance and attachment. So don't take religions wrongly. Religion is only for you to balance this mind, to clear this mind, to free this mind.

          If any religion cannot bring you this peace of mind, then you cannot blame the religion. It's not the religion that makes you confused. It's because you don't know that the problem is within your own mind. You don't have the right attitude, the right view from inside out. You need to balance this mind away from the extreme.

          People chant the Buddha's name. What is the Buddha's name practice for? It is to cultivate awareness, cultivate mindfulness, cultivate enlightenment. When Buddhist chant the compassion mantra, it is to cultivate the great compassionate heart. When we prostrate to the Buddha, its because we want to cultivate that tender heart, that humble mind, that soft heart. If you don't pray, God will not punish you If you don't bow, Buddha will not punish you, because the God and the Buddha, are selfless, they are kind and fair and gentle and that means the punishment is not from them. Punishment is from the ignorant mind.

Students ask: How can I have two religions?

          If you think you have two Gods, you are not clear and open. What is serving the Lord? Serving the lord is simply the cultivation of honesty, kindness, fairness and clarity. If you have an open and clear mind, you serve the Lord Jesus or serve the Buddha, by always being just, kind, gentle and compassionate and there is no contradiction at all.

          If you go to church or go to the temple, it is in order to cultivate that selfless devotion and afterwards when you leave the church or the temple, you are going to be more open minded more joyful, because that teaching is going to help you to be connected with more people and more love and more understanding.

          I have faith but I am not the faith. My faith is not the truth yet. We still have ego and so we are one-sided. We are still narrow-minded we are still 'I'. Until one day when there will be no 'I' and we will be in harmony with all the sentient beings and then you see the truth. Many people think that they understand the teachings, but when you are learning, it is not necessarily what the teacher intends to teach you. The teacher realizes the teaching and he tries to tell you, but if you are not at his level of insight, you don't quite get it, because it is your own interpretation of the teachings.

          You need to purify the mind, because the real teacher is your own purity. What is important is not the teaching, what is important is the mind. If you have that open state of mind, teaching is everywhere, teaching is in the birds singing, teaching is in the sunshine, teaching is in the moonlight, because when you have a clear mind, you realize the reality and you do not have ignorance in you.

          Now we teach and we think: 'This is the truth!', but no, learning is not from hearing, its not from reading, it is from the mind. Teaching is only for you to cultivate the enlightened mind and after you have cultivated this mind you will realize that you have the wisdom within you and that everybody has the same.

          Feeling is important, but feelings can be biased. If your mind is open feeling is reality. The concept of mind can be confusing because people use this word In various ways. When we speak of the mind, we have to use another adjective to describe it. The enlightened mind is reality.

          Now the mind has many imprints and we have conditioned minds. We have love. We have hate. If we have love, we have hate, but actually the mind should not have love or hate, but should flow into reality and into whatever is superior.

          Compassion has no extreme, no hate, no love, but is just whatever is needed, whatever is required. Before I meet you, I don't think: 'Oh I must help you', but when I see you, I help you and when I leave you, I don't think about it. Compassion is spontaneous.

          I'm sure Jesus Christ and the Lord Buddha tried very hard to teach us this, but generally people don't understand it, because we still have conditioned minds now. We want to make love stronger than hate, but if you attach to one thing you attach to the opposite because of the conditioning of our minds.

          If you believe in God, you are going to be saved, is what we are told. What is God? God is justice, God is fairness, God is kindness, God is no self. You think that if you believe in God, you'll be saved. What is saved? It means you are free from anger, you're free from hatred, you're free from injustice, you're free from torture and suffering and free of ignorance. All the suffering is from the mind. I'm sure God and Buddha never punished. Punishment is from inside ourselves.

          For example, if I am loaded with a plan, I won't be very flexible. If I don't have any plan, I will be flexible. If I have a plan I punish myself because I won't accept anyone else's plan. Whereas with an open mind, you flow into the reality and that reality is mind.

          When you flow into the reality, the new mind is fresh, unique and wholesome again. Now we are loaded with many imprints and perspectives that are blocking this reality.

          My point is, don't let the teachings, don't let the names, don't let the labels, don't let the dogma or doctrines, separate us. We should not be separate from Muslims, we should not be separate from Christians, we should not be separate from the traditional shamans and healers. We should become more as one, because all the teachings are intended to bring us together.

          There is no need for teaching. If we need teaching now, it's because we are ignorant and need some guidance, but don't study too many teachings and block your clarity. The teaching doesn't need to exist. The heart's openness is the point.

          If I point my finger to the moon, don't look at my finger, look at the moon.

          You can learn from the sky, you can learn from animals, you can learn from anything. You learn in order to purify your mind so that you can find the Lord and you can find Buddha within you. And that is religion.

A message from Venerable Man Ya, Abbess of Nan Hua Temple

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