{"id":28086,"date":"2020-04-03T21:41:21","date_gmt":"2020-04-04T01:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/?p=28086"},"modified":"2020-04-03T21:41:21","modified_gmt":"2020-04-04T01:41:21","slug":"anglicans-turning-to-buddhism-for-lenten-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/anglicans-turning-to-buddhism-for-lenten-inspiration\/","title":{"rendered":"Anglicans turning to Buddhism for Lenten inspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A little while ago \u2013 before this current unpleasantness &#8211; I visited China for a couple of weeks. In my wanderings, I encountered a number of Buddhist temples filled with worshippers on their knees, faces to the ground in front of ugly giant Buddha statues. Don\u2019t let anyone try to convince you that idol worship is no more in the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n<p>As I\u2019m sure you know, Buddhism teaches that we keep being reborn until we learn our lesson and reach the state of nirvana, a state of nothingness. The lesson we have to learn is that living is suffering, to free ourselves from suffering we must free ourselves from emotion and desire and thus become \u2013 nothing. \u00a0Superstitious balderdash and, consequently, most appealing to contemporary Anglicans.<\/p>\n<p>From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anglicanjournal.com\/a-few-words-from-the-dalai-lama-for-lents-last-lap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-28087\" src=\"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/The_14th_Dalai_Lama_FEP-1024x687-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/The_14th_Dalai_Lama_FEP-1024x687-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/The_14th_Dalai_Lama_FEP-1024x687-1-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/The_14th_Dalai_Lama_FEP-1024x687-1-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/The_14th_Dalai_Lama_FEP-1024x687-1-447x300.jpg 447w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/>\u201cThe more time you spend thinking about yourself, the more suffering you will experience,\u201d says the Dalai Lama. \u201cWe create most of our suffering, so it should be logical that we have the ability to create more joy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As we wrap up our Lenten self-assessments\u2014especially in the time of COVID-19\u2014we need to be intentional that such inner appraisal is reframed from self-centredness to attention toward the circumstances of others. Many sincere Christians have foundered on the rocky shores of unproductive guilt over their own private demons. The Dalai Lama keeps repeating that unhealthy attention to our weaknesses will not enhance our inner values, nor will it make us better people. In fact, the reverse may be true. \u201cGiving up\u201d things that we know are not good for us may actually expand our negative cravings and make things worse.<\/p>\n<p>[\u2026.]<\/p>\n<p>Behind the words of this Buddhist seer I begin to hear the haunting words of Jesus, and my Lenten spiritual journey has been doubly-blessed. Perhaps, as Holy Week approaches, you might consider his words and be blessed, as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A little while ago \u2013 before this current unpleasantness &#8211; I visited China for a couple of weeks. In my wanderings, I encountered a number of Buddhist temples filled with worshippers on their knees, faces to the ground in front &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/anglicans-turning-to-buddhism-for-lenten-inspiration\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":5,"footnotes":""},"categories":[204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}