Christianity and Zen

[bladespark]

Today I found a site with a collection of Zen proverbs. Some very interesting things to think about in there. But as I was reading through them, one of them sounded awfully familiar. "Let the dead bury the dead." No author given, it was simply called a "western koan." Well, I had a sneaking suspicion who had said that particular koan, so I went and looked, and sure enogh, there it was! Luke 9:60 "Let the dead bury their dead." The speaker? Christ.

Jesus said something that is now considered a Zen koan.

I am amused!

Comments

[silveradept]

Jesus was a very Zen guy. I think he and the Buddha would have had a pretty good time together. Maybe a couple polite disagreements here and there, but they'd get along pretty well.

[aoanla.livejournal.com]

Well, the Buddha wasn't himself particularly Zen, living some time before Zen actually started. (They'd probably disagree over the relative importance of an afterlife, given that the Buddha held that it was meaningless and pointless to worry about what happens after you die since that distracts from actually living. And, talking of Zen - I wonder how Jesus would have reacted to the statement from the First Patriarch of Zen that his tenents were "limitlessly open; nothing is sacred"? Of course, that depends on how much of a mystic the putative "real" Jesus was, as compared to the version we have reported to us.)

[silveradept]

Yeah, not knowing the real person makes things more difficult. But considering that Jesus put emphasis on living one's life here and not being a hypocrite, and that he explicitly told his followers to teach other nations, he probably wouldn't be too miffed if a couple details got a little lost in translation, so long as the core message came through.

[thalass.livejournal.com]

I'm amused that they included it, but didn't cite the source - like they were slightly embarrassed to think something ol' hay-zoos said was wise. :P