Joe, >Mysticism separates the grain from the mould-infected chaff.
It's rare for me ever to be in the defence of religion, In fact, this is a first. But thinking quite deeply about what he wrote, I also came to the realisation that we shouldn't disparage those religions where the message could only survive by codifying it in ritual (spoken and performed). I see this development quite clearly in Buddhism. The message, and the means to realise that message, could only be stored in the community memory by oral repetition and ritual. I believe it was kept alive for 500 years this way before being codified in the sutras. 500 years - amazing. Even today, many people are initially attracted to the religious side of Buddhism before realising the ritual is just an expression of the Dharma. So I'm grateful for the religious side of Buddhism because it did it's job well. Maybe a kinder way of looking at it, rather than "mould-infected chaff" (lol!), is that it is like the smoke that carries the molecules of THC into my blood stream ; ) Mike ________________________________ From: Joe <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, 5 August 2012, 0:24 Subject: Re; [Zen] Samadhi Edgar, Some religions preach killing of infidels, those not "yet" converted to the ways of the self-righteous and self-forgiving Camel-thief. He wrote himself a "hall-pass" in his Koran (people raised in American public [government...] schools will understand the reference). May all our religious codes, and other codes, keep us free from such people and such dastardly ways. Imagine: their "Book" says these things, and they read it and go ahead and trust it, and enact the actions. The chapter "The Spoils" says enough for me. There's no way to hide the intent by re-translation(s), nor commentary. Danger, Will Robinson! Reboot, pls. Yet, I trust the Sufis with my life. Mysticism separates the grain from the mould-infected chaff. Sufism is a tradition of transmission, like our Zen, not dependent on words or letters. Salam malecum. --Joe > Edgar Owen <edgarowen@...> wrote: > > Anyone who gets their morals from some religion has none of their own...
