Q: Can you imagine a world religion?
MM: Yes - kindness. Kin-ship. Brotherhood. Not out of fear of God, or desire to sit next to him, but out of that which is neither of fear, nor of desire.
Q: That's not really a religion.
MM: O.K. A not-really-religion then.
Q: But don't we need teachers, leaders, places to gather and support one another? An organization to pull it all together?
MM: Students will always find teachers. Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha...they were not found in churches. Churches serve their purpose, but they are not a necessity for realizing truth. It would not be just.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Good People - With Or Without Religion?
Q: Do you think a person can grow up to be a good person without any religious upbringing?
MM: Kindness and compassion are universal, and our true nature. A child knows instantly when something bad, mean, or unjust has happened. Children observe cruelty and injustice and then decide either for or against it, for their own behavior. This is often a decision based on their individual instinct of, and physical make-up for survival,as well as their environment. So - yes - a person can grow up to be a good person without any religious upbringing. Discerning between kindness and cruelty is inborn.
Most Atheists would ask - can a person grow up to be good person in spite of their religious upbringing? Religions have "raised" a lot of callous and cruel people. At the same time, religions all over the world have also taught kindness and compassion to people who needed to "re-learn". Sometimes all a religion can do, much like the legal system, is scare cruel people into behaving kindly.
MM: Kindness and compassion are universal, and our true nature. A child knows instantly when something bad, mean, or unjust has happened. Children observe cruelty and injustice and then decide either for or against it, for their own behavior. This is often a decision based on their individual instinct of, and physical make-up for survival,as well as their environment. So - yes - a person can grow up to be a good person without any religious upbringing. Discerning between kindness and cruelty is inborn.
Most Atheists would ask - can a person grow up to be good person in spite of their religious upbringing? Religions have "raised" a lot of callous and cruel people. At the same time, religions all over the world have also taught kindness and compassion to people who needed to "re-learn". Sometimes all a religion can do, much like the legal system, is scare cruel people into behaving kindly.
So whatever upbringing we chose for our children - we need to model kindness and generosity, rather than criticism and cruelty, and give children courage and hope in the face of the injustices in the world.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The Veiled Truth
Q: What exactly is this truth you mentioned that Jesus speaks about when he says: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free"?
MM: It doesn't matter. Don't concern yourself at all about what it might be, or might be like. Just know - deep down, and with your complete trust and all the love in your heart - that you will indeed know it. Accept that this is a 100% reliable source making this promise to you. Then you become ready to receive it. That is all that matters, that you become receptive. Don't concern yourself with this truth in any other way. You will not need your intellect, your understanding, or any past experience to recognize this truth to be The Truth. It will be self evident and beyond doubt. It will not be a thought, an idea, an image, a feeling, or anything else you are used to or could possibly imagine. That all has to get out of the way.
That is what meditation is - just practicing getting all thoughts, ideas, opinions, feelings, images...out of the way, so that the veil can get lifted from your eyes.
MM: It doesn't matter. Don't concern yourself at all about what it might be, or might be like. Just know - deep down, and with your complete trust and all the love in your heart - that you will indeed know it. Accept that this is a 100% reliable source making this promise to you. Then you become ready to receive it. That is all that matters, that you become receptive. Don't concern yourself with this truth in any other way. You will not need your intellect, your understanding, or any past experience to recognize this truth to be The Truth. It will be self evident and beyond doubt. It will not be a thought, an idea, an image, a feeling, or anything else you are used to or could possibly imagine. That all has to get out of the way.
That is what meditation is - just practicing getting all thoughts, ideas, opinions, feelings, images...out of the way, so that the veil can get lifted from your eyes.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Karma
Q: The more I think about the idea of karma, the more I get confused. Isn't cultivating good karma for oneself in itself selfishly motivated?
MM: Forget cultivating good karma. Instead cultivate a calm mind. The calmer the mind, the more you will become who you truly are and go beyond dual concepts like selfishness and unselfishness, good karma and bad karma, etc. Once one is truly oneself one can neither be called selfish nor compassionate. Just like the sun which causes both skin cancer and makes our food grow - we become who we are and move beyond worry. To become oneself does not mean the Western idea of "do whatever you want". It means peacefulness, serenity and full presence in which all things get done that need to get done - no more, no less.
Strangely enough, Buddhism which teaches about Karma, the cause and effect of good and bad deeds over lifetimes - also teaches about non-dualistic thinking. When non-dualistic thinking is fully attained there is no karma. At that level time and space also disappear. Therefore, without time and space, whatever is happening now, is happening all throughout time.
One way to reach to non-dualistic thinking is through contemplating the idea of karma. The idea of karma, if followed logically, eventually turns into a koan and can free the mind.
Until then - think of karma as "you shall harvest as you sow". Tend your garden with awareness.
MM: Forget cultivating good karma. Instead cultivate a calm mind. The calmer the mind, the more you will become who you truly are and go beyond dual concepts like selfishness and unselfishness, good karma and bad karma, etc. Once one is truly oneself one can neither be called selfish nor compassionate. Just like the sun which causes both skin cancer and makes our food grow - we become who we are and move beyond worry. To become oneself does not mean the Western idea of "do whatever you want". It means peacefulness, serenity and full presence in which all things get done that need to get done - no more, no less.
Strangely enough, Buddhism which teaches about Karma, the cause and effect of good and bad deeds over lifetimes - also teaches about non-dualistic thinking. When non-dualistic thinking is fully attained there is no karma. At that level time and space also disappear. Therefore, without time and space, whatever is happening now, is happening all throughout time.
One way to reach to non-dualistic thinking is through contemplating the idea of karma. The idea of karma, if followed logically, eventually turns into a koan and can free the mind.
Until then - think of karma as "you shall harvest as you sow". Tend your garden with awareness.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Getting Rid Of All Religions?
Q: How can you say religions are beautiful when they have caused so much suffering and craziness? We should get rid of them altogether.
MM: Religious organizations of all faiths crucify, burn and torture those they feel threatened by on a regular basis, worse than governments even. The stupidities and ugliness committed in the name of religion seem to warrant that we should indeed get rid of religion altogether.
But - it would be like getting rid of sex because of rape, pedophilia, sex slavery, incest and all other perversions, many of them extremely cruel. Sex at its highest levels is communion and love, just like religion. Both at their lowest levels always turn into cruelty, violence and murder.
The same is true of science. The suffering and cruelty committed in the name of science is horrendous. No religion has ever committed such levels of cruelty.
Q: You can't get rid of sex, but you could get rid of religion.
MM: That is not true. Religion is to the heart what science is to the mind. They are interconnected. If you get rid of religion all together, sex itself becomes the new religion in disguise. It is happening now.
Q: So what if you got rid of sex - what would happen then?
MM: If you were to "get rid of" sex, religion, science...and everything else that interferes with pure truth...what would be left over is love in its highest form. Coal (all human understanding and forms of love) would have been transformed into diamond (truth).
You cannot get rid of anything, you can only transform it. In human society and civilization people exist at different levels of maturity, therefore there will always be sex, religion, science.... When Jesus says: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" he is talking about only you, and your freedom.
Q: What kind of truth is he talking about? A religious truth?
MM: No. Just truth. Truth free of any religious, scientific, cultural, moral, social, or any other ideas whatsoever. This may sound impossible, especially to the Western Mind unfamiliar with meditation. It is much like Lao Tsu says: "The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao." This truth - if it could be "said" or named, it would not be the eternal truth Jesus is talking about. The only thing you can be sure of is that this truth is so clear and self evident that when you come across it, or better, when it finds you, you recognize it and there will be freedom from all doubt.
Q: But then you wouldn't be able to describe it or teach it to anyone...?
MM: Correct.
Q: So what are Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad...and those who follow them, teaching then?
MM: They are hinting at the truth with metaphors and examples the way a thousand arrows can all point at the same spot of emptiness. Some of the teachings often in the form of poetry, simply express deep feelings of gratitude or blessing, and are truly beautiful.
MM: Religious organizations of all faiths crucify, burn and torture those they feel threatened by on a regular basis, worse than governments even. The stupidities and ugliness committed in the name of religion seem to warrant that we should indeed get rid of religion altogether.
But - it would be like getting rid of sex because of rape, pedophilia, sex slavery, incest and all other perversions, many of them extremely cruel. Sex at its highest levels is communion and love, just like religion. Both at their lowest levels always turn into cruelty, violence and murder.
The same is true of science. The suffering and cruelty committed in the name of science is horrendous. No religion has ever committed such levels of cruelty.
Q: You can't get rid of sex, but you could get rid of religion.
MM: That is not true. Religion is to the heart what science is to the mind. They are interconnected. If you get rid of religion all together, sex itself becomes the new religion in disguise. It is happening now.
Q: So what if you got rid of sex - what would happen then?
MM: If you were to "get rid of" sex, religion, science...and everything else that interferes with pure truth...what would be left over is love in its highest form. Coal (all human understanding and forms of love) would have been transformed into diamond (truth).
You cannot get rid of anything, you can only transform it. In human society and civilization people exist at different levels of maturity, therefore there will always be sex, religion, science.... When Jesus says: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" he is talking about only you, and your freedom.
Q: What kind of truth is he talking about? A religious truth?
MM: No. Just truth. Truth free of any religious, scientific, cultural, moral, social, or any other ideas whatsoever. This may sound impossible, especially to the Western Mind unfamiliar with meditation. It is much like Lao Tsu says: "The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao." This truth - if it could be "said" or named, it would not be the eternal truth Jesus is talking about. The only thing you can be sure of is that this truth is so clear and self evident that when you come across it, or better, when it finds you, you recognize it and there will be freedom from all doubt.
Q: But then you wouldn't be able to describe it or teach it to anyone...?
MM: Correct.
Q: So what are Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad...and those who follow them, teaching then?
MM: They are hinting at the truth with metaphors and examples the way a thousand arrows can all point at the same spot of emptiness. Some of the teachings often in the form of poetry, simply express deep feelings of gratitude or blessing, and are truly beautiful.
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