The Buddha on PBS

I watched 'The Buddha' again on the PBS website and think I would love it if most everyone I knew would be willing to watch it at least once. But, I am by most opinions a heathen, sinner and have even been called a Satan worshiper by my Christian friends and family since my renouncement of Christianity.

I would be tainting their minds with such drivel as asking them to even try to understand what the Buddha taught five hundred years prior to the alleged incarnation of Christ in the form of Jesus. But that's okay. I do not feel I have to defend my ideas; ideas based on research and thrice as much introspection. I have done graduate work in Religious Studies as I love the interconnectedness of the human experience as manifested by the diverse and timeless traditions that have and still exist amount humanity.

I have studied the dharma, the teachings of Buddha for many years. In my initial learning, I realized how much it made sense to me more than my Catholic up bringing ever did, could. It falls in line with my own personal philosophies, beliefs in that people must be and ultimately are responsible for themselves. Plain and simple. I find it hard in life to label myself as anything other than a freethinker as I feel such labels lead to a closed mind, limited perspective and diminishes compassion.

I have read the scriptures of the new testament many times, and one thing I find consistent is my feeling, sensation as I read about the experiences of Jesus is how Buddhist his thoughts are. There are eighteen years unaccounted for in the life of Jesus. That's plenty of time for Jesus to travel to the east and learn the ways of the Buddha. I have held this conviction since the biography I wrote in third grade on Buddha. Yes, third grade. How I even knew about Siddhartha Gautama as a baptized Catholic child is still under scrutiny!

At any rate, I know many who read this will think this a flippant remark, but I assure you I have spent the better part of the past twenty years seeking answers. I look to the human experience for understanding, and religious experience is the most abundant source of understanding the psychology behind the human experience.

I have never felt more at peace than when I spend time reading and reflecting on Buddhist writings. It all makes perfect sense to me, yet I find it incredibly hard to maintain that peaceful mindset! As it should be. Life is the practice of the dharma; the capture is in the pursuit.