The Rolling Stones--Redux

As a follow up to yesterday’s post about The Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction (as in, I can’t get no) and You Can’t Always Get What You Want (but you do always have what you need), the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and Jesus’ wisdom about not fretting about tomorrow, I ran across this translation of the ending passage of the lilies of the field parable that I was referring to in my post yesterday.

“Do not ask anxiously, What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What shall we wear? The whole world runs after such things. Set your heart and mind on God's commonwealth and justice first, and all the rest will come to you as well. So do not be anxious about tomorrow. Today has enough problems of its own; tomorrow can look after itself.” Matthew 6:31-34

I was perusing www.dailyoffice.org, a great website if you are looking for the daily office on line, and this was from the website’s Wednesday Compline service and the translation is taken from the New Zealand Prayer Book.

This translation hones in on the Eightfold Path a little more directly and makes the tie in to the Path as the Way to tame desires and cravings, end suffering, and achieve enlightenment. We should not worry about satisfying physical desires (what to eat or drink) or all the “stuff” we want (what we will wear, what we will drive, what stuff we will put in our house). Craving, desire and attachment only bring misery. And, as Jesus says, we don’t need to worry about tomorrow as tomorrow can look after itself. Rather, we should practice the Eightfold Path, as set forth by Jesus: “set your heart on God’s commonwealth” (Right Understanding and Right Thought); “set your mind on God’s commonwealth” (Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration); “seek justice first” (Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood). If you practice the Path, “all the rest will come to you as well.” Enlightenment can be attained—you will possess all by possessing nothing.

To descend briefly into the academic esoterica, I highlight the words heart, mind, and justice above because these loosely tie to the three prongs of the Eightfold Path: The Wisdom or Heart Prong: Right Understanding and Right Thought; The Mind or Mental Discipline Prong: Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration; and the Justice or Ethical Conduct Prong: Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood.

I can’t say Jesus and Buddha are saying the precisely same thing, but close enough that it’s worth making the connection. But that’s my purpose with this blog—the space between Christianity and Buddhism is a small space not a chasm—an interstices.