Making Connections and Sharing the Peace
posted April 18th, 2007 at 1:07 pm by Betty
Last weekend Barbara Karkabi of the Houston Chronicle drew attention to Tuklu Thondup’s visit to Houston in an article entitled “A healing power within.” Thondup had been brought to Houston by Professor Ann Klein and Dr. Harvey Aronson, the founders of the Tibetan Buddhist Center in Houston (Dawn Mountain). I was fortunate to attend four of Thondup’s lectures and guided meditations. It is part of my ministry, and part of the mission of the Magdalene Community, to make connections with other spiritualities and religious traditions. It is part of our interfaith work.
As I listened to this well-spoken and gracious monk, I couldn’t help thinking of the teachings of Jesus in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. In that early second century Gospel Jesus greets four disciples, Mary Magdalene, Levi, Peter, and Andrew, in a postresurrection appearance, saying:
“Peace be with you—may my Peace arise and be fulfilled within you!”
or as in another translation: “Peace be with you — acquire my Peace within yourselves.”
In this Gospel Jesus is greeting the disciples and offering them the assurance that his peace will arise and be fulfilled within them. I think this is the peace that we have come to call in our tradition “the peace that passes all understanding.” If the disciples will look inward, Jesus urges, they will discover a shared peace that resides within them. Then they will seek to develop the peace - it is within their reach — and it is a way into wholeness in body, mind, soul, and spirit.
As I listened to Thondup, he was saying something very similiar. Anchor your mind, Thondup counselled, in “an awareness of peace.” Then your movements will be healthy and you will be a good member of society. If your mind is peace, it will become cleared of jealousy, greed, and negative emotions. Then the body will live in harmony.
Thondup admitted that it is difficult to explain but he assured us that we can experience this peace - this oneness, this unity. And furthermore, he explained, if we have an “awareness of peace,” we will have joy. Peace is the source of joy. And, if we have an awareness of joy, then we will have an awareness of strength.
In our Magdalene Community we often refer to the strength that Mary Magdalene embodies in her Gospel. There is the sense that her strength derives from her inward path into peace. She has looked inward to the Human One within herself. She has struggled through seven steps to clear her mind of the negative emotions, including “lethal jealousy,” attachments and wrath. Reunited with the divine peace within, she is loving and fearless and spiritually powerful. She is a model for all of us.
The weekend I spent with Tuklu Thondup deepened my understanding, not only of Tibetan Buddhism, but also of my own Christian tradition. Isn’t it wonderful when we can learn more about who we are and our own religious identity when we listen to those in other traditions? Somehow, hearing another perspecive sheds new light on our own experience. That weekend I spent with Tuklu Thondup helped me understand Christian spirituality more deeply. I’m quite sure that Thondup would be open to that result and happy for me. It’s not about competition.
