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.
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April 18th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
These two translations of the same verse seem to me to be saying two very different things:
“Peace be with you — may my Peace arise and be fulfilled within you!”
“Peace be with you — acquire my Peace within yourselves.”
The first version implies that the peace comes from within, waiting only to arise and be fulfilled within us.
The second version gives the impression that this peace comes from outside ourselves and must be “acquired.”
I think our Tibetan Buddhist brothers and sisters would prefer the first version (as I do).
April 20th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Darrell, thank you for this insight.
I failed to mention the translators: the first is from Jean-Yves Leloup and the second is from Karen King. I love it when we have different translations - two versions alongside each other offer much to think about.
I find the first version more in keeping with what might be called a spirituality of grace. It focuses on what is given and not something to be acquired. Jesus seems to be saying that Peace is with us in our being. We carry the potential for this Peace within us though we may not yet be awake to it. When we begin to recognize this treasure within (this pearl, this grain of wheat), we can help bring it to bloom. There is always a mystery involved in our spiritual growth, including how we became aware of the Peace in the first place.
As you say, the second version gives the impression that this peace must be acquired from outside ourselves. In this Gospel Jesus is very clear that we are to look within for the Peace - not over here or over there - but within. And when we discover this peace within, we are to follow it.
I would also mention Levi’s last remarks - note in the King translation that we should “clothe” ourselves with the Perfect Human, acquire it for ourselves as he commanded us. Leloup says “Let us grow as he demanded us.” We can say that the translators are consistent! DeBoer seems to be somewhere in between the two: “clothe ourselves with the Perfect Human. Let us bring him forth, as he commanded us.”
Interesting differences.