Creighton Lacy - "The Path of Enlightened Compassion" (May 30, 1965)

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	(soft music)	0:04
Narrator	The true light that enlightens every man	0:27
	was coming into the world.	0:30
	He was in the world and the world was made through him,	0:32
	Yet the world knew Him not.	0:36
	The current theological emphasis on dialogue with the world	0:40
	has its counterpart in contemporary theology of the	0:44
	Christian mission in conversation with other world faiths.	0:47
	It is well represented by a half dozen student	0:52
	Christian movement publications in the Christian	0:55
	presence series.	0:57
	That pray is the Christian presence is designed	1:00
	to convey the view that missionaries do not carry Christ	1:03
	to Patagonia or Zambia to Harlem or Appalachia.	1:07
	He is already there.	1:12
	Rather we go to witness to the love which God has revealed	1:15
	in Jesus Christ, and hopefully to demonstrate what God	1:18
	in Christ has done for our lives and can do for the world.	1:23
	There are very few theologians or religious leaders of any	1:30
	faith who today advocate a syncretistic blending	1:33
	of divergent creeds and practices.	1:37
	Ours is a pluralistic world in which most religions have	1:40
	accepted the state of peaceful coexistence,	1:44
	coupled with the determination to propagate their faith	1:48
	while protecting their people against undue proselytizing.	1:51
	For Christians to acknowledge that the world is not moving	1:57
	within foreseeable human history toward one inclusive	2:01
	faith, or even to admit that numerically speaking,	2:05
	the church is declining in relation to world population	2:09
	growth need not and should not undermine	2:13
	our sense of mission.	2:18
	But we are increasingly aware that the transformation	2:20
	or conversion, if you will,	2:24
	of individual lives and social institutions	2:26
	is as Paul Tillich said, the only valid proof of the	2:29
	universality of the Christian gospel, in a very real sense,	2:33
	the Christian presence is permeating the intellectual,	2:38
	cultural, even political life of many lands where baptism	2:42
	and church membership are at worst forbidden by law	2:47
	and at best regarded as divisive and unnecessary.	2:51
	This kind of influence and even mutual can take place only	2:56
	in a climate of openness and understanding, of tolerance	3:01
	which implies respect rather than indifference.	3:06
	Despite a debate I heard recently among some of my faculty	3:10
	colleagues, there is a significant difference between	3:14
	an attitude of inclusiveness and they reduction to the	3:17
	lowest common denominator.	3:21
	The great Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple	3:24
	once wrote, whatever thoughts any human soul	3:26
	is seeking to live by deserve the reverence	3:30
	of every other human soul.	3:34
	Everything men believed deeply is worth studying	3:36
	sympathetically and deeply.	3:40
	In that spirit, I invite you on a pilgrimage this morning	3:44
	to a Buddhist Temple almost anywhere in Northeast Asia.	3:47
	I entered a great cathedral where candles flickered in,	3:54
	but in all that massive stillness, I sought it in vain	3:58
	for him.	4:02
	I entered a pagan temple where Heathen masses drawn,	4:04
	but behind their superstitions, I found and worshiped God.	4:08
	Let us go into the house of the Lord Buddha	4:17
	not as curious tourists, but as seekers after Eternal truth.	4:20
	There will be no difficulty in getting in through	4:25
	the graceful gate, no Muslim will bet us remove our shoes	4:28
	or restrict our visit to certain times and places.	4:32
	No Jew will see that we wear our hats and separate us	4:36
	from the women.	4:39
	No Christian will look askance at shabby clothes	4:41
	or colored skin or steer us away from private pews.	4:45
	There is an unexpected piece in the temple courtyard	4:51
	pick eucalyptus branches,	4:55
	throw a welcome shade across antique stone benches.	4:56
	Along the outer walls, twist ancient Cyprus trees	5:00
	old in the days of Kublacon tending the air	5:03
	with a cool moist fragrance.	5:06
	The tides of commerce and humanity may serge	5:09
	to the very portals and hawkers shout their strings	5:12
	of spirit money.	5:16
	But once inside the temple grounds,	5:17
	we are not likely to find a den of thieves.	5:19
	Only a young acolyte with a handful of incense sticks	5:23
	and perhaps a priest to take orders for special prayers.	5:26
	Among the trees and in front of the priestly quarters,	5:32
	it may look to as if some careless neophyte	5:35
	has left the temple face clubs out to dry,	5:37
	closer inspection will reveal however that these faded	5:40
	squares of cloth once waved a few score characters	5:43
	and perhaps a colorful design.	5:47
	These are individual prayer sheets hung up so that the wind	5:50
	may carry their petitions to the spirit world.	5:54
	On a corner porch squats, a board young priest,	5:59
	the ritual scars still red across his shaven skull	6:02
	where six cones of incense burns slowly down to his scalp.	6:06
	Tediously he rotates a massive bronze drum	6:12
	and which are deposited hundreds of prayers for the faithful	6:15
	or those who can afford them.	6:18
	Nearby a few worshipers, less trustful of human mediation,	6:21
	where all their private hand wields each turn impressing	6:25
	on some distant God the words placed inside,	6:28
	perhaps 100 repetitions a minute.	6:32
	To these devices sound repulsive, sacrilegious	6:36
	perhaps, and Jed how many of all says poorly understand	6:41
	the meaning and method of prayer.	6:46
	How many of us hang out our prayers on public lines,	6:48
	more conscious of man's attention than of God's?	6:52
	How many of us repeat our prayers by physical road,	6:56
	confident that we shall be heard for our much speaking?	7:00
	Is this the way we fulfill Paul's admonition	7:04
	to pray without ceasing?	7:07
	Let us join the steady procession up the stone pathway	7:11
	to the main temple building, pilgrims flow in and out,	7:13
	perhaps an anxious mother sobbing softly,	7:18
	a rickshaw cruelly fingering is harder and pen is,	7:21
	a merchant showing off his new silk gown.	7:25
	Have you ever watched the worshipers hustle	7:30
	in the St. Patrick's Cathedral as if they had just	7:32
	15 minutes before a hairdressing appointment,	7:34
	or thought that by hurrying from the world's distractions,	7:38
	they could find greater peace within the sanctum?	7:41
	Orientals seldom rush calmly, casually	7:45
	without haste they approached the central shrine.	7:50
	If they stop for a chat that will be less audible,	7:54
	less prolonged, and probably less trivial than our own	7:57
	gossip outside of church or during the Oregon payload.	8:00
	These Buddhists like Roman Catholics around the world	8:05
	are coming to worship during the week.	8:09
	No regular prayer meeting draws them there by habit,	8:12
	not even social pressure or a pastoral call,	8:15
	they come with gratitude or petitions	8:18
	or some unconscious need, feeling a little closer there	8:23
	to the highest reality they know than at their own	8:27
	ancestral tablets or before they're ever watched	8:31
	full kitchen God.	8:34
	If we Protestants set foot in church on weekdays,	8:36
	it is for a potluck supper or a boy scout meeting,	8:39
	or a sewing circle.	8:42
	There may be beggars on the steps, filthy beggars,	8:46
	disease beggars, beggars from home we turn away	8:50
	and discussed.	8:53
	Three kinds of treatment are made it out to these wrecks	8:56
	of humanity.	8:58
	Some people stopped by with horrified plans,	9:00
	afraid to be contaminated.	9:03
	Besides it's common knowledge, that begging is a racket	9:05
	that many of these pitiful specimens are frauds.	9:08
	And that the beggar king is probably the wealthiest man	9:12
	in town.	9:15
	Others toss the careless coin into an outstretched hand	9:17
	as a social or religious duty.	9:20
	This is not merely Oriental accustom.	9:23
	The Saturday evening post was carried in appealing story	9:26
	about the Bishop's beggar, a cripple lad who in return	9:29
	for personal patronage satisfied the Episcopal conscience	9:32
	and impertinently kept the Bishop humble.	9:36
	Surely since everyone insight can recognize your superior	9:40
	wealth and position as a foreigner, you will not pass by	9:44
	without some slight display of generosity.	9:48
	You will receive the blessing of the Psalms,	9:52
	he hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor,	9:54
	his righteousness endures forever.	9:58
	But in Buddhist temples, as in Jewish synagogues	10:02
	and Christian churches, a few still give their widows might,	10:06
	a few still follow the good Samaritan,	10:11
	at least with a word of cheer or a sympathetic smile	10:13
	or a gift beyond their means, if not beyond their hearts.	10:17
	The gift without the giver is bare.	10:22
	Who gives himself with his arms feeds three,	10:25
	himself, his hungry neighbor and me.	10:29
	Yes, there may be beggars on the steps, dirty beggars,	10:34
	crippled beggars, beggars for whom Jesus would	10:40
	have stopped and talked and probably healed.	10:44
	Or that sound or the principle sanctuary, now,	10:51
	here are the senses are a sale by a host of distinctive	10:53
	impressions which become familiar and beloved to residents	10:56
	of the orient. One's eyes adjust only gradually to the gloom	11:00
	for the only light is from a few lamps and candles	11:04
	and the great open door, one's nostrils drink in the older	11:08
	of dozens of sweet incense sticks and the fainter	11:12
	musty smell of old and dusty wood.	11:15
	One's ears feel a slow and regular beat	11:19
	of a huge wooden drum in some dark corner	11:22
	and the accompanying Chad of 'Amituofo,'Amituofo,'Amituofo'	11:25
	in the termly recited.	11:30
	It is simply the Chinese version of AMITabha, The Lord Bada,	11:33
	whose attention must be held by constant reiteration	11:37
	of His name. But not everyone that says,	11:40
	Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.	11:43
	Directly in front of us gathering to himself,	11:49
	all of the meager daylight and much of the lamplight in the	11:52
	room sets the great Buddha himself, large and impressive	11:55
	He dwarfs all else in the room, and rightly so,	12:00
	his continence is always genial often with broad	12:04
	and undisguised laughter, his hands folded across	12:07
	his fat bear belly, he seemed to store down	12:11
	and benign amusement with the light at his feet.	12:13
	Only to very modern Asia are the peeling paint	12:17
	and the cracked wooden flesh symptoms of any organic	12:21
	weakness. Before him several worshipers kneel,	12:25
	toss their copper coins noisily into a wooden box	12:30
	and prostrate themselves, a few even thump their heads	12:34
	against the cold hard floor,	12:37
	do shutter at their excessive zeal,	12:41
	done remember how easily our own thoughts wander	12:44
	from the divine object of prayer, when we settle ourselves	12:46
	comfortably on cushion, pew was in warm chapels.	12:50
	The devout Buddha remains kneeling for many minutes	12:55
	or stands in an attitude of reverence for some time	12:58
	before turning away. Perhaps he returns with a candle	13:01
	or incense for the Lord Buddha,	13:06
	perhaps instead he carries them to the one	13:10
	of the lesser idols ranged along the sidewalls	13:12
	only in occasional flickering flame aids the diffused light	13:16
	in illuminating the many subordinate gods,	13:20
	yet they are worth your examination.	13:22
	Beneath the dust, you may discern gorgeously colored robes,	13:26
	hideously painted faces and vicious looking weapons.	13:30
	These imposing deities have each a specific responsibility,	13:34
	each a private field of life to bless or curse.	13:38
	That one with the cluster of candles is the God of wealth	13:43
	and the merchant there is probably asking good fortune	13:47
	and a new commercial venture.	13:50
	That ferocious one with the red face is the God of sickness.	13:53
	and you can guess the petition that the weeping mother.	13:57
	That idol with the hoe is the God of crops.	14:01
	How earnestly the humble farmer prays?	14:04
	No, you cannot sympathize with their theology,	14:10
	polytheism, idolatry, materialism, you'll call it.	14:13
	But don't assume that all these men and women are worshiping	14:17
	wood and clay and paint.	14:21
	These gods are symbols, personifications, representation's	14:23
	more real and meaningful than our pictures	14:30
	and statues perhaps, but symbols, nonetheless,	14:32
	agents of the divine power who can never be seen,	14:35
	for not even Amituofo is Supreme.	14:40
	He is only the chief incarnation of God,	14:43
	the creator and ruler of the universe.	14:46
	So distant from insignificant man that he can be approached	14:49
	only through these subordinate figures.	14:52
	Despite the humanism of the original Buddha who is called	14:56
	the enlightened one and above all the profits and disciples,	14:59
	and go to sods,	15:04
	Mahayana or Northern Buddhism like agnostic Confucianism	15:05
	acknowledges a universal reality beyond all human image	15:10
	or imagery, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent .	15:14
	The idea of a beyond is as valid in Buddhism	15:21
	as in Christianity says the new book	15:25
	in the Christian presence series.	15:27
	In the saintly Abbott, Sheila Yama who visited	15:30
	the Duke campus this spring, spoke of some ineffable power	15:32
	though he would not, or could not describe it.	15:37
	Let us visit last the shrine where this Supreme power	15:42
	touches the hearts of man.	15:46
	It is the order of Guanyin goddess of mercy who hears	15:49
	and answers the cries of the world.	15:52
	Directly behind the throne of the Buddha facing the	15:56
	rear door of the temple stands this graceful embodiment	15:59
	of all it is pure and holy and compassionate in this heathen	16:02
	religion. Guanyin, or Kwan Yin has a long	16:08
	and fascinating history. Her metamorphosis from a male	16:12
	Indian god is lost in antiquity.	16:16
	Her legends and physical representations are many.	16:19
	The significant fact is that from being a twin of Mahatma,	16:23
	God of justice, Guanyin has risen the heights far above	16:27
	any other Chinese or Japanese deity.	16:32
	Heights not up remoteness or aloofness, but of popularity	16:35
	and love. Some scholars find in her special ritual	16:39
	elements of the Christian faith.	16:44
	More likely the connection is the common bond that unites	16:47
	humanity and the worship of the pure, the gentle,	16:50
	the forgiving. Look reverently then at the goddess of mercy,	16:54
	standing on the sacred Lotus and holding a Willow branch	16:59
	symbol of rain and healing and a vase of heavenly dew	17:03
	from which she pores immortality and peace.	17:08
	These devout worshipers may have left formal petitions	17:13
	elsewhere in the temple, but here, if nowhere else,	17:16
	their hearts are lifted in genuine adoration and prayer.	17:19
	As the all compassionate, uncreated Royal Savior,	17:23
	Guanyin has special responsibility for granting	17:28
	and protecting children but to her come all the deepest	17:31
	longings of the soul, the intimate secret desires	17:35
	for this life and the next.	17:39
	Her legendary death by mutilation to save her father was	17:42
	narrower than the sacrifice on the cross, but in many forms,	17:46
	she continues to live on earth because she has sworn never	17:51
	to under have on herself until the last suffer has been	17:54
	rescued and received into the Western paradise.	17:59
	It is said that the vilest center would be spared if he's so	18:03
	much as breath, her holy name,	18:06
	but the fires would not burn nor floods drought,	18:08
	but the sides would break in midair,	18:12
	the prisoners of the body or spirit would be released	18:14
	from jails or from carnal desires.	18:17
	The merit of by worship of Budidah, a number his sands	18:21
	of 62 Cody's of Ganges just equals the merit of him	18:26
	who but for one moment worshiped the regarder of the cries	18:30
	of the world says the Buddhist scripture,	18:33
	the Lotus of the wonderful law, has no other God in Oriental	18:36
	religions, Guanyin has filled the people with faith	18:41
	and a personal intercession on their behalf,	18:44
	a gentle and understanding mediation for them at the distant	18:48
	throne of Amituofu.	18:52
	She is the Virgin Mary of Buddhism.	18:54
	She wrestles with no theological arguments.	18:57
	She wages no political battles but unlike our own savior	19:01
	Jesus Christ, Guanyin has demonstrated that mercy	19:06
	goes beyond justice and that it reaches down to the lowest	19:09
	member of mankind.	19:13
	Look closely then at the kneeling worshipers	19:18
	before her shrine, the consumptive Rickshaw Coolie,	19:20
	the jaded concubine, the peasant woman great with child.	19:24
	All they that labor and are heavy Laden have come to cast	19:29
	their burdens before their Lord.	19:33
	Here is no dangerous sin criticism abhorrent to the Orthodox	19:36
	among you.	19:40
	Here is no pagan idolatry to be violently uprooted	19:41
	from heathen hearts.	19:45
	Here is a universal worship, at a universal shrine.	19:47
	To Protestants, the Virgin Mary is as alien as Guanyin,	19:53
	yet the yearning for love and compassion is common to all	19:56
	Today, when the rioters shout and the bombs explode	20:02
	outside the temple walls, more than ever,	20:06
	we need the blessing of one who hears	20:09
	and answers the cries of the world.	20:11
	If we do not feel the impulse to bend our knees	20:15
	before a pagan altar, at least we can bow our hearts	20:18
	and share this piece with these simple people.	20:22
	As Jacob discovered beside a pre-Christian pile of stones,	20:26
	surely the Lord is in this place. And I knew it not.	20:30
	This is none other than the house of God.	20:35
	And this is the gate of heaven.	20:38
	Is there anything more to be said than the God speaks	20:42
	to His children in many different ways, that he has planted	20:45
	compassion and a search for serenity in every human heart.	20:48
	Gardini and a book entitled simply the Lord, asserts,	20:55
	there is only one whom we might be inclined	20:59
	to compare with Jesus, Buddha.	21:01
	His kindness was powerful as a cosmic force,	21:04
	but Gardini goes on to admit there is a limit to man's	21:09
	possibilities.	21:14
	He can affect only things within the world.	21:15
	He cannot change the world as a whole for he is part of it.	21:18
	And only Buddha tried to go further.	21:23
	He attempted the inconceivable himself part of existence.	21:26
	He tried to lift all existence by its bootstraps,	21:31
	both Buddhists and Christians believe in the necessity	21:37
	for a new birth. To the original Garden Buddha,	21:41
	this is a self-centered solitary struggle	21:45
	for most men, an unsuccessful line.	21:49
	That is presumably why the whole system of saints	21:53
	and symbols and saviors arose in Mahayana Buddhism,	21:55
	why Guanyin became the beloved media tricks.	21:59
	As rebels against tradition and authority where you too long	22:04
	to be self-sufficient instead of dependent,	22:08
	we welcome the assurance of Appleton in the Christian	22:11
	presence volume on the eightfold path.	22:14
	But Buddhism is a religion which emphasizes deeds	22:17
	rather than creeds.	22:21
	Christianity too in its earliest and purist forms emphasizes	22:25
	deeds rather than creeds.	22:30
	In many parts of the world today, our Christian faith	22:33
	is rejected precisely because of the chasm	22:36
	between theory and practice.	22:39
	As Louis Fischer wrote of Mahatma Gandhi,	22:42
	missionaries frequently tried to convert him	22:45
	to Christianity.	22:47
	He speaking softly tried to do the same for them.	22:49
	What we fail to remember as often as our critics do,	22:55
	is that the Christian gospel stresses, first of all,	22:59
	the deeds of God, rather than man,	23:02
	we love because He first loved us.	23:07
	In this conviction, true Christians find the basis for all	23:12
	their beliefs and actions.	23:16
	However, unworldly we may fall short.	23:18
	For this conviction, Buddhist seek in vain.	23:22
	It is significant up beneath the two modern suffering	23:27
	in Vietnam today, there is going on a metaphysical debate	23:31
	as to whether the burning of priests,	23:35
	the participation in political affairs is consistent	23:37
	with Buddhist teachings and let it be admitted that not all	23:40
	Christians are yet convinced that their faith calls them	23:44
	to involvement in the world.	23:48
	Whatever the danger is of anthropomorphism against which	23:52
	Bishop Robinson rightly warns, a God in some sense,	23:55
	personal gives meaning to selfhood for a Christian.	24:00
	At the same time, a God who is love as well as wisdom	24:06
	or enlightenment lifts us beyond ourselves to salvation	24:10
	by grace and to service in faith.	24:15
	If others are to find the Christian presence	24:21
	in a Buddhist Monastery or an urban slum,	24:24
	it will happen when we, as Christians are there with them	24:28
	showing the enlightenment and the beauty and compassion,	24:32
	which we, and they can share because God	24:38
	has already shared His love supremely in Jesus Christ.	24:42
	Let us pray.	24:50
	Oh God who aren't the God of every man Thomas given in many	24:58
	times and places and enlightenment for the human mind	25:02
	compassion and the human heart,	25:06
	help us to see the at work in strange and unexpected ways.	25:09
	We thank thee for the assurance that thou has so loved	25:14
	the world as to send they own son Jesus Christ	25:17
	that through His grace and power, not our own,	25:22
	we are enabled not to escape from life,	25:26
	but to love and to serve.	25:29
	We pray in the name of one who hears and answers the cries	25:32
	of the world. Even Jesus Christ Our Lord,	25:36
	Now, may grace, mercy and peace from God, the father,	25:41
	son, and holy spirit be with you all.	25:47

Item Info

Title:

Creighton Lacy - "The Path of Enlightened Compassion" (May 30, 1965)

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4pv6g811

Date:

May 30, 1965

Speaker:

Lacy, Creighton

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Duke University. Chapel

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UA.17.01.0003 RR-0299
ref5803_a65
uachapelsermaud
duke:628411
dcrau002298
ark:/87924/r4pv6g811
0d21cc1b-46cf-444a-ae09-e3cda3f1799a

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Creighton Lacy - "The Path of Enlightened Compassion" (May 30, 1965)

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