Vol. 10. December 8, 2020
And lo! the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were afraid. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not. For behold, I bring you tidings of great joy. For unto you was born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger.”
Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven. And peace to people on earth.” Luke, Ch 2.9-14
In Christian belief, Jesus experienced a virgin birth.
In Buddhist belief, the Buddha also experienced a virgin birth.
Jesus and the Buddha, of course, where both born physically. They were humans just like you and me. So why are their birth stories depicted as non-physical? Because virgin birth is a metaphor. Virgin birth symbolizes the birth of the spiritual life.
In Buddhism, we give birth to the spiritual life when we realize there is no individual in matter.
The dualism of Ignorance and Enlightenment made this world. Beyond that is the realm of the Buddha, the indescribable void.
There’s no individual you suffering in samsara. There’s no individual you entering nirvana.
The Buddha neither makes the world nor destroys it. He is beyond the chain of causation.
Ignorance and Enlightenment are merely words representing the absence of the other.
In reality, All is one. All is empty. All is the diamond crystalline void.
Non-duality
The Buddha abides in non-duality, free from arbitrary conceptions, like Jesus/Buddha, hot/cold, enlightenment/ignorance, birth/death.
Dualism made the world. But it took place in the Buddha’s womb. In that womb, ignorance and enlightenment exist due to our conceptual battle. In truth, they are empty. As are we.
Sentient beings, imprisoned in form, dead in dualism, ignorant of enlightenment, do not realize all things are different forms of the same thing, which is empty, yet full, yet neither, yet both.
Selfhood is a product of karma. Selfhood is a Thanksgiving leftover, a wood chip hacked off a chopped down Christmas tree. Selfhood is automatically produced by karma.
When a Black man is gunned down in the streets of Chicago, he leaves an imprint that makes President Joe Biden. Some person died long ago and that cheerful, intelligent spirit gave form to me. But there is no individual in matter.
There’s only the Unity. The Undisturbed Unity.
The Don’t-Worry-All-Is-Well Wonder of the Universe.
That’s the virgin birth.
That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.
The Buddha Times 