Enlightened by Love and Sacrifice: An excerpt from Leaving Buddha
“No,” I said, instinctively knowing that I somehow needed to protect Peema’s identity.
“Never speak to the Christians. They will suck the prana, the energy source that flows through all living things, from your soul. In Tibet, prana flows like streams of living water over the mountains and saturates every living being with internal channels of power. Prana is the life force of the body and the wind in the mind found in all living creatures. Prana carries us from origin to our destination. Prana gives us breath from karma to karma. Prana allows us to visit loka in the underworld or obtain the advice of the gods. Those who harness the power of prana are able to levitate, fly, or do other superhuman acts.
The Himalayas, on the southern rim of the Tibetan plateau.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
“Prana isn’t just a power that gives life—it is the breath of life. It feeds off of our mantras. It grows from our prayers. It has its foundation in the reading aloud of holy texts. As your master, I pass on my prana to you and you pass it on to others, but Christians have a mystical power source that interrupts the flow of prana. Christians take away your power and strip you of your prana. Stay away from them and do not listen to their words.”
“Couldn’t we expose the fallacy with a simple debate?”
The teacher’s head whipped around, and he glared at me. “Do not play with Jesus, boy! He is more deadly than Mara and will keep you from enlightenment. Mara only has the power to trick you out of your prana, but Jesus can take it away. Mara can conquer you with darkness, but Jesus will conquer you with light. Unlike Mara, Jesus can control the life force of your jiva. I have seen it. I have seen the power of those who follow Jesus.”
Chills shivered down my spine at the thought of a force more intimidating than Mara.
“Jesus and his followers destroy the entire order of all that we know,” he continued.
“How?” I asked.
He puffed at me as if my question annoyed him. He seemed a bit miffed that I didn’t know exactly what he was talking about, but I didn’t. I honestly didn’t know how one god—one that I had never heard of—could disrupt the entire order of heaven and earth.
“The loka of the underworld do not trifle with Jesus. We should not even be discussing him. Talking about him gives him power. He disrupts the entire order of all that we know, because he can overpower the loka of the underworld and the gods that lead us to enlightenment. He destroys the Middle Way. Even Yama, the lord of death, leaves him alone, because Jesus would release the spirits from their bondage and turn them loose! If a spirit escapes the bondage of Yama before their time to be released, they can go in between the different realms and wreak havoc on us all.”
I was dumbfounded at what he was telling me.
“If Jesus is so dangerous, Teacher, why have I never heard about him before? Wouldn’t it be better to warn others about his danger so that we can better prepare against him?”
The teacher laughed. “You don’t prevent the spread of a virus by bringing it to your home and evaluating it. You keep it as far from you and your family as possible. And you don’t bring Jesus to your temple to evaluate his dangers! You keep his name as far from your students as possible. You lock him out. Unlike the other gods, Jesus is given power through sharing about him. He is like a deadly virus—by the time you realize how deadly he is, he has already infected everyone in your home.
Category: Fall 2019, Living the Faith
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