A few pages into Living Buddha, Living Christ, Thich Nhat Hanh writes, "On the altar in my hermitage in France are images of Buddha and Jesus, and every time I light incense, I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors. I can do this because of contact with these real Christians." (p. 6) He observes that we learn things about our own faith when we have a relationship with a person who is serious in the practice of their own religion. He states, "When those who represent a spiritual tradition embody the essence of their tradition, just the way they walk, sit, and smile speaks volumes about the tradition." (p. 7)
Some years ago, a parishioner told me the story of a church that he once attended. He swore it was a true story. The church, he said, decided that it was time to replace the carpeting in its sanctuary. and the members proceeded to divide themselves into the reds and the browns (or whatever the colors were). According to his story, several families from the losing faction left their church because they couldn't abide the color of the new carpeting. One shudders to think of the angry telephone calls, resentments and grudges cultivated, and sleepless nights devoted to an apparently trivial issue. More to the point, it is sad to think of how that fight reflected on Christ. Thich Nhat Hanh makes an important point, which is that in our daily lives those of us who consider themselves followers of Christ embody him for others. Those around us meet him in us. In one sense, we are the living Christ. The upside is when we introduce the living Jesus to a practicing Buddhist neighbor in such a way that our neighbor can see in Jesus a "spiritual ancestor." The downside is what happens to the living Christ when we fight about carpets. It's almost like we put him back on the cross again.
