Jesus Teaches the Dharma
An excerpt from The Gospel of Thomas (the Younger)
In the mornings, Jesus would usually have us sit with him in a circle somewhere outside. He would listen to complaints, comment on what had happened recently, and then pray his short prayer aloud. Then he would ask us to sit quietly with our eyes closed and “lean across the threshold into the ever-present Realm of God.”
Early on, my uncle Thomas asked him what he meant by God’s Realm.
Jesus said, “It is the place where all peace resides. It is not a kingdom of lands. How could it be here, in our presence, if it were? Rome rules everywhere we know of on earth. It is not a physical place.
“What does God encompass? Everything. In all directions. All that is, for all time. All that will be. Eternity. And the realm of the eternal and the all-encompassing is right here in our presence; it is within us, if we only recognize it.
“What keeps us from seeing and recognizing it is our selfishness. We are too focused on our own concerns to recognize what is right here within and around us. If we can put aside our self-concern, stop clinging to what we want, what we do not want, we can recognize this greater reality, the infinite richness and complexity of every moment.
“The Torah says: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ [Leviticus 19:18].
“In a way, the second commandment is embodied in the first. How could one love God with all one’s heart, soul, and mind without loving every bit of His Creation…which includes one’s neighbor, and oneself?
“But how do we love God with all our minds? Is the scripture merely calling us to try to think in ways God would have us think as we move through life?
“Yes, but I think it also calls us to practice for a while each day, emptying our minds of all our selfish concerns, and concentrating just on offering this love while abiding in God’s Realm. This is the source of all peace.”
So we would give it a try each day. And I found some moments of peace doing this. Not always. Sometimes I would have an itch that would drive me to distraction. Sometimes a fly would buzz around my face or land on my nose. Hard to keep your mind on Eternity with that going on. But we would practice this every day.
He would say, “The Realm of God is like a mustard seed. It is a tiny thing, but planted in good earth and nourished, it grows into a strong plant that can take over a whole field. Find the Realm of God in yourself, just a bit at first, nourish it, and it can change your world.”
We would end each morning session with Jesus giving each of us what I came to think of as The Look. We would continue to sit silently, but now we would open our eyes and gaze at him. He would go around the circle, turning his gaze for a few minutes on each of us, in turn. When his gaze met mine, I would invariably feel a surge of energy, peace, and well-being. I would try to widen my smile, but my face would be frozen in a breathless bliss. What did he have that could do that to me? Sure, I loved him, yes, as we all did. But it was not just my emotions. He was projecting something that I was receiving. A power.
I have only experienced something like that one other time in my life. Years ago, while traveling in Phrygia, I met a man who had come from somewhere far east of Parthia. I remember he had a shaved head that he kept uncovered despite the cold. He was a kindly man with no pretension about him. He had no Greek, and I had no Pahlavi [Middle Persian], but we managed to converse with the help of some others who could just barely translate. One night, we sat across a campfire, and at one point when I was telling him about Jesus, this man gave me The Look. I felt that same surge of energy, peace, and well-being. I basked in it. It brought tears to my eyes, and it struck me how much I missed Jesus and those times. I tried to ask the man what he was doing to me, but the language barrier and the unaware translators prevented me from getting an explanation. As I retired that night, he stood, approached me, clasped my hand, and patted my shoulder, smiling.
The next day, we parted company, and I traveled on to eventually find my uncle Thomas in Ancyra [Turkey] where he was spreading the teachings of Jesus. That was the last time I ever saw my uncle. (He later traveled on into Parthia, and farther east, teaching Jesus’s message.) And I never saw the eastern man again, either.
As we moved around the country, Jesus performed more interesting deeds like the ones I have described. He used his power and moral authority to remove demons from raving people. He promised healings to those who were burdened physically or mentally by their own belief in their unworthiness — but only if they trusted his faith in their worthiness.
Rumors came back to us that he had raised people from the dead. I never saw this, nor heard of it from an eyewitness. When asked about it, he would always say, “Join us, live as we do, and your old, dead life will be made new.”
Occasionally, someone would suggest that he was the long promised Messiah [Translation: “Anointed one”]. He would always tell them he appreciated their confidence in him, but please do not spread that around. “I want to guide people to the Realm of God. That is my purpose.”
Some would ask him, when will the Realm of God descend upon us? He would answer, “The Realm of God will not come visibly, nor will people say ‘Look, here it is’ or ‘There it is’ because the Realm of God is within you. It is right here among you” [Luke 17:20].
Learn more at www.garytmcdonald.com
“An inherently fascinating and deftly crafted work of truly memorable fiction, The Gospel Of Thomas The Younger is an extraordinary novel by an extraordinary writer and unreservedly recommended…”
― Midwest Book Review
“A convincing faux gospel that challenges orthodoxy. Thomas traverses his world encountering First Century figures from Jesus to Nero bringing his times and the origins of Christianity alive in a fresh, new way with wry humor and exciting storytelling.”
―Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump
“Gary T. McDonald is a born storyteller, and his research is impeccable. The book is fascinating from beginning to end, and his long-overdue, iconoclastic portrait of the Apostle Paul made me stand up and cheer.”
―Lewis Shiner, author of Glimpses