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Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

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disciples then, nor the Christian West until recently,<br />

were spiritually mature enough to underst<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> profit<br />

from the teachings of the Buddha. His disciples<br />

expected to be told about an almighty God in the<br />

tradition of Jehovah, <strong>and</strong> Western countries up to 100<br />

years ago were still rigidly bound to the dogmas of the<br />

Christian churches <strong>and</strong> could not think of religion apart<br />

from such concepts as God the Father, Jesus Christ the<br />

Savior, the Holy Ghost, the Trinity, <strong>and</strong> the "Book of<br />

Books"—the Bible. Now horizons are wider <strong>and</strong> some<br />

people feel dissatisfied with the limited teachings of<br />

Jesus preserved by the Christian churches.<br />

In the light of this, not only <strong>Buddhist</strong>s, but Christians<br />

also should try to re-estimate the value of Christ's<br />

religion (as we have suggested in Chapter VII, B).<br />

Reassessment of values, of course, alters the status of<br />

the absolute God considerably <strong>and</strong> shows that he is in<br />

the same position as the many powerful but transient<br />

deities in the various heavens.<br />

Quite different is the position of the Dharmakaya <strong>and</strong> its<br />

relation to this small world, one of many in a celestial<br />

group. The all-pervading Dharmakaya is not limited by<br />

anything <strong>and</strong> this planet, for thous<strong>and</strong>s of years known<br />

to <strong>Buddhist</strong> cosmology as minute, is now confirmed by<br />

science to be a mere speck of matter. How could there<br />

be any part of this tiny mote where the Dharmakaya is<br />

not present? One must conclude that the Western<br />

continents are not beyond the range of the Dharmakaya,<br />

663

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