The Zen Teachings of Jesus by Kenneth S. Leong

Author:Kenneth S. Leong
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crossroad Publishing Company

— Eight —

Faith

The kingdom of God is within you.

– JESUS

Religion cannot be found in the temples and monasteries; it has to be found in people’s hearts. . . . Perhaps one day we have to demolish the temples and monasteries in order to save religion.

– THE FOURTEENTH DALAI LAMA

Have you heard of the Temple of the Broken Gods? There is indeed such a temple in Taiwan. A compassionate Buddhist monk set it up to serve as a sanctuary for the “gods” people have abandoned. Many are images of Chinese folk gods; some are statues of the Buddhist bodhisattvas (enlightened sentient beings); others are the images of Taoist immortals. All of these “broken gods” met the same humbling fate of being thrown into the garbage pile. They are the live testimonies of how ugly “faith” can get when it becomes an expression of the ego.

As we mentioned earlier, the Chinese tend to be superstitious and materialistic. Religious sentiment, in the Western sense, has been lacking at the grassroots level. Many Chinese approach their “gods” for pragmatic reasons: to divine the future, to obtain blessings in worldly matters, to be cured, to get protection from evil spirits, etc. They do not so much worship their gods as they try to use them. Before a gambler visits the gambling place, for example, he may go to the temple to make a wish, which is effectively a deal, with his god. In exchange for his god’s blessing, he promises to come back with big sacrifices if he wins. But if he loses, well. . . . The Temple of Broken Gods gives you a good idea of what happens in that case: we have decapitated gods, gods missing an arm, and gods who are chopped in half by one angry stroke!

I grew up with this kind of cultural background in Hong Kong, so perhaps you can understand why I tend to be allergic to this whole “faith business.” For a long time, “faith” meant only two things to me: cosmeticized greed or cosmeticized fear. The Chinese may be an extreme case, but it seems fair to say that there is always a trace of “spiritual materialism” in any religion — folk religions, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and Christianity. If there is any difference at all, it is only a matter of degree.

I was brought up as an Anglican. Though I was baptized as a child, I was never confirmed. My Christian friends are mostly Baptists with strong evangelical inclinations. When I am around them, I sense a dark element in their faith: fear. A Christian friend once said to me earnestly: “Ken, if you do not accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you are liable to hell-fire. You may find it highly doubtful that there is indeed a hell in the afterlife, but why take the risk? It doesn’t cost you anything to believe in Jesus, you know.”

I call this line of argument “the free insurance approach.” It is clever, but it turns me off.

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