As I have followed this battle of Brit vs. the Buddha, I have found myself returning to the story of the Buddha himself, who in his youth led an existence eerily reminiscent of the life of Tiger Woods. He was rich and powerful and lived a private life in a grand palace with a beautiful wife and a beloved son. And for a time, he thought he was happy. But after a while, he realized that no amount of money or power or sex could bring him true happiness. So he left his wife and his child and his palace to seek the source of human suffering. This might seem selfish, but his goal was to find a path that could alleviate the suffering of all of humanity. And one day, according to Buddhists, he did just that. While sitting under a Bodhi tree, he saw that suffering is rooted in a combination of ego and ignorance, and he learned how to uproot both through meditation.
Tiger Woods might well have something to learn from Christianity, and soon enough we might well see him engage in what historian Susan Wise Bauer has called “the art of the public grovel,” complete with Jimmy Swaggart’s tears, Bill Clinton’s confession and Ted Haggard’s repentance. But Brit Hume clearly has something to learn from Buddhism, too, not least that there is more than one way to make yourself new.
1. Indeed. Prothero’s article doesn’t deal with the reality that abandoning his children and his wife is what Tiger has already done and it’s not the solution but the catastrophic center of his failing.
2. You can almost smell the dinner party distaste. If the christian faith is truthful, as I trust, then asking for God’s help to turn from his sin is the very thing most needful for Tiger. We Christians normally call it repenting and in my experience it may be arduous but is utterly amazing. God is so wonderful. “Turn, then, and live” (Ezekiel 18: 32). How weird that from Mr. Prothero’s seat at the top table, this offer of life looks so disgusting. Given that repentance is apparently out of the question, perhaps more meditation on the desire in him that is causing this disagreeable reaction would be fruitful?
#1 – good catch.
In sitting under a bodhi tree, living in a desert cave, or being bricked up in a monastic cell, almost anyone can eventually get in contact with God or the devil.
The key to Peace is finding God in the midst of everyday life, and discerning God’s comforting Words from the pseudo-comforting words of the devil. Then, putting God’s Word into action.
I’m not sure that TW has yet reached a stage of true repentance. Lust is a powerful driving force.
“Leaving his wife … this might seem selfish, but his goal was to find a path that could alleviate the suffering of all humanity.” I don’t know whether this is an accurate statement of what the Buddha did, but it certainly has a modern utopian ring.
“…many Buddhists take solace in what they call transfer of merit, which means that there are god-like beings who, if we turn to them in devotion, will use their vast storehouses of good karma to wipe our slates clean.” Interesting. I don’t know where he get that. But, in Roman Catholicism there is a storehouse of merit from which credit can be drawn. Those are called Indulgences.
“there is more than one way to make yourself new” (Prothero)
Sure, but is there more than one way into heaven? (Hypothetical)
TW does not seem to have drawn much on what Buddhism has to offer – the quest for the cessation of desire etc – so maybe he could consider another way such as in Christ.
btw, I heard that he had been baptized in the Episcopal Church as an infant!
Oh, and in Tibet and Japan (I don’t know about China), it’s well known that monks have certain kind of sexual relations with each other that doesn’t include intercourse, since that’s forbidden, as is any and all sexual relations with women. The guy who wrote this doesn’t know his stuff.
re: 8
Although I also do not know about China, the statement that mainstream Buddhist monks in Tibet and Japan have certain kinds of sexual relations with each other is false if you mean that it is allowed/approved.
It will no doubt be interesting to read SP’s forthcoming book, God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter. It might be even better to mail him a copy of Ravi Zacharias’s The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus talks with Buddha … TW too for that matter!