Imaging the Kingdom of Heaven

"When you enter into my Kingdom." --Bible, Matthew Chapter 18

Many write, speak and think of the "kingdom of heaven" as a concrete afterlife place; they believe that the Christ's teaching was geared to the how and why of getting there. In doing so, many miss the perhaps most obvious and subtle of points. Jesus, the Christ was a Jew and the Jews of the time did not espouse a concept of heaven as a place. Their spirituality called for good works performed on earth, and earth as the kingdom of heaven. Indeed it is the place where the Bible describes the Garden of Eden.

Must we work on earth so as to ascend to a place called heaven? No, suggests author Thomas Moore, in his book, Writing in the Sand: Jesus and the Soul of the Gospels. Moore writes of the kingdom of heaven as the center of the gospels intention, and of Jesus' teaching. He writes, "it is woven into all the stories and teachings."
Your response to those teachings, or lack of it directly corresponds to your understanding about living the kingdom. In reading the bible stories one learns that Jesus' view was that the kingdom "is at hand," that we are surrounded by it. This is to say that the Kingdom of Heaven is on earth, in keeping with the beliefs of Judaism.

In Judeo-Christian belief, what we learn about the kingdom through our life experiences, is what we then share and live in both a mystical and everyday way through our actions, and behaviors as well as our prayer. The Kingdom in this view is in you. "When you enter into my kingdom" is a strong message to all who consider the Christ message. It does not suggest if or maybe; it suggests when and it suggests life. We all learn lessons of love and pain; there is bitterness and joy in all lives. We seek our meaning in life, and we share our fruits with others.

If one does otherwise and expresses a tendency to zealotry, "not just about religion but about everything in life, he is easily thrown into deep confusion and depression... there was hope for them when they could laugh at the contradictions in their lives," writes Moore. He explains that when we doggedly hang onto our usual ideas and images of our self and our lives, passionate to find ways of making sense of it all, some do forget that life is complex, subtle; our spirituality needs to reflect that. Otherwise we may find our self in a very brittle position, neurotic and pained.

Many do not appreciate the extreme, radical nature of the Christ's call. It's a call to be more than to believe, and that's hard to do, especially in the modern world. The potential believers do not image it, they do not see who Jesus stood for or why he stood at all. These are radical questions that millenia has grappled with. The mystery of Jesus is the equal mystery of the kingdom. In Jesus' world, the kingdom is on earth, it is living, breathing, real, the now. It calls for all, demands all, gives all and forgives. In Jesus' kingdom Moore writes, there is " a place of bliss and idealistic values. The Gospels suggest it is more important to enter that kingdom than to [simply] live a good life."

Mahayana and the Will of the Dharmakaya

"Dharmakaya directs the course of the Universe, not blindly, but rationally." --Suzuki

In summary, Suzuki reflects that there are three essential aspects to that which is called Dharmakaya. Ultimately we are led into the teaching of the Trikaya, a sort of three-in-one, a trinity.
In the religious consciousness, there is intelligence (prajna), love (karuna), and the will (pranidhanabala). With intelligence, the Dharamakaya directs the progression of the universe--not blindly, but rationally. With love, because Dharmakaya embraces all beings "with a tender, fatherly love." Thirdly, Mahayanists suppose that its work is also accomplished with will, because it has been firmly set down that the Dharmakaya chief aim is for the good, a good which holds as its final goal, the conversion of all evil in the universe.
These evils, in the will of the Dharmakaya, shall be brought forth into the light of dharmakaya; they shall know his fatherly will, with which love and intelligence in their own being shall be realized unto they become at one with the will of the Dharmakaya. "Without the will, love and intelligence will not be realized; without love, the will and intelligence lose their impulse; without intelligence, love and will are irrational. In fact, all three are essential coordinates of the Dharmakaya and constitute the Oneness."

In other sects and denominations, some Buddhists may not agree with this view of the will. When rendered or understood literally or fundamentally, the inner significance, the working of the Dharmakaya is totally ignored. Yet the Dharmakaya is without a partial, fragmentary borrowing or knowledge as exists in other beings; thus Mahayanists are quite forthright in recognizing its completeness in both knowledge and will. Dharmakaya is wholeness, or oneness itself. What is done by the Dharmakaya is "done by its own free will, with intelligence and love, independent of all the determinations that might affect it from outside."

Those practitioners who recognize this free and creative will, especially those of the Sukhavati sect, recognize the presence of an all powerful, all encompassing will, embracing in love with all knowing intelligence, and they want to present it more concretely, more humanly, so that other practitioners may come to see beyond the clouds which obscure the vision.

A great Mahayana sutra says of love (karuna):

"With one great, loving heart
The thirsty desires of all beings
he quenches with coolness,
refreshing;

With compassion, of all he thinks,
which like space, knows no bounds;
Over all the world's creation
With no thought of particularly, he reviews .

With a great heart, compassionate and loving,
All sentient beings are embraced by him;
With means (upaya) pure, free from stain, and all
excellent,

He delivers and saves all creatures, innumerable.
With unfathomable love, and with compassion
All creations are caressed by him universally;
Yet his heart is free from attachment.

As his compassion is great and infinite,
He confers Bliss, unearthly, upon each and every being,
And shows himself all over the universe;
Until all attain Buddhahood, he'll not rest."

--"On Merit," the Avatamsaka (Lotus) Sutra
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