(
BBC Four)
Anglican priest Pete Owen-Jones hosts the BBC’s “Extreme Pilgrim”
program. Owen-Jones is the vicar of a parish in Sussex, England.
This
three-part documentary follows him on
a search for meaning through
extreme ascetic practices of several religions, including Zen Buddhism
(Japanese), Kung Fu (an offshoot of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism),
Hinduism, and Christianity.
Although
the Buddha realized that
self-mortification was not the path to freedom and happiness,these practices have never fallen out of favor.
Practitioners have yet to
realize what finally dawned on the seeker Siddhartha under the Bodhi
tree.
The path to liberation, the path of purification, is more
heart-centered and mental than physical.
The body is not to blame for
the sources of hidden motivation behind our actions (karma). The
resolution is going inward rather than obsessing on punishing/tormenting
the outward.
The body may be brought into complete submission, yet a
defiled heart/mind will soon move one again to the edge of ruin.
Conversely, while standing in the muck, one may rise above the din by
attending to the defilement that springs within.
Like a lotus shooting
skyward toward the light while still rooted in fertilizer-mud and murky
water, having found the actual source of our ills, one transcends
suffering.
Stop. Soften. Be still. Touch the bliss -- remembering that "there is no 'path to happiness'; happiness IS the path!"
Develop liberating-insight based on this tranquility. Awaken.
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