To be Reborn in the Spirit of the Buddha 

Every day should be a re-Birth day, in spirit, not DNA. And, as much as I hate to get involved in the Buddhist rebirth debates and disputes, I’ll have to say that I probably like the Christian use of that term ‘reborn’ more than I like the Buddhist flirtation with Hindu reincarnation. Because the Christian usage is almost always phrased as ‘reborn in the spirit of the Lord’ or something like that, which seems healthy, not superstitious. It might even be for Christians what mindfulness is for Buddhists, a simple way of being, more than anything else. 

The Tibetans don’t even pretend otherwise, of course, as they scour the countrysides looking for someone who looks a lot like what a Dalai Lama should look like, while the Mahayanists settle for multiple Buddhist manifestations presumably emanating from some eternal source, and the occasional black-belt Bodhisattva who will assert himself on the field of spiritual battle to prove that such a thing is still possible, the rare individual doing what enlightened beings do, saving the world and making it better for others.  

But leave it to the Theravadins to do what Buddha himself did, training himself to a fine fit of a spiritual soldier, ready to forego random desires and craven cravings in order to reduce suffering in the long run and promote inner peace in the short run. And leave it to the Theravadins to walk for months nonstop, too, to promote world peace. That’s what the Buddha would do. Note: I support all schools and sects of Buddhism, but I’m especially proud of Thai Theravadins right now. They’ve truly shown the world something with their Walking for Peace…