Religious People Not Admitted
Religious People Not Admitted
In front of movie theaters, you can often see signs that read "Minors Not Admitted." But if people die and go to a place called heaven, there might be a large sign hanging there that reads:
"RELIGIOUS PEOPLE NOT ADMITTED"
This is because today's religious people are not following the teachings that Jesus or Buddha spoke, but rather stubbornly clinging to their own world of believing in religion. No matter how right something may be, if you stubbornly cling to that rightness, you will eventually abandon Jesus or Buddha.
The Gospel of Thomas that I am about to lecture on is certainly a scripture that records the teachings Jesus taught, but people who believe in Christianity today reject it, calling it "apocryphal." The reason is that they think the Gospel of Thomas contradicts the doctrines they believe in. But when this happens, the faith intended to reach heaven becomes an obstacle that blocks the path to heaven.
The Gospel of Thomas can actually be called the Bible of Bibles. This scripture contains the deepest and most three-dimensional dialogue between Jesus and Thomas. Yet it is not included in today's Bible for one reason alone: because it contradicts the faith that humans know. However, the knowledge we know and the faith we believe in—most of it is actually untrustworthy.
There is one delusion that people are born with. It is the belief that humans are the foremost among all things—that is, the lords of creation.
Before nature, there is actually no such thing as "foremost." Whether rich or poor, high or low in class, noble or lowly, dog or pig—before nature, all are equal.
The corpse of a person who died in an airplane accident and the corpse of a swallow that died hitting a power line while flying are the same. The human corpse is not more impressive or radiant, nor is the swallow's corpse more pitiful. Their dead appearance is identical. Of course, humans can be called great. This is because, while humans are also part of nature, only humans can understand that very nature. However, the mind that believes humans are superior is merely a delusion.
Sometimes you can see news on TV about people who conquered the summit of the Himalayas. People give them bouquets and send cheers, saying they showed the will to overcome human limitations.
But when you drive on 6-lane or 8-lane roads at night, you can see cats crossing between cars traveling over 100 km/h without getting hit. But the cats on the other side don't give bouquets and applaud saying "Well done!" like people do. Looking at this, humans really aren't much better.
People sometimes die in avalanches while climbing the Himalayas. Cats also sometimes get hit by cars while crossing roads. The corpse of a person who died climbing a mountain and the corpse of a cat that died crossing a street look the same when photographed. Just because someone died climbing a mountain doesn't make their corpse look better in photos. People deliberately challenge death and die, but cats and dogs do not.
"Hey, I'm going to break through between 8 lanes of highway traffic, so watch me carefully!"
There isn't a single cat that tries to show off like this.
"Let's show how great our life force is."
There isn't a single dog that crosses the highway with this attitude.
Perhaps only humans climb those deep and high places like the Himalayas because they have nothing else to do. Only humans actually waste their precious life force spilling it on such mountains. There are many things to do without doing such things.
We have not simple faith, but a bright mind that can look at truth and express truth. We call this wisdom. We must use this wisdom well.
Excerpted from "Lectures on the Platform Sutra and Gospel of Thomas - The Light of Enlightenment"
Commentary:
This provocative piece challenges the fundamental assumptions of organized religion, suggesting that institutional faith often becomes the very obstacle to spiritual realization it claims to provide. The author uses the metaphor of movie theater admission restrictions to suggest that heaven itself might exclude those who cling too tightly to religious identity.
The discussion of the Gospel of Thomas highlights how institutional Christianity has rejected texts that don't conform to established doctrine, potentially discarding some of the most authentic teachings of Jesus. The comparison between human achievement (climbing Everest) and animal behavior (cats crossing highways) serves to deflate human pretensions about our special status in creation.
The underlying message emphasizes wisdom over belief, direct perception over dogma, and the recognition that our assumptions about human superiority may themselves be obstacles to genuine spiritual understanding.
육각나라
