Religion has nothing to do with truth

Religion has nothing to do with truth. A true practitioner focuses only on the awakening within body and mind and never clings to religious rituals. When Shakyamuni Buddha was alive, there was only the practice and conduct of the Sangha; there were not the elaborate religious rituals that later became associated with Buddhism. Religious forms have nothing to do with truth.

Jesus, during his lifetime, simply taught the Dharma together with his twelve disciples. He walked through the world in the form of an ordinary human being. Until the time before he was crucified, he had not established a religious organization. Christianity, as an organized institution, emerged after Jesus’ death and was later shaped as an administrative structure of political power and religious authority.

Religion teaches people how to “fear.”
Truth teaches people how to “forgive.”

Religion was originally established to worship God, yet it can, in its distorted forms, become an instrument opposed to God.

Religion teaches people how to protect themselves and how to perfect the self. Yet in the ultimate reality of life, there has never been an independent “individual” that truly existed. As the Buddhist teaching says, “All sages and worthies differ only through the unconditioned Dharma.” Even the self belongs to the realm of illusion. If there is no independent self, then what could ultimately serve as the basis for possessing merit and blessings?

Truth is directed toward the soul, not the personality; toward life, not the human world. Therefore, truth can awaken the soul and awaken the Buddhas within.

Religion, when directed toward personality rather than the soul, and toward the worldly rather than toward life itself, can bind the soul and perpetuate the cycle of birth and death.

Spiritual practice is not religion.

Religion projects the fears hidden deep within the mind.

Spiritual practice is a return to the stillness of one’s true nature.

Therefore, spiritual practice has no single prescribed form. Reading scriptures, meditating, practicing walking meditation, chanting the Buddha’s name, or following a vegetarian diet does not, by itself, constitute spiritual practice.

Spiritual practice is the process by which consciousness returns inward to the heart, the heart returns to pure awareness, pure awareness merges into spirit, spirit awakens life, and life becomes fully immersed in awakened awareness.

The entire process is completed within body and mind. It has nothing whatsoever to do with any external form or action.

Love is a profound and infinite light. Within that light, all names, forms, distinctions, and judgments will ultimately dissolve.