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My Kind of Town Don Chapman |
The Passion
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As they filed out of the theater after seeing a late screening of "The Passion of the Christ," the second Lama Jey Tsong Khapa, dressed in blond surfer boy wig, Quiksilver cap, black Kailua Boys T-shirt, baggy jeans and Nike T-Macs, looked like a regular guy. But he had better skin.
"That is very close," he said, "to how it really was."
"How do you know this?" Kamasami Khan said. "You studied Christian texts in those Himalayan monasteries?"
"Comparative studies, not in great depth, but enough to have an understanding of other religions," the young lama replied. "But no, that is not how I know that this portrayal was very accurate."
"What reason is that?"
"He told me."
"You know Jesus?!" his big brother Joe Kharma blurted rather too loudly. Heads turned.
Khan shot him an icy look, and they remained silent until they were back in Khan's red Ram 1500 double cab and the hemi was rumbling to life.
"You know Jesus?!" Joe demanded.
"Of course. He is a Buddha. We have met often in the mandala of altruistic suffering, among others."
"The what? No, never mind ... What did you talk about?"
"Many things, but one topic was choosing the right time to reincarnate. It was after talking with him that I chose this time to return."
"Jesus believes in reincarnation?" Khan interjected.
"Did he not say that he would return to earth one day? And yes, he was influenced by Buddha's teaching in his youth.
"But now I see that it is not only Buddhas who reincarnate. It is also devils. The Romans in that film, the way they treated my friend, and all the Jews, I realized that the Communist Chinese of today are reincarnates of those Romans. The same tactics, the same policies.
"Jesus was in trouble from the moment someone called him king of the Jews, for there could be only one king of the Jews, Caesar. So it is for Tibet. The Dalai Lama is no longer recognized as head of state as had been the case for many centuries because there can be only one head of state, and now it must be Chinese. Just as the Romans did with Jesus, the Chinese torture and kill our brave monks and nuns who continue to seek Buddhahood. The message is the same, stay in line, do as we say, and perhaps all will be fine."
"You're starting to sound like me," the warrior Khan said with a wry grin.
"I'll take that as a good sign."
"Stating truth, that is all, friend Khan. But no, violence is not the way for my friend and me. The way is compassion for all. 'Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.' Only a Buddha could say that."
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Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek. His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin. He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com