One thing I find really interesting and exciting as I learn more about Buddhism and meditation is that many concepts are shared across religious and spiritual traditions but often are called very different things. In a lot of cases you wouldn’t even know that they were talking about the same thing at all. Take for example the eastern Buddhist concept of impermanence and the western Christian concept of the Holy Spirit:
Shinzen Young has this to say to about impermanence in his document “Flow”:
“The impermanent nature of things can be looked upon from a pessimistic point of view or an optimistic point of view. Pessimistically, everything passes, so to pin your happiness on any person, object, or situation is to set yourself up to suffer sooner or later. From this perspective, anicca is linked to dukkha (the suffering nature of life). Optimistically, impermanence is movement, and (as Newton pointed out) movement reflects an underlying force. By focusing on instantaneous rates of change in ordinary sensory experiences, we can come into direct contact
with the underlying Force that molds them…Spirit. From this perspective, anicca is linked to prāna (the ebullient energy of life).”
He follows this later explaining the connection between impermanence and the Holy Spirit:
“Impermanence is also related to what is called the Holy Spirit in the Western tradition. The phrase Holy Spirit may sound sort of mystical-schmystical, maybe even scary and off-putting. But the English words “holy spirit” come from the Latin spiritus sanctus, and the Latin phrase is just a translation of the Greek hagia pneuma, which in turn is a translation of the Hebrew ruach ha-kodesh. In Hebrew ruach means “the wind,” i.e. something that has power, but is insubstantial and constantly moving. The Holy Spirit is a kind of wind that blows through us and comforts us.
It is the Paraclete, the comforter, which purifies us, and links us to our Source. It is the vehicle through which God’s grace is directly conveyed to us. So activating impermanence, receiving the Holy Spirit and getting qi, are very different words from very different traditions, but they are not entirely unrelated.”
Pretty cool eh?
If you think about the Holy Spirit as the experience of impermanence it puts a whole different twist on the biblical passages that refer to someone being “moved by the holy spirit”.
To read more on impermanence and Flow check out the PDF called “Flow” on Shinzen’s website: www.shinzen.org
