250826 What I learned in my studies this morning 5

Today's Meditation(s):

The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Ruling the Five Skandhas

I posted this passage back in May, too (250520).

As I'm working my way through these selections again, I've been trying to focus on parts different from those  I considered the first time.  This gem, however, just so fully captures me and sings so loudly within me that I feel joy and must think about it again.

The idea of Buddha being human, fully human, sharing a reality and a nature with me . . . boggles me, amazes me, shocks me.

Buddha, like Christ or Krishna, has always been above and beyond mere humanity in my mind. Yeah, the idea that he was a human who found enlightenment was there, but it wasn't real. In my mind, attainment permanently changed him such that it subsumed his prior origin and he became permanently (and retroactively) divine.

But this changes everything: Buddha bring like me; me being like Buddha.

Now there's a chance.

Now there's a way.

Now there's hope.