303 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
303 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
God's Grief
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World Scripture
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GOD'S GRIEF
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In religious traditions which revere a personal God, the fall and degradation
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of human beings is often recognized to cause God sorrow. Particularly where God
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is known as the divine Parent and human beings as His children, the heart of
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God must feel great sadness over the children's bondage, degradation, and
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rebellion. In Judaism, and in Islam where God is called the Compassionate One,
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the suffering of God is an integral part of the tradition. In Christianity,
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the passion of Jesus Christ has always represented the divine grief, but at the
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same time the biblical witness to God's sadness has often been eclipsed by the
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Aristotelian conception that God's perfection requires that God be impassible.
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Recently, however, Christian theologians have begun to reaffirm that God the
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Father and Creator also suffers. In Mahayana Buddhism, the compassion of
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Sakyamuni Buddha is regarded as a specific instance of the compassionate heart
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of the Dharmakaya, or cosmic Buddha that is the Father of all humanity. The
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suffering heart of God is also a central affirmation in several of the new
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religions.
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The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
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imagination of the thoughts of His heart was only evil continually. And the
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Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to his
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heart.
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1. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Genesis 6.5-6
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Before He brought on the flood, God Himself kept seven days of mourning, for He
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was grieved at heart.
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2. Judaism. Midrash, Tanhumma, Shemini 11a
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Genesis 6.5-6: This passage introduces the story of the Deluge. It has given
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rise to numerous reflections on God's sorrow, illustrated by the next two
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selections.
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And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of His
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people, and He wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying, "How is it that the
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heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?" And
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Enoch said unto the Lord, How is it that you can weep, seeing you are holy, and
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from all eternity to all eternity?..."
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The Lord said unto Enoch, "Behold these your brethren; they are the workmanship
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of My own hands, and I gave to them their knowledge... and commandment, that
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they should love one another, and that they should choose Me, their Father; but
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behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood; and the fire
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of My indignation is kindled against them; and in My hot displeasure will I
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send in the floods upon them... misery shall be their doom; and the whole
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heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of My hands; therefore
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should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?"
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3. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Pearl of Great Price, Moses
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7.28-37
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Abu Dharr reported God's Messenger as saying, "I see what you do not see and I
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hear what you do not hear; heaven has groaned, and it has a right to groan."
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4. Islam. Hadith of Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah
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God's heart was torn asunder and broke with indescribable grief and tears the
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moment Adam and Eve fell.
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5. Unification Church. Sun Myung Moon, 10-11-59
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No one is more patient over injury which he hears than God. Men attribute a
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son to Him, yet he preserves them and provides for them.
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6. Islam. Hadith of Bukhari and Muslim
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O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to
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you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers
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her brood under her wings, and you would not!
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7. Christianity. Bible, Matthew 23.37
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Rabbi Me'ir said, "When man is sore troubled, the Shechinah says, 'How heavy is
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my head, how heavy is my arm.' If God suffers so much for the blood of the
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wicked, how much more for the blood of the righteous."
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8. Judaism. Mishnah, Sanhedrin 6.5
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Pearl of Great Price, Moses 7.28-37: This is a conversation between Enoch and
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God shortly before God sent the Flood upon the earth. Like the previous
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rabbinic passage, it is a meditation on Genesis 6.5-6. Cf. Moses 7.48-49, p.
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319. Sun Myung Moon, 10-11-59: Cf. Sun Myung Moon, 5-1-77, p. 609. Hadith of
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Bukhari and Muslim: This brings to mind Genesis 3.21, p. 426, when after Adam
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and Eve fell, God still made garments of skins for them. Matthew 23.37: In
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these words Jesus lamented over the people who rejected him and refused the
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great salvation which he offered. On God's longing in general, cf. Yebamot
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64a, p. 205. Sanhedrin 6.5: For a Sikh passage intimating the divine burden,
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see Japuji 16, M.1, p. 138.
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"In all their afflictions he was afflicted" (Isaiah 53.9). So God said to
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Moses, "Do you not notice that I dwell in distress when the Israelites dwell in
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distress? Know from the place whence I speak with you, from the midst of
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thorns [the burning bush], it is as if I stand in their distresses."
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9. Judaism. Midrash, Exodus Rabbah
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Abuk, mother of Deng,
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Leave your home in the sky and come to work in our homes,
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Make our country to become clean like the original home of Deng,
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Come make our country as one: the country of Akwol
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Is not as one, either by night or by day,
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The child called Deng, his face has become sad,
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The children of Akwol have bewildered their Chief's mind.
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10. African Traditional Religions. Dinka song (Sudan)
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My sickness comes from ignorance and the thirst for existence, and it will last
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as long as do the sicknesses of all living beings. Were all living beings to
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be free from sickness, I also would not be sick.... As the parents will suffer
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as long as their only son does not recover from his sickness, just so, the
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bodhisattva loves all living beings as if each were his only child. He becomes
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sick when they are sick and is cured when they are cured.
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11. Buddhism. Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti 5
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My grief is beyond healing,
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my heart is sick within me.
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Hark, the cry of the daughter of my people
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from the length and breadth of the land:
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"Is the Lord not in Zion?
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Is her King not in her?"
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Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images,
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and with their foreign idols?
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"The harvest is past,
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the summer is ended,
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and we are not saved."
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For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded,
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I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.
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Is there no balm in Gilead?
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Is there no physician there?
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Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
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not been restored?
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O that my head were waters,
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and my eyes a fountain of tears,
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that I might weep day and night
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for the slain of the daughter of my people!
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12. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Jeremiah 8.18-9.1
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Dinka Song: Deng is the ancestor of the Dinka people and the chief deity,
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identified with Divinity as a whole and manifest in the fertilizing rain. Abuk
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is the first woman, earth, and the female principle. This song may refer to
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the tradition of the separation of heaven and earth at the origin of humanity;
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cf. Dinka tradition, p. 432. Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti 5: Vimalakirti,
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apparently sick in bed, utters words which signify the true spirit of a
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bodhisattva who commiserates with the suffering of all living beings. Cf.
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Mahaparinirvana Sutra 470-71, pp. 240f.
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In the perilous round of mortality,
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In continuous, unending misery,
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Firmly tied to the passions
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As a yak is to its tail;
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Smothered by greed and infatuation,
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Blinded and seeing nothing;
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Seeking not the Buddha, the Mighty,
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And the Truth that ends suffering,
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But deeply sunk in heresy,
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By suffering seeking riddance of suffering;
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For the sake of all these creatures,
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My heart is stirred with great pity.
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13. Buddhism. Lotus Sutra 2
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Whatever kind of regret I, God (Tsukihi), may have borne, until now I have
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overlooked it and kept still patiently....
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Never think of this regret as slight! It is the result of the regret which has
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been accumulated and piled up.
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For Me, Tsukihi, all people of the whole world are My children. Although I
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single-heartedly love them, unaware of this, each and every one of them equally
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is thinking only of dust.
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Think of the regret of God over these dusty minds! It is far beyond expression
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of My words.
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14. Tenrikyo. Ofudesaki XVII.64-70
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When Israel was a child, I loved him,
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and out of Egypt I called My son.
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The more I called them,
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the more they went from Me;
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they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
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and burning incense to idols.
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Yet it was I that taught Ephraim to walk,
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I took him up in My arms;
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but they did not know that I healed them.
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I led them with cords of compassion,
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with the bands of love,
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and I became to them as one
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who eases the yoke on their jaws,
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and I bent down to them and fed them.
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They shall return to the land of Egypt,
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and Assyria shall be their king,
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because they have refused to return to Me.
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The sword shall rage against their cities,
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consume the bars of their gates,
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and devour them in their fortresses.
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My people are bent on turning away from Me;
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so they are appointed to the yoke,
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and none shall remove it.
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How can I give you up, O Ephraim!
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How can I hand you over, O Israel!
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How can I make you like Admah!
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How can I treat you like Zeboiim!
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My heart recoils within Me,
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My compassion grows warm and tender.
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I will not execute My fierce anger,
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I will not again destroy Ephraim;
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for I am God and not man,
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the Holy One in your midst,
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and I will not come to destroy.
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15. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Hosea 11.1-9
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Jeremiah 8.18-9.1: The prophet Jeremiah, like the bodhisattva in the previous
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passage, laments heartsick over his people's suffering, ignorance, and
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unbelief. At the same time, the prophet is speaking the words of God and
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expressing the divine pathos. Ofudesaki XVII.64-70: In Tenrikyo sin is not
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endemic in human beings; it is the dust which collects on intrinsically pure
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minds and which needs to be swept away. See also Ofudesaki VII.109-11, p. 205;
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XII.43-44, p. 279.
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My children,
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The Enlightened One, because He saw mankind drowning in the great sea of birth,
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death and sorrow, and longed to save them, for this was moved to pity.
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Because He saw the men of the world straying in false paths, and none to guide
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them, for this He was moved to pity.
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Because He saw that they lay wallowing in the mire of the Five Lusts, in
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dissolute abandonment, for this He was moved to pity.
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Because He saw them still fettered to their wealth, their wives and their
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children, knowing not how to cast them aside, for this He was moved to pity.
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Because He saw them doing evil with hand, heart, and tongue, and many times
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receiving the bitter fruits of sin, yet ever yielding to their desires, for
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this He was moved to pity.
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Because He saw that they slaked the thirst of the Five Lusts as it were with
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brackish water, for this He was moved to pity.
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Because He saw that though they longed for happiness, they made for themselves
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no karma of happiness; and though they hated pain, yet willingly made for
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themselves a karma of pain; and though they coveted the joys of heaven, would
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not follow His commandments on earth, for this He was moved to pity.
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Because He saw them afraid of birth, old age, and death, yet still pursuing the
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works that lead to birth, old age, and death, for this He was moved to pity.
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Because He saw them consumed by the fires of pain and sorrow, yet knowing not
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where to seek the still waters of samadhi, for this He was moved to pity.
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Because He saw them living in an evil time, subjected to tyrannous kings and
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suffering many ills, yet heedlessly following after pleasure, for this He was
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moved to pity.
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Because He saw them living in a time of wars, killing and wounding one another;
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and knew that for the riotous hatred that had flourished in their hearts they
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were doomed to pay an endless retribution, for this He was moved to pity.
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Because many born at the time of His incarnation had heard Him preach the Holy
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Law, yet could not receive it, for this He was moved to pity.
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Because some had great riches that they could not bear to give away, for this
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He was moved to pity.
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Because He saw the men of the world ploughing their fields, sowing the seed,
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trafficking, huckstering, buying, and selling; and at the end winning nothing
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but bitterness, for this He was moved to pity.
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16. Buddhism. Upasaka Sila Sutra
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Hosea 11.9-11: The prophet Hosea uttered these words of divine pathos while
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prophesying against the corruption of Ephraim, the northern kingdom of Israel.
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He recalls God's motherly love for Israel as a child, when God brought Israel
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forth from the land of Egypt and raised her as an infant; compare Deuteronomy
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32.10-12, p. 145; Isaiah 1.2-3, p. 456. Admah and Zeboiim were cities
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destroyed long ago along with Sodom and Gomorrah. Upasaka Sila Sutra: The
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Enlightened One is the all-pervading cosmic Buddha (Dharmakaya), as well as the
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historical Sakyamuni. See Lion's Roar of Queen Srimala 5, p. 652. This sutra
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is found in the Chinese Tripitaka.
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