141 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
141 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
SELF-SACRIFICE
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World Scripture
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SELF-SACRIFICE
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The most noble sacrifice is self-sacrifice: to dedicate one's body, mind, and
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spirit in the service of God and humanity. In time of persecution and
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oppression, self-sacrifice may mean to willingly give up one's life as a
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martyr--see the following section. In times of relative ease, self-sacrifice
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means to be a living sacrifice, dedicating everything to the divine purpose.
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Self-sacrifice is also the supreme expression of love for others: see
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Sacrificial Love, pp. 978-81.
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Man, in truth, is himself a sacrifice.
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1.Hinduism. Chandogya Upanishad 3.16.1
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In accepting the true Dharma, may I abandon body, life, and property, and
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uphold the true Dharma.
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2.Buddhism. Lion's Roar of Queen Srimala 3
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Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself
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and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose
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it, and whoever loses his life from my sake will find it."
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3.Christianity. Matthew 16.24-25
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I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
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to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,
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holy and acceptable to God,
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which is your spiritual worship.
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4.Christianity. Romans 12.1
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With whatever Thou dost provide, am I content;
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No other door is there for me to knock.
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Nanak this supplication makes,
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May my life and body ever to Thee be dedicated!
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5.Sikhism. Adi Granth, Sri Raga, M.1, p. 25
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To Thee as a sacrifice Zarathustra offers
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the very life and being of his self;
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He dedicates the first fruits of his loving
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thoughts to Ahura Mazda;
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He offers the best of his words and deeds
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and willing obedience to the Divine Law.
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6.Zoroastrianism. Avesta, Yasna 33.14
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Let us all carry in ourselves the heart of parents and the body of a servant,
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and let us shed sweat for the sake of earth, tears for the sake of mankind, and
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blood for the sake of heaven. Let us never forget that we carry on our
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shoulders the historical cross: the responsibility to remove the grief and
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heartache of our Parent, the Great Lord of all creation. Let us all move
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forward to the way of salvation of the world.
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7.Unification Church. Sun Myung Moon, 3-30-90
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The wind was churning by his side
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and pounding what was hard to bend,
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when Kesin from the poison cup
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drank in Rudra's company.
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8.Hinduism. Rig Veda 10.136.7
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Isaac willingly and gladly went with his father to Mount Moriah, to offer up
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his young life to the God whom he adored. As they were wending their way to
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perform the will of God, Isaac said to his father, "O father, I am yet young,
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and I am fearful lest my body tremble at the sight of the knife, causing you
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grief; I am fearful lest the offering shall not be a perfect one, perfect as I
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should like it to be."
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9.Judaism. Midrash, Genesis Rabbah 56.11
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It is better to suffer for doing right, if that is God's will, than for doing
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wrong.
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10.Christianity. 1 Peter 3.17
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It is not only physical bravery that counts. One must have the courage to face
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life as it is, to go through sorrows, and always sacrifice oneself for the sake
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of others.
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11.African Traditional Religions. Kipsignis Saying (Kenya)
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The Master said, "The determined scholar and the man of virtue will not seek to
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live at the expense of injuring their virtue. They will even sacrifice their
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lives to preserve their virtue complete."
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12.Confucianism. Analects 15.8
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Mencius said, "Fish is what I want; bear's palm is also what I want. If I
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cannot have both, I would rather take the bear's palm than fish. Life is what
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I want; dutifulness is also what I want. If I cannot have both, I would rather
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take dutifulness than life. On the one hand, though life is what I want, there
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is something I want more than life. That is why I do not cling to life at all
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costs. On the other hand, though death is what I loathe, there is something I
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loathe more than death. That is why there are troubles I do not avoid. If
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there is nothing a man wants more than life, then why should he have scruples
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about any means, so long as it will serve to keep him alive? If there is
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nothing a man loathes more than death, then why should he have scruples about
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any means, so long as it helps him to avoid trouble? Yet there are ways of
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remaining alive and ways of avoiding death to which a man will not resort. In
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other words, there are things a man wants more than life and there are also
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things he loathes more than death. This is an attitude not confined to the
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moral man but common to all men. The moral man simply never loses it."
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13.Confucianism. Mencius VI.A.10
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Lion's Roar of Queen Srimala 3: See Lotus Sutra 13, pp. 882f.; Mahaparinirvana
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Sutra 13.19, pp 654-55; Lotus Sutra 12, p. 818; cf. Kularnava Tantra 2, p. 879.
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Matthew 16.24-25: This saying, so central to Jesus' message, describes the
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essence of Christian discipleship. Each person should 'take up his cross,'
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enduring suffering and all difficulties for the sake of others, just as Jesus
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offered himself on the cross for the salvation of all mankind. The saying is
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repeated in several different forms throughout the gospels; see Mark 8.34-35,
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p. 771; John 12.24-25, p. 897. Cf. Romans 8.35-39, p. 880; Isaiah 53.1-12, pp.
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639f.; Hadith of Muslim, p. 878. Romans 12.1: Cf. Romans 6.13, p. 771; Suhi
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Chhant, M.5, p. 772. Yasna 33.14: Cf. Yasna 34.12, p. 771; Suhi Chhant, M.5,
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p. 898. Sun Myung Moon 3-30-90: Cf. Sun Myung Moon, 9-11-72, p. 744; 9-11-72,
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p. 979; 2-3-87, p. 619. Rig Veda 10.136.7: Here the sacrifices of the Kesin,
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the long-haired ascetic, are likened to the draught of poison first drunk by
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Shiva (Rudra) by which he saved the world from calamity. According to a
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frequently reported tradition, when the gods and demons first churned the
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primeval ocean in order to create the universe and the ambrosial Soma, they
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also churned up a virulent poison which covered the universe with smoke and
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fumes. Shiva, for the sake of protecting all beings, swallowed the poison,
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whence, it is said, his throat became blue. The sage, by his self-sacrifice,
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finds God Shiva standing beside him. Cf. Sioux Sun Dance, p. 982. Genesis
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Rabbah 56.11: See Genesis 22.1-13, pp. 614f.; Genesis Rabbah 56, pp. 621f. 1
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Peter 3.17: Suffering and hardships come to all people, hence one might as well
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suffer for a godly purpose. Kipsignis Saying: On sacrifice for the sake of
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others, see John 15.13, p. 979, Garland Sutra 23, p. 980. Analects 15.8: Cf. I
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Ching 50, p. 771; Analects 5.22 and 16.12, p. 889; Gittin 57b, p. 886. Mencius
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VI.A.10: cf. Chuang Tzu 4, p. 616.
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