A Buddhist Take on Apocalypse (Rev. Jared Michaels)

According to at least some Buddhist schools, we are living in what’s called “the age of decline.” This is a time of great suffering but also a time of opportunity for rapid awakening.

To me, this seems like the same thing or almost the same thing as the apocalypse.

Once upon a time I looked up apocalypse in the etymological dictionary and was surprised to find that it simply means to “reveal” or “uncover.”

Reveal or uncover what? I asked myself for a long time. What the Buddha said is that we are not who we think we are. We are not who we collectively tell ourselves we are. We are not separate from anyone or anything. We are actually in union with everyone and everything. And I wholeheartedly agree.

What’s happening on Earth now is that we are increasingly suffering due to the consequences of our belief that we are separate, and the feedback of our disharmony is waking us up. Reality is being uncovered or revealed.

When we realize the truth of who we are, we begin to live in greater and greater harmony. Nothing else makes sense when we become aware that we are fundamentally interconnected.

I’ll mention one more thing. Thich Nhat Hahn said that the Buddha of future birth will be the sangha. In other words, there will be no single savior. The whole community must evolve.

###

Rev. Michaels is a Zen priest, psychotherapist, and member of the AllCreation.org team. Read more of his work here. Visit JaredMichaels.com to connect and learn more about his work. The cover image, “Buddha touching the Earth,” has no attribution. This image, suggested by eariler conversation with Jared, depicts the moment of Buddha’s enlightenment wherein he touched the ground—connecting to the literal Earth, to ask, as Jared says “in the midst of hearing so many scary and seductive voices, if he was worthy of enlightenment. The universe gave him a resounding yes. He then woke up and said, “I together with all beings realize that we are one.””