Part of an interview with Rev Bill Crews in the SMH today ... it’s Saturday, forgive me ... I feel the essence of what Rev Bill says is embodied within pin threads ... day after day ... not overtly religious of course, but something universal, kind, good, sharing and giving ... I love his last answer ... Dex
Q. Your new book, Twelve Rules for Living a Better Life, out in May, is dedicated to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. You’re a Uniting Church minister. Why dedicate your book to a Buddhist leader?
A. He and I get together and we chat a bit. Either here when he comes to Australia, or in Dharamshala [in India]. He was really funny: he said to me, “I reckon you’re a good Buddhist.”
Q. How did you take that? And what did he mean?
A. I thought it was really lovely. I was talking to him another time and I said, “Who are you?” He said, “I’m a simple monk.” I said, “Look, you’re more than that. You’re a leader. There are people who would die for you.” And he said, “I am the teaching.” I was looking in his eyes, and it was like looking right through his eyes to the Buddhist Dharma. But, at the same time, I was looking right through Jesus’s eyes to the Kingdom.
Q. So they might be separate religions – Buddhism and Christianity – but you see that they speak to each other?
A. They should be speaking to each other. They do. The words of Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad went into this bottomless well called human existence, and then came out. People who go deeply into religion – their religion – come out with a huge respect for other religions. They all touch something universal.Scripture offers 10 Commandments.
Q. What are your personal commandments?
A. Be grateful, every day. Do your best. Also, say yes to everything. If my soul says “yes”, then I say “yes”. And keep moving towards the universe, whatever that is. Keep moving, because as you move towards the universe, it comes and meets you in strange, amazing ways.
Part of an interview with Rev Bill Crews in the SMH today ...
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