Texas Buddha spotted Sally Helen Gold crying on a park bench. Wordlessly, he sat down beside her.
“My son Travis just told me he doesn’t believe in God any more. I feel like I’ve failed as a parent.” After a very long time, she looked up. “What do you think?”
“I personally do not believe that faith means holding onto a particular idea.” He responded, “Faith is a trust in the deep mystery of life of which the word “God” is a mere shadow. True faith is equal parts belief and doubt. Those who pretend to believe something have already lost the faith that really matters in life. Travis has not lost his faith. He has only outgrown his youthful picture of the mystery.”
Emptying the bag of bread crumbs he brought to feed the birds, Texas Buddha concluded, “Nothing is true because someone believes it. It is true because it is. You have not failed as a parent. You should be very proud of your son’s deep faith to reject what seems untrue. Have faith that Travis’ radical honesty will lead him to what is true.”
Sally Helen nodded slowly, but then a thought flashed across her face, “But, how do we ever know our beliefs are right?”
“We cannot know if we are right. We can only know if we are being honest.”
Who is texas buddha? Is it base don someone you know?
Texas Buddha is an image of the teacher I always looked for as a youth and never found. He’s definitely a mixture. I always enjoyed the Rabbinic tales as well as the Sufi versions of the same wisdom teachings, so I thought a Texas Buddha would be a kind of anomoly that would get help wisdom teachings get outside the box. Mainly, I just thought they would be fun to write.
Awesome! Thank you!