The Jesus Sutras

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The Jesus Sutras
An Overview of the Findings of Martin
Palmer Summarized by Ronnie Littlejohn
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On February 23, 2001 Martin Palmer, Secretary
General of Alliance of Religions and Conservation
spoke in Hong Kong to the Asia Society. In his
lecture, he briefed the international society on
The Da Qin Project devoted to the study of
sites and texts associated with Daoist
Christianity from the time of the Tang empire.
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• Palmer has located a site which according to a
  Chinese stele text was built in about 650 C.E.
• It is the oldest surviving site of a Christian
  worship center and community in China.
• He has identified iconography and Christian
  reliefs which date to 800 C.E. in a pagoda on the
  site. The pagoda was built in 781 C.E.
• This Christian site and its pagoda are located in
  the general grounds of the huge Lou Guan Tai
  Daoist complex which once served as the imperial
  temple of the Tang near Xian.

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Da Qin Pagoda from Lou Guan Tai
Laozi at Lou Guan Tai
The Approach
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THE FIRST SUTRA
Matthew 61 says, Beware of practicing your
piety before men in order to be seen by them for
then you will have no reward from your Father who
is in heaven. The Sutra of the
World-Honored One says, Pay no attention to
outsiders but worship the One Sacred Spirit. The
One will become visible to you, and then you
should worship only the One. (13-4)
The World Honored Ones Teachings on Charity,
Part Three (Chinese Title) 641 C.E.
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THE FIRST SUTRA
The World Honored Ones Teachings on Charity,
Part Three (Chinese Title) 641 C.E.
Matthew 77-8 in which Jesus says Ask, and it
will be given you seek, and you will find
knock, and it will be opened to you. For every
one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds,
and to him who knocks it will be opened. The
sutra says, Knock and the door will open but if
you dont receive what you requested, or the door
is not opened, it is because what you asked for
isnt right for you. No matter how hard you ask,
you wont be given what is bad for you.
(223-26)
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Or, what man of you, if his son asks him for
bread gives him a stone? Or if he asks for a
fish, will give a serpent? If you then, who are
evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father who is
in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
(Matthew 79-11) The sutra says, If you ask
your father for food, you will get food. But if
you asked for a stone you would be wasting your
time and would never be given it because it is
not right. (2 27)
THE FIRST SUTRA
The World Honored Ones Teachings on Charity,
Part Three (Chinese Title) 641 C.E.
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Those who know the True Way (zhen dao) of the
One Sacred Spirit and have read the Good Book,
but do not follow this or the One Sacred Spirits
commands, will dwell with evil spirits and ghosts
in the Earth Prisons, and serve the evil ghosts
forever. (832)
THE FIRST SUTRA
The World Honored Ones Teachings on Charity,
Part Three (Chinese Title) 641 C.E.
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Matthew 713-14, Enter by the narrow gate for
the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads
to destruction, and those who enter by it are
many. For the gate is narrow and the way is
hard, that leads to life, and those who find it
are few. The sutra says instead, Dont
follow the evil dao, but go the way of the Kings
entrance and find heaven. Few have achieved
this. Others travel the broad dao and have a
great time, but it leads to the Earth Prisons.
(240-41)
THE FIRST SUTRA
The World Honored Ones Teachings on Charity,
Part Three (Chinese Title) 641 C.E.
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The sutra text uses the Daoist concepts of the
five phases (wu xing) when it turns its attention
to the resurrection of Jesus saying, He showed
the holy transformation beyond all previous
reckoning. While his five attributes passed away
(transformed) he did not die. (414)
THE FIRST SUTRA
The World Honored Ones Teachings on Charity,
Part Three (Chinese Title) 641 C.E.
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• The sutra also makes strategic use of the daoist
  belief in the immortals.
• When speaking of Jesus ministry, the text uses
  the common daoist expression of an immortals
  distinctiveness saying that Jesus shone brightly
  for three years and six months. (34)
• Accordingly to the sutra, the announcement on
  Easter morning was made by a flying immortal.
  (523)

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When the text speaks of the human condition
from which we must be saved the sutra says,
Through his Jesus wonders all can escape
becoming ghosts. (422) Not surprisingly then,
the sutra warns those who do not venerate Jesus
in this way, If you do not worship him, you
will end up worshipping evil spirits. You will
be impure and unclean, and you will be dragged
into the darkness of the Earth Prisons From
there you cannot return to the Good Place but
must dwell with the Great Evil Ghost. (79-11)
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The writer is well acquainted with Daoist beliefs
of the afterlife. The evil follow the evil
spirits and dwell with them in the Earth Prisons,
hell-dwellers, and ghosts. When the time comes
for all life to end, evil spirits will seize
people and judgment will come. (822)
14
While knowing Daoist belief and ritual well, the
writer warns the reader to stop worshipping the
gods of the stars (such as in the Bei Dou
ritual) The Evil Ghost Spirit makes people
create false deities. (730) In Chapter Eight
the text says, the followers of the false way
are as bad as those who worship the sun, moon,
stars or even the fire gods.
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Although some people today see these two worlds
as separate and irreconcilably different, even as
implacably opposed to each other, the Jesus
Sutras show that these two world cultures canand
didcome together to create an astonishing,
accessible, vibrant practice of Daoist
Christianity within the context of Confucian
China some fourteen hundred years ago
THE FIRST SUTRA
The World Honored Ones Teachings on Charity,
Part Three (Chinese Title) 641 C.E.