There’s a story that Buddhists tell that always kind of creeped me out. In the story, the Buddha tells two of his followers to walk around the world. The first one to come back to him will win the blessing of eternal life.
One follower sets out immediately, not even waiting for a good night’s sleep and a decent breakfast. It takes him ten long years but eventually he makes it back, I guess to the Bhodi tree or wherever the Buddha is hanging out. He arrives only to find the other follower sitting at the feet of the Buddha, smiling and enlightened as fuck.
“How is it that you came here first,” the weary follower asks.
“i’ve been here all along,” the other replies. “Our Lord told us to walk around the world, and so I just walked in circles around our Him. For he is my world.”
Now that is as creepy and culty as anything I’ve ever heard, the Buddha just sitting there, waiting for these douches to figure out how fucking holy he is, but it does remind me of Jesus saying that the kingdom of heaven is within you.
The question that raises for me, and it frightens me to realize that I already know the answer – where is the kingdom of hell?
Les Bohem has written a lot of movies and TV shows including the mini-series, Taken which he wrote and executive produced with Steven Spielberg. and for which he won an Emmy award. He’s had songs recorded by Emmylou Harris, Randy Travis, Freddy Fender, Steve Gillette, Johnette Napolitano (of Concrete Blonde), and Alvin (of the Chipmunks). He is currently producing his series, Shut Eye for Hulu.
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