Spiritual parallels




"Jesus said: Become passers-by!"
Gospel of Thomas, Logion 42.

We can happily discover the timeless wisdom of the Gnostic Apocrifs and the Gnosis. One can see very similar insights inspired by the Spirit of Tao and Dharma.

The one, who is a "passer-by", is walking on the "Master's way", and realizing the non-action (wu-wei):

"The gentlest thing in the world
overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance
enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action.
Teaching without words,
performing without actions:
that is the Master's way."

Tao Te Ching, Chapter 43.

"Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success of failure: which is more destructive?

If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself.

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you."

Tao Te Ching, Chapter 44.

 Picture: Fragment of Gospel of Thomas
Nag Hammadi Codex II, folio 32, the beginning of the Gospel of Thomas. The text has also been identified in fragments of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (1, 654 and 655). Both the Coptic Nag Hammadi and Greek Papyri have been found to be dependent upon a Syriac translation.