This BLOG post is done especially for my Sister Helen, 

who understands these things.

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.

Siddhartha Gautama, born in Nepal around 500 B.C.E.

Consider the Lily...

Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, Judea, in 4 B.C.E.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06bXq8zXbNQ

Twenty-five hundred years ago a Hindu prince born in Nepal, Siddhartha Gautama, came to a conclusion about how to find meaning in his own life and in the existence of every other living thing.  He said his discovery, his insight, was his awakening.  He taught a remarkably simple way of seeing things, of experiencing the world. He said we should look for the miracle in something as simple as a single flower. Five hundred years after Siddhartha Gautama, known today as the Buddha, another man lived in Asia, Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, Judea, who came to essentially the same conclusion.  Both of them are known for their sayings, their teachings. Both of them concluded that if someone learns to see the miracle of a flower clearly, the whole of life changes for that person. There is no evidence that Jesus knew the teachings of Siddhartha, but it is clear that both were on the same track. They said, “Be awake. Look.  See.”