Part I: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene: page 7
Pages 1-6 are missing:
For page 7: Jesus, Peter the Apostle, and Mary are asking and answering questions.
Page 7: Lines 1-10 of 28 lines:
…”What is matter?
Will it last forever?”
The Teacher answered:
“All that is born, all that is created
All the elements of nature
Are interwoven and united with each other.
All that is composed shall be decomposed;
Everything returns to its roots;
Matter returns to the origins of matter.
Those who have ears, let them hear.”
Mary asked Jesus about metaphysical issues, such as what is the nature of reality, the nature of our world, the nature of our existence. In this text, Jesus is addressed as “Teacher”. Lessons are to follow from the asking of questions.
The answers given to Mary included how all of creation is not only interdependent and impermanent, but also eventually becomes decomposed and returned to it’s origins. These revelations have also been revealed in the ancient sacred writings and teachings of the Heart Sutra of Buddhism and the Dao De Jing of Laozi.
Heart Sutra:
The Heart Sutra is an understanding of the Buddha’s revelations of the Abjidharma, or Matrix of Reality, during the seventh monsoon season following his Enlightenment (ca. 432 BC). It was actually written down decades and centuries later. This sutra is also a useful summary of the basic viewpoints of Mahayana Buddhism. When the Buddha experienced his enlightenment, he realized essentially, but not totally, what Mary learned from Jesus as described in lines 1-10. Some Buddhists call this insight the Doctrine of Emptiness, where all creation (people, things, thoughts and events) have no self-independent existence, that is, they exist in relationship to one another, as one. These arbitrary lines that separate the different aspects of creation are products of mental fabrications.
More discussion and examination of the Heart Sutra can be found on this website, under the category “Other Asian Philosophies”, which has relied on the previous work of translator and commentator Red Pine.
Dao De Jing:
Legend has it that a man by the name of Laozi was traveling west into exile after serving several years as a government official. Noted for his wisdom and moral nature, the border guard at one of the mountain passes asked if Laozi could write down his insights. The result was the Dao De Jing (DDJ).
Chapter 40:
“Reverting back to its opposite is how the Dao moves
Being delicate and profound is how the Dao is used.
Under heaven, down here on earth
The ten thousand things emerge from Being-Within-Form
And Being-Within-Form emerges from Being-Without-Form“.
The ten thousand things means the countless people, things, thoughts and events that are manifested and expressed in and of this world. “Being-Within-Form” is the existence of these ten thousand things that can be thought, experienced, remembered, named, described and categorized within the form of our minds. With the use of language, as well as the ability to be expressed non-verbally. The Chinese word is “you” (有), which literally means “to have”. To be of this material world. To have substance. To have attributes and categories.
“Being-Without-Form” (“wu” 无 “means “without”) is existence outside and beyond the material world. That which cannot be named, described or categorized. Some Western people may think of it as spirit, or things of the spiritual realm.
In chapter one of the DDJ, both “you” and “wu”, when applied, are both different ways of viewing the world and creation. When the world is seen through the eyes of “you”, one can see the borders and boundaries of existence. When seen through the eyes of “wu”, one can experience the bright and brilliant wondrous mystery.
So to reword or rethink what the author of Mary Magdalene heard from Jesus, all that is born and created is Empty and one with each other. Everything that exists within form, is perceived as isolated pieces which then reverts and returns back into their origins, back into existence without form.