forgiveness 2

“We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned; the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history.”

-c.s. lewis mere christianity

i want to focus on two things c.s. lewis assumes here:

1)  We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you.

it seems to me, that as far as some teachings of  buddhism go, the aim is not to cancel the “you owe me” thought one has towards someone who steals their money or steps on their toe.      

“Indeed, it is said that if the buddha were flanked by two people, one of whom was massaging his right arm with fragrant oils and another who was stabbing his left arm with a knife, he would regard the two equally.”

the story of buddhism p. 77…