Saint Paul
James Tissot, 1890
My dear friends,
When we listen to this teaching of the Apostle Paul in Athens, we are invited to witness the conduct of a compassionate guide who speaks with both wisdom and skill. The Bodhisattva path calls us to meet beings where they are, to honor their sincerity, and to gently reveal a deeper truth that liberates. In these words, we see a way of speaking that opens hearts rather than hardens them.
and said, "Athenians, I see
how extremely spiritual you are in every way.
For as I went through the city
and looked carefully at the objects of your worship,
I found among them an altar with the inscription,
'To an unknown god.'
What therefore you worship as unknown,
this I proclaim to you."
- Acts 17:22-23
Here we see the first movement of a Bodhisattva: respect. Paul does not begin by condemning, he begins by recognizing the goodness already present. This is the practice of seeing the seed of awakening in all beings. By pointing to their altar to the unknown, he uses skillful means, turning their own devotion into a doorway. In this way, truth is uncovered from within their own experience.
does not live in shrines made by human hands,
nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything,
since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things."
- Acts 17:24-25
Now he loosens their grasping at forms. The ultimate cannot be contained in objects fashioned by thought and hand. This points toward emptiness, the freedom from all fixed concepts. When we cling to forms as ultimate, we limit the boundless. The Bodhisattva learns to use forms as skillful means, yet sees through them, recognizing that the source of life is not dependent on anything we construct.
and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live,
so that they would search for God and perhaps fumble about for him and find him--
though indeed he is not far from each one of us."
- Acts 17:26-27
Here the vision expands into interconnection. All beings arise from a shared source, and their lives unfold within conditions that invite awakening. This is dependent arising. Even our confusion, our fumbling, becomes part of the path. The sacred is not distant. It is intimate, closer than breath. The Bodhisattva trusts this nearness and helps others discover it for themselves.
as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we, too, are his offspring.'
Since we are God's offspring,
we ought not to think that the deity is like gold or silver or stone,
an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals."
- Acts 17:28-29
He now speaks in their own language, quoting their poets. This is deep listening expressed as teaching. Truth is revealed through familiar forms so that it may be received. To say that we live and move within the Divine is to point toward the ground of being that is never absent. When we know ourselves as arising within this boundless reality, attachment to lifeless images fades, and living wisdom begins to awaken.
now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
because he has fixed a day
on which he will have the world judged in righteousness
by a man whom he has appointed,
and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
- Acts 17:30-31
Finally comes the call to transformation. Ignorance is not condemned with harshness, it is met with an invitation to turn, to awaken. This is repentance as a shift of mind and heart. The teaching of judgment reflects the law of cause and effect, that all actions bear fruit. Jesus can be understood as the embodiment of awakened compassion and wisdom, a living assurance that liberation is possible within human life.
Thus, my friends, this passage reveals the path in action. Respect, skillful means, insight into emptiness, recognition of interdependence, and the call to transformation all arise together. Walk this path with patience and courage. Speak to others with kindness and clarity. Trust that awakening is near, and dedicate your life to helping all beings realize it.