I will introduce the contents of my book "An Epic Tale of the People of the Covenant (The origin of Christianity)" as a slide show series.

Regarding the title of "An Epic Tale of the People of the Covenant (The origin of Christianity)," I will explain in another slide show.

A long time ago, a Zen priest called Daitokokushi told, "Sit in meditation, and behold pedestrians, on the Shijo Bridge, on the Gojo Bridge, emerging like trees on the mountain ridge" or "behold pedestrians as they are." I also make the slide shows in a room of a public housing adjacent to Singapore's Yishun MRT station, so it is inevitable that train passing sounds and various living sounds are mixed in.

And basically, just reading the text on the slides, I myself feel terrible, however I decided to pierce with bald-face.

Without further ado, let's get started from "A Gospel of Son of Man," that Jesus preached. The theme of this slide show as a whole is "Son of Man and His Disciples".

During his lifetime, Jesus called himself "Son of Man," thus his younger brother, James (James the Less), who led the Church of Jerusalem after Jesus' death, tried to interpret Jesus' intentions in the light of the Old Testament. Other younger brothers of Jesus, including the author of the Gospel of Matthew, and the author of the Gospel of Mark also generally took over the interpretation of James. The "son of man" that frequently appears in the Old Testament "Book of Ezekiel" is used when God calls the prophet Ezekiel and it is simply used as "a human child."

On the other hand, in the Book of Daniel, it is said that "one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven," as the illusion which the prophet Daniel saw.

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In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

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Perhaps Jesus was also inspired by these Old Testament accounts and called himself "Son of Man." However, Jesus, who appears in 《the Gospel of Thomas》, which is said to have been written by Thomas, one of the Twelve Apostles, preaches the gospel that "independence from God as 'Single one' is the realization of the Kingdom of God." It looks different from 《the Gospel of Matthew》 and 《the Gospel of Mark》. In 《the Gospel of Thomas》, "Son of Man" is used as the word to point to Jesus as the embodiment of 'Single one' = 'the androgynous Adam from who Eve has not been separated' = 'The Original Self' and ultimately to point to humans themselves. According to Mr. Sasagu Arai, the whole theme of 《The Gospel of Thomas》 is the independence of son from father on earth (Thomas 23/49).

《The Gospel of John》, one of the four canonical Gospels, generally inherits the former, but also incorporates the interpretation close to the latter.

Jesus said, "When you make the two into one, you will become children of Man, and when you say, 'Mountain, move from here!' it will move." (Thomas 106)　

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According to Mr. Sasagu Arai (荒井献), author of the Japanese version of 《The Gospel of Thomas》, the verse 106 of the Gospel of Thomas; Jesus said, "When you make the two into one, you will become children of Man, and when you say, 'Mountain, move from here!' it will move." is a duplicate article of the verse 48; Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in a single house, they will say to the mountain, 'move from here,' and it will move." However, the phrase of 'When you make the two into one' strengthens 'Gnosticization' rather than verse 48.

In other words, if the divided one restores the primitive integration, it will be a descendant of the primitive "human", that is, the androgynous Adam, from who Eve has not been separated. The phrase in the verse 106 of the Gospel of Thomas "when you say, 'Mountain, move from here!' it will move" reminds us of the Gospel of Matthew chapter 18 verse 19; "if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven." and the latter half of the Gospel of Matthew chapter 17 verse 20; "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Paul criticizes one who has faith as strong as he could move mountains but does not love others in the Chapter 13 verse 2 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. However, he seems to criticize boasting "faith" rather than "Gnosis (Wisdom or recognition)". Thus he seems to criticize the Gospel of Matthew rather than the Gospel of Thomas, according to Mr. Sasagu Arai.

On the other hand, Paul, who advocated his own theory of "justification by one's faith," preached "A Gospel of Son of God" from the beginning of his missionary life. He stated that he had received this gospel directly from Jesus in a vision, and took a stance of disregarding Jesus' teaching during his lifetime and teachings of Jesus' direct disciples.

《The Gospel of Luke》 says, "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. (Luke 16:16)" Apparently, the people described as "everyone is forcing his way into it (the kingdom of God)" are the group of Hellenists led by Paul and Luke itself, in other words, believers of Jesus not after the flesh and 《the Gospel of Luke》 welcomes this situation. In contrast, a parallel article in 《the Gospel of Matthew》 rings the alarm bell and says, "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it (Mat 11:12)." Matthew and other direct disciples of Jesus, in other words, Hebraist believers, seems to have been threatened by the rise of Hellenist believers.

The author of 《the Gospel of John》, too, says, "This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world." (1 John 4:2-3) He also violently accuses Paul's followers, saying, "I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist." (2 John 1:7) and is warning, "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work." (2 John 1:10-11)

(Subjects which Zen masters give their students in the meditation hall are called 'Kosoku-koan(古則公案)' and the current problems faced by the people in the real world are called 'Genjo-koan(現成公案)')

Why did this happen? The Gospel of Jesus, that is, "Baptism with the Holy Spirit" itself is the cause. According to 《the Gospel of Thomas》, "Baptism with the Holy Spirit" is nothing but letting one discover oneself who has been one with God from the beginning, in other words, letting one return to the original self, that is, 'the androgynous Adam from who Eve has not been separated.'

Jesus explained this using various metaphors, and his disciples had no choice but to find the answer themselves. The answers that the disciples arrived at were various and not one. They might be correct or not be correct.

The "Baptism with the Holy Spirit", which was transmitted to India, China, and Japan through Thomas's eastern evangelism, came to fruition as Zen Buddhism. At the Rinzai Zen temple (臨済系禅門) in Japan, Roshi (老師: honorific title for teachers of Zen Buddhism) gives students who have passed a koan (公案: subject which Zen-masters give each religious to learn and practice the doctrine of Buddhism) such as 'one's original face (intrinsic nature) before his parents were born (父母未生以前自己本来の面目)' and 'Zhaozhou's wu (趙州の無字),' a question to test the students to use their enlightenment in practice, such as "To bring Mt. Fuji with a wick." Such test is called Gogono-shirabe (悟後の調べ: Inspection after Enlightenment). As it means that, once you attain the absolute state of 'Heaven, earth, and I have the same root and myriad things and I are one body' proclaimed in Sengzhao(僧肇)'s gatha, in light of the teaching of 'Si Liao Jian (四料簡: Four Processes for the Liberation of Subjectivity and Objectivity)' by Lin-ji Yi-xuan (臨済義玄?-867), there should be nothing of difficulty in carrying Mt. Fuji on your palm. By the way, under the temple laws (寺院諸法度) set by the Tokugawa Shogunate (徳川幕府), a priest of the Rinzai sect had to pass dozens of koans over decades in order to be qualified as an Roshi, and each time he passed each koan, this kind of 'Gogono-shirabe' was imposed.

Jesus was crucified just over three years after his debut to the religious society of Jerusalem through the baptism in the Jordan River and the testimony in Bethany by John the Baptist. It must have been difficult to find the essence of "Baptism with the Holy Spirit" in that three years or so for the disciples such as the brothers of Zebedee (James the Greater and John) and the brothers of Peter and Andrew who had become disciples of Jesus immediately after John's testimony.

Though Thomas, Nathanael (Bartholomew), Philip, Mary Magdalene, and Mary Salome, the keeper of the Essenes meetinghouse, seem to have been interacting with Jesus before that, it seems that even the author of the Gospel of Thomas could understand the essence of "Baptism with the Holy Spirit" through his eastern evangelism after the death of Jesus.

Such thing, that is, bewilderment and confusion of his disciples, Jesus knew from the beginning. Jesus rushed toward the hill of Gorgoda, carrying his cross immediately after he was baptized by John, and through doing this he baptized with the Holy Spirit on all mankind. As a result, not only the New Testament canon and apocrypha were written by the Twelve Apostles, but Islam and Mahayana Buddhism were born, and Zen culture also blossomed.＜To be continued＞

According to the dialectic of the Gospel of John,

【Thesis】"A man can possess eternal life through accepting testimony of the Son of man and being baptized by him." (John 5:24)

【Anti-thesis】But "The one who comes from the earth cannot accept the testimony by one from heaven." (John 3:32)

How then can a man possess eternal life?

【Synthesis】"If you want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, you can just go back to the word which was with God in the beginning (John 1:1) and certify that God is truthful. (John 3:33)"

When he said, "You are Huichao," Zen Master Fayan thrusted vivid Self in Huichao in front of his eyes.