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Your Religious Past
tmottes
Veteran
I was raised in the LDS (mormon) faith and I have held on to a lot of resentment and anger toward the church. Since really practicing buddhism, I have been able to release a lot of these negative feelings and see the positives that come from religions (despite the negatives). We did a decent amount of singing in church and every once in a while I still have a song that pops into my head from days long since passed: I would like to share it with you. The mormon faith really focuses on "good deeds", so this isn't just feel good music, but a reminder of what actions we are to take. Are there things from your religious past that you can look back at now and have a new appreciation for them?
Lyrics:
Because I have been given much, I too must give.
Because of thy great bounty, Lord each day I live.
I shall divide my gifts from thee with every brother that I see,
who has the need of help from me.
Because I have been sheltered, fed by thy good care…
I cannot see another’s lack and I not share-
my glowing fire, my loaf of bread-my roof’s safe shelter over head,
that he too may be comforted.
Because I have been blessed by thy great love dear Lord,
I’ll share thy love again according to thy word.
I shall give love to those in need. I’ll show that love by word and deed,
thus shall my thanks be thanks indeed.
Lyrics:
Because I have been given much, I too must give.
Because of thy great bounty, Lord each day I live.
I shall divide my gifts from thee with every brother that I see,
who has the need of help from me.
Because I have been sheltered, fed by thy good care…
I cannot see another’s lack and I not share-
my glowing fire, my loaf of bread-my roof’s safe shelter over head,
that he too may be comforted.
Because I have been blessed by thy great love dear Lord,
I’ll share thy love again according to thy word.
I shall give love to those in need. I’ll show that love by word and deed,
thus shall my thanks be thanks indeed.
0
Comments
This is normal & excepted when we come to Buddhism and find happiness, understanding & inspiration. However, this also happens when we have not fully learned & understood Buddhism. The more we learn about & understand Buddhism, the more we can learn & understand that the Buddha taught all of the themes above before the emergence of Christianity (except for the 'God' part).
One needs to be careful to not give Buddhism due credit for our awakening by giving too much appreciation to religions that did not really generate our awakening.
But as I said, this 'projecting the clarity of Buddhism onto other religions' is normal & expected. It happens to many Westerners (like it once happened very strongly to me).
If we wish, we can read about the Buddha's version of 'Blessings' at this link:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.2.04.piya.html
All the best
Thank you for the link I will peruse it well.
Love is something if you give it away
Give it away
Give it away
Love is something if you give it away
You end up having more.
It's just like a magic penny
Hold it tight and you won't have any
But lend, it, spend it, and you'll have so many
They'll roll all over the floor
For love is something if you give it away...
(and a load of other verses)
Very Buddhist in essence, I think. I also used to like saying grace before meals and I still actually do give thanks before eating.
Of course, I don't take the 'god' bit literally these days, but I still believe we all have a Buddha Nature, somewhere, maybe deep inside. We are all striving for Enlightenment, whether or not we know it.
At college, I became a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth fundamentalist (which I wasn't good at due to the Quaker trait of always asking awkward questions). The one Bible verse which still makes me laugh goes something like this:
"Do good to your enemies, for in doing so you heap coals of fire upon their heads"
In other words, the most irritating thing you can do for someone who is mad at you, is to be kind to them. I have found it works beautifully - it drives them nuts and then they are forced to prove they are a better person than you by being even nicer to you. Ultimately, both of you forget about being enemies and the being nice becomes a habit. It worked with my MIL!
Then after a brief crazy period getting confused with metaphysics and "all religion are pretty much the same" I've finally been saved by the Buddha.
Raised Catholic (but didn't go to mass very often)
High school: agnostic
College: Church of Christ (its a long story)
Mid-1990s: agnostic, some interest in Daoism and postmodernist philosophy
Late 1990s: "liberal Christian" with interests in mostly Christian mysticism, involved in the Greek Orthodox Church >>> Episcopal >>> Unitarian Universalists >>> Quakers and then...
2001: Atheism, existentialism, Daoism (very loosely), basically "wandered in the desert" for nine years
2010: Buddhism (primarily Soto Zen)
Makes my head hurt just thinking about it all now LOL
After practicing Buddhism for something like 40 years, I look back in gratitude to the accuracy and usefulness of Swami Vivekananda's observation that "The mind [he meant intellect] is a good servant and a poor master."
I think I've begun thinking of religion in that way. When you "become" Buddhist, it doesn't mean you have to throw away wisdom from Methodism or Mormonism or Catholicism. It's just a part of your little bag of tricks of accumulated wisdom.
By trying to see all perspectives, I end up seeing no perspectives.
P.S. Glad to see you are back
I was baptized a Catholic, but my mother fell away from the practice and turned to that church. I have no idea why.
Eventually, my mother started practicing Catholicism again. Even though I was baptized a Catholic and went to Catholic grammar school, I didn't know much about the religion.
It took me a long time to see anything good in Christianity, as the belief system has always confused and frightened me. The best thing about Christianity is its followers. The Christian people I've met have been kind, understanding, open-minded and intelligent. Otherwise, I have nothing to say for the religion.
What is so appealing about it? The story of the Latter Day Saints kind of sounds like that of a bad fantasy novel.
When I was an adult and started reading about Buddhism, I realized that although I didn't know it, I'd pretty much always been a Buddhist in my beliefs.
I like Gandhi's quote:
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
@vinlyn fair enough. I just got tired of holding on to the negativity. I was born and raised a mormon, but it wasn't ever really mine.
I wanted to add though that there's a huge difference between being an "ex" member and an "anti" member.
I am glad I was up in Weber County. I wouldn't have survived very well down there
The members are actually really good people. Its just the mind-numbing incessant regurgitating of unverified viewpoints that repulses me. I can see that many of the converts have found happiness and a sense of greater meaning from joining, and that's great. You know, I talked to the local LDS bishop about Buddhism and such, and he said the church encourages reading other spiritual texts outside Mormonism. Also, they believe that one can learn spiritual truths that aren't in the bible. So, I think Mormonism is a lot less fundamentalist than some of the other Christian churches, but in the end its still a belief system.
It's your mind seeking for a "fight" caused by your greed for fame.
"stupid Christians, intelligent buddhist, me!!!!"
In high school I began questioning it more and more and a year or two after I graduated, I considered myself agnostic/atheist. I stayed this way for a decade but I became increasingly angry.
Recently I began having even more trouble focusing and relaxing. I would literally come home from work and think about work. I'd want to get lost in the TV instead of enjoying time with my family.
I decided to look into meditation and about a month ago, I started. It was then that I starting reading more about Buddhism. It really fit my beliefs all along.
It's taught me a lot. Before, I was an arrogant atheist who liked to mock Christianity. Buddhism taught me not to be concerned with what others believe. Let them live their lives. It's only the beginning. I now look forward to everyday,
I think it is important to understand where we come from and give our parents credit for trying to do what they thought was the best for our spiritual future. In their own way most of them gave us the impetus to find what was right for us rather than limping along in what did not work.
You know how this site says "Welcome Home" when you log in? It's 100% accurate.
My teens and early 20's were spent in the deep South of America, so the UU Church provided me at least a vast group of Buddhist to be around. All this....what did I take away?
I have no ill feelings for the hours of time spent at those services with my Nana. I stayed diligent with my study and meditation, and like all things, the practice helps you transition into different stages of your life.
Just a Lay/Householder point of view.
Ha, what was I thinking, limiting myself?
And I know the obvious question, why not be none? Why not just sit with that thought and meditate on emptiness or accept my beliefs without labeling them? Well, they have all taught me a lot. Especially Buddhism. Without the decision to follow all three, I would not have joined this forum, looked into Buddhism more deeply, and the concept of emptiness, meditation, and lack of self (there is no self, just emptiness) would have been lost on me.
Wow that was long, haha.
Im sorry but I dont care for people and a book telling me if I can't follow its impossible instructions Im a horrible unredeemable person but if I enbrace god I can get away with mass genocide and still go on to a happy afterlife
as this video puts it:
In my teen years I was the typical angry, religious abusing atheist. I loved science and thougt anybody who was involved with any religon was ignorant, stupid and really delusional. Turns out that was actually me lol.
Now I try to conform to buddhism and accept other religions and people who follow them.
I do not feel any hostility towards my old religion. I'm morally conservative by nature, so I tend to be at least ethically more of the viewpoint with religious people than non-religious. Although I hold no theological positions, I probably am closest to Judaism in social and ethical views.