my christian freind...sigh........

cabossimn

so my christian friend when i told him i wanted to be a buddhist monk he was alright with it...at first. but then today when i tryed to get him to meditate[hes going through some stuff thats cause negativity in him] to help him out. he said that he couldnt do it, me trying to help him out i said nah its fine its not hard at all just focus on one thing like breathing or what ever so i try to get him to sit down and relax but he makes fun of diferent poses and i say you should start with samatha which i think is the easiest.he makes fun of the word samatha and then when we actually start meditating he starts gigleing and laughing histaricaly and im just trying to find some peace. i turn to him he says and i qoute "oh im sorry i was imagineing me doing this to your face [he elbowed his hand] i continued to meditate and he continued to giggle i had found some peace and was even rejoiceing that my freind had fun on my behalf. but we finished and he just started to make more and more fun which didnt bother me at the time because of my meditation but now i think it was rude and im wondering what would you have done i let him stay and have sanctuary from his problems until he left. what would you do?

vinlyn

Generally speaking, Buddhists frown on proselytizing, and although that's not precisely what you were doing, it comes close. I think most of us think that the individual has to come to Buddhism completely of his own volition.

Dakini

You didn't have to use the word "samatha" (foreign buzzwords tend to turn people off), or even call it "meditation". Doctors call it the "relaxation response". It can be taught simply as a calming technique. Secularizing it would give it a better chance to be accepted

MindGate

Generally speaking, Buddhists frown on proselytizing, and although that's not precisely what you were doing, it comes close. I think most of us think that the individual has to come to Buddhism completely of his own volition.

*nods* I agree.


Also, what is so funny about the would samatha? Seems pretty boring to me. Now, I could see some others words being funny, but samatha... really?

iamlakota

i don't think you were proselytizing... in general, christians are one big hangup in my opinion... i grew up in a very strict christian household, starting with church service and bible study every week at a very young age... because i began to question christian concepts and scripture i was eventually thrown out of their home at the age of 16... i didn't spend one single night on the street, my best friends parents immediately took me into their loving buddhist home... i remained estranged from my parents up until three years ago when my son was born... christians are strange humans... forgive your friend for he knows nothing...

Kensho

cabossimn

i don't think you were proselytizing... in general, christians are one big hangup in my opinion... i grew up in a very strict christian household, starting with church service and bible study every week at a very young age... because i began to question christian concepts and scripture i was eventually thrown out of their home at the age of 16... i didn't spend one single night on the street, my best friends parents immediately took me into their loving buddhist home... i remained estranged from my parents up until three years ago when my son was born... christians are strange humans... forgive your friend for he knows nothing...

Kensho

agreed i wasnt trying to convert him i was trying to help him deal with stress through that particular type of meditation i guess i didnt see a problem with being straight forwartd cause my intentions were good. but then this gets us back to the idea of equinimity. help as much as you can and if you cant help anymore let it go. so did my best and i let it go after he started to mock me for my beliefs when i was just ttrying to help him with a tool that many people of all faiths use, though this is the merican south so i shouldnt expect much huh? lol i dont mean to offend it was a joke not a bigotry. any shoe i did end up letting take refuge at my house until he was prepared to go back to the situation he was stressed about asnd i tried to make it as fun as possible so i think i did pretty darn well for my first time dealing with stuff like this.

cabossimn

also earlier that day we discussed the seriousness of my belief in buddhism because ive changed my mind on the topic of religion a lot so i told him from experience why i wasnt this or that and when i got to christianity he sort of tried to stop the convorsation though he was fine on every other point[interesting............] but yeah i dont blame him its just how he was brought up and wisdom comes many different ways

caz

A man once asked Atisha for a teaching...repeatedly Atisha replied to him that it wouldnt be worthwhile giving him a teaching if he didnt have faith it would help him.

cabossimn

got it

Cinorjer

If you watch what your friend is actually doing, his joking and laughing about your meditation and beliefs was his method of telling you to back off, that's all. Meditation isn't for everyone, believe it or not, not even if it will help relieve stress. There are other ways. For some, it's exercise. For some, it's getting involved in a movie or book.

genkaku

Once upon a time, I used to sit outside a Zen center's doors, waiting for the doors to open and morning or evening service to begin. As I watched pedestrians pass by, I literally could not see why or how they were passing up what I considered the importance of what occurred within the center. How could those pedestrians be so blind?! Really, I couldn't figure it out. I wanted to tell everyone about Buddhism ... if I liked it, everyone else needed to like it too.

Well, time passes. Just keep up your good, strong practice and a lot of foolishness tends to drop away.

cabossimn

mk