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complex issue - well I just feel like complex.
I have a slightly complex issue, Im sorry for posting on here I guess its easy getting advice from strangers than actually approaching a friend with this. I was born into a faith that never seemed right for me and lets just say that was always really just a title I used for whenever I had to fill out forms. Anyway years back my uncle died and it kind of set me off on this path to figure out the a religion I do believe in and follow and when I had those rock bottom moments it actually helped me up, the Abrahamic religion that I was born into did nothing for me.
Since this whole thing started I have had to start meditation and yoga to help me through the stress and ill health I was in at the time (plus I was having a hard time dealing with my uncles death) that lead me to Buddhism but lately I've just identified with Christianity. I was talking to a friend while at the gym about how im studying both Christianity and Buddhism and she just said something about how I may end up where I started, lost confused and just an eager hippy!
But I cant get over this feeling that im doing something odd. Has anyone else reverted from one faith to a totally different one? Im so sorry to have to discuss this here where it possibly doesnt even relate much.
Since this whole thing started I have had to start meditation and yoga to help me through the stress and ill health I was in at the time (plus I was having a hard time dealing with my uncles death) that lead me to Buddhism but lately I've just identified with Christianity. I was talking to a friend while at the gym about how im studying both Christianity and Buddhism and she just said something about how I may end up where I started, lost confused and just an eager hippy!
But I cant get over this feeling that im doing something odd. Has anyone else reverted from one faith to a totally different one? Im so sorry to have to discuss this here where it possibly doesnt even relate much.
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I wanted to feel, feel, feel god.
Not just believe.
I also experienced a loss and in the depth of my hell tha no one couldget me out of, I had amoment of peace.
VerY strange.
I later learned what that feeling was...my body, mind and heart were suffering so much that at the point of exhaustion a space opened up for me of complete bliss.
It was spontaneous.
I recommend you talk to some people here...you are into something so kept searching.
I recommend eckhart tolle audiobooks, see if that resonates with you.
I suggest you be alittle careful who yoi tell about your journey, you seem like a smart person and sometimes people derail somthing they don't understand.
Mayne once you gain some confidence I your practice you can be the living powerful presemce in their life.
I had the, "so what, now you are turning into a butterfly?" From someone very dear and I thought they were right.
Lol...yes, I am transforming...so what? it's my life...you don't have to live it.
Which is another thing...this is your journey...you must choose for yourself.
Just because they don't understand doesn't mean the practice is wrong.
I am a abrahamic monotheist. I practice the teachings of christ, the pillars of islam and buddhism.
PATRIARCH YIN KUANG
[PDF] PURE - LAND ZEN ZEN PURE - LAND
Zen , Zen Pure - Land” (second edition 1993∗),which is a translation of … Zen and Pure Land ,Pure Land Practice …
www.buddhanet .net/. ./yin_kuang. pdf
To be honest it was the process of grief that started it all off. I just couldnt comprehend how we as humans suffer so much, to be honest it was the question that I had at my uncles funeral....now what is he doing! I think that via meditation I have managed to stop my mind from being erratic and I think I ventured into the world Buddhism too fast and never eliminated my initial feelings of how I perceive God.
@Spaceless, thanks for the reccomendations I will take a look Zen and Pure Land I was trying out the Theravadin practice and thats not for me.
Lol
We've had threads on whether practicing Buddhism precludes a belief in God, and the upshot has been a tentative "yes". The Buddha never discussed the existence or not in a supreme being, he felt it was irrelevant to his method of eliminating suffering. So if belief in God works for you, go for it.
I think having a teacher is what lead to start feeling like im going off on an tangent back to the beginning.
The only difference between someone lost in the forest and someone who is just seeing the world is the lost one thinks there is somewhere else to be. Where are you trying to go? The forest is right there with you!
"One Creator, Creation, Truth is God's Name, Doer of everything, Fearless, Undying, Unborn, Self Illumined, It is by Guru's Grace, Repeat and Meditate! True in the beginning, True trough all the ages, True even now, Nanak says Truth shall ever be."
I'd say explore and follow where your heart goes. No need to feel odd about it.
I think that one can find solace in any religious study if it feels right to them. I know it is difficult to do sometimes, but don't let others determine what is right for you. Learn from other peoples experiences, keep an open mind, and I would bet you find what it is you're looking for.
As for my experience.....Buddhism grounded me where no religion could. It made me a better person. If that is what it takes for me to be a better person then I will take my chances on the outcome when this life comes to an end. I still rather enjoy talking and learning about Christianity and other religions with my friends and colleagues though.
Hope this helps.
If it's stress mgmt. you're after, just practice your meditation skills. You don't have to buy the whole package. Explore and find what balance between Christianity and Buddhism works for you. Maybe all you need is the secular "relaxation reponse", as the medical community refers to meditation.
The Theistic religions are H-U-G-E on the guilt-trip thing.....
Consider whether you can't let of of god, because part of you still believes s/he exists, or because part of you feels guilty for even thinking about it....
It doesn't seem odd to me, but I have been doing this all my life: Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Buddhist, Unitarian.
It doesn't seem odd to me, but I have been doing this all my life: Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Buddhist, Unitarian.
It's a journey through the desert we call life, from oasis to oasis
Experiences are different, person to person... i recently happened, by almost sheer chance, to reconnect with someone whom i knew in school, on FB... at the convent.... we have reminisced, and in spite of being separated by one year, we have very different memories, attitudes and opinions on our experiences...our recollections encompass virtually the same people - (both as staff and fellow pupils) and yet, our discussions seem to be about completely different places....!
I have said, time and time again, that my transition from Catholicism to Buddhism has met with absolutely no hostility, resistance, condemnation or judgement, from anyone in the Catholic faith, of my acquaintance....
And when I first embarked on my own personal journey from Christianity to Buddhism, i spent many a time wrestling with my conscience, but found that for myself, i had to make a choice.
There are those who feel they can combine a theistic practice, with a non-theistic one.
Thomas Merton excelled....
I cannot - and would never presume to - put myself in the same boat.
I can't do it.
I had to make a choice, but the more I studied Buddhism, the easier that choice became.
in the end, it all just fell away, and the incredible lightness of being was a relief.
It has been said that you can practice any Theistic religion you want, and incorporate Buddhism, seamlessly.
but you cannot practice Buddhism, and incorporate a Theistic religion, seamlessly.
The Buddha was silent on the question of the existence of an omnipotent creator.
Silent, because the discussion would have been inconclusive, and excessive pondering on an imponderable, cannot but bring helplessly confused results....
I've made my mind up as a 'no' on that one.
for me.
One person's experience.
I think a Bob Marley tune goes something like "We have a mind of our own - so go to hell if what youre thinking is not right!!"
The draw back to chopping and changing / amalgamating and making it up yourself is that you often find that you are reinventing the wheel or that certain concepts are explained differently in different forms which can lead to confusion and even contradiction.
The general advice seems to be that you should choose something that makes sense to you and then stick with it to obtain the most favourable and time efficient resolution...
For example - in Judo, there is an extreme focus on groundwork whereas taekwondo has barely any of this - if you train in judo for a year and then change to taekwondo you may well be able to work on your feet and on the ground (which is advantageous against an untrained opponent) but you may find that you are not expert in either so if you met a purist in either form, you may struggle...
As Fede says, Gotama avoided answering questions about a Supreme Being, although 'lesser' deities do appear in the discourses. Contemporary Western thought being essentially reductionist and philosophically materialist, it is often contextually simpler to assume that "God is dead". I certainly cannot assert what this G-o-d is, only that there is a mysterious and dazzling 'darkness' at the heart of all things that is not nothing.
In all this time, you must have studied the Gnostics, Simon. I find that Jesus in those teachings sounds very much like the Buddha. He said something about not taking teachings on outside authority, but to look within to find the truth.
I had never used the internet to gain all the knowledge on Buddhism that I had it was all primarily from the one meditation/Buddhism group that I joined. I was under the impression from the teacher within this group that to be a better student of Buddhism the best thing you can do is eliminate all the outside influences from other religions. So I would have to say leave Christianity at the door.
Gradually through time I just became distant from the group as with my own personal background and experiences I was just to uncomfortable to yet have to conform to the rules of this group, and for me the concept of God is my comfort blanket. One occasion sticks in my mind when I asked the teacher this same question can a person be both a Buddhist and Christian or a Buddhist and a Muslim his exact words were 'you are better off leaving Jesus at the door!'. My reaction to this was to use the door and never go back. But I do miss that hour with the group. Im actually glad I asked the question here and its more alike to what I believe in - being liberal and doing things in moderation.
thanks everyone
I think since leaving that group I am going to restudy Buddhism alone I think the group had a very different practice to others. They were clearly not liberal and I'm a total liberalist. Its like there was a extreme closeness to Hinduism and it was a little annoying!
all doctrine and dogma aside, what is crucial is focused study. If we are to weave Buddhism into modern thought, be it secular or Christian, we need to understand them deeply. We cannot simp[ly sail along with prevailing cultural winds because Buddhism is not part of our culture as it is in, say, Thailand or some other places.
This means that we must study.
And, indeed, I believe that if we are serious about finding the Common Ground, we have a lot of work to do. As @Dakini says, I have studied not just the canonical books of the Bible but the 'Gnostic' texts and other 'apocryohal' writings. Personally I have found that the Gospel of Thomas, in the authenticity of which I have bcome convinced. has been extremely useful.
Together with such early texts, sutra, treatises, etc., I have found great help in the more modern works by such scholars as Thich Nhat Hanh, Masao Abe, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and many more, together with conversations with practitioners of many levels.
Alongside such study, a daily praxis of meditation/prayer seems to me to be essential together with regular service to others.
While visiting and then living in Thailand I had a number of conversations with monks, and sort of discovered that different monks do have varying opinions on many matters related to Buddhism.
In one conversation, a monk said flat out -- you can be another religion AND Buddhist.
Another time three young monks wanted me to explain Christianity. They thought it was all very interesting, but laughed at the part about praying to Jesus. "What can a man who is dead do for you?"
None of us has it all figured out...although some on the forum think they do.