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I Am A Church Sucker
ajani_mgo
Veteran
Alright I'll be quick on this... When I was young I was sent to an Anglican kindergarden so I learnt some stuff about Christ.. And I continued this interest even now...
But I feel so damm cheap whenever I step into a church, I behave exactly like a Christian... When I am 100% Buddhist... Something in my mind switches from Buddhist mode to Christian mode... Haha... Don't mind me next time overseas when I enter your church and act like a total fool...
But I feel so damm cheap whenever I step into a church, I behave exactly like a Christian... When I am 100% Buddhist... Something in my mind switches from Buddhist mode to Christian mode... Haha... Don't mind me next time overseas when I enter your church and act like a total fool...
0
Comments
Methinks it is simple courtesy to sit/kneel/stand at Mass. My father, a strong atheist, would genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament, remove his shoes in temple or mosque, cover his head in a synagogue and, I have no doubt, he would have made prostrations in a Buddhist temple. When I asked him why he did so, he told me that courtesy to our hosts is far more important than some personal opinion.
Against this, I recall many anti-clerical Frenchmen who would not even remove their hats in church!
If the church is not your 'home', you are a guest there. You have certain duties, as do your hosts. Also, you represent whatever your own beliefs may be. You will leave an impression about those beliefs.
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has spent much time in meeting people of many faiths and none. Except within his own (e.g. NKT) he has never expressed criticism or talked nonsense - as a result, he is welcomed everywhere and Buddhism as a whole has gained a new lustre.
When, on rare occasions, I attend Mass, I still kneel during the Consecration, I join in the responses (insofar as I can, without too much damage to my beliefs) and I present myself at the altar for a blessing. If I were invited to a meal at a friend's house, even if I couldn't eat the food, I would join in where I could.
To Thine own Self be True;
And it must follow - as the night the day -
Thou canst not then be false
To ANY Man."
Shakespeare. Hamlet
Spoken by Petronius.
I agree with everyone else -- in a church you follow their ways as a courtesy. Perhaps you might try looking at what is going on and looking for the similarities instead of the differences.
One way to look at a faith (religion) is as defining "ourselves", as being a 'statement of who we are". If we take it this way, then it is easy to feel unhappy in a religious place that is not of our own faith. We might feel threatened, or uneasy. But there is another thought we could have in our mind as we attend a service in a different religion -- to sit in compassion with the community, and join in with the things we have in harmony -- (all religions encourage compassion). Then we have a goal to reach for, and the issue of our identity might not sit so heavily.
And so there is a challenge, a wonderful opportunity to develop ourselves.
A lotus for you --
EM
Wow... that was very big of your dad to do that. I also think it was a good lesson for his children to see these basic principle of respect.
-bf
Why do you do this when you don't even believe in one? Is it because your friends are going and you're just wanting to hang out with them? With your family?
I'm just trying to figure out why you're going through the motions?
-bf
This church, the Church of Saint John in the Wilderness, is a place of great peace and a number of my Tibetan friends go there for its silence.
Sacred places are sacred places: if we open ourselves to the spirit of the place, we can come away with more than we had when we arrived.
Palzang
:-/