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Wuddhism
The single greatest hurdle to embracing a spiritually syncretic path is, as one might suspect, the task of developing a working umbrella philosophy that comfortably cradles each of the traditions that you're melding together. My personal spiritual path combines Buddhism (mostly Tibetan) with Wicca, and, after pulling some supporting concepts from my history in ceremonial and chaos magic, I believe that I've finally structured a viable system of spiritual transformation.
I did a little searching about this forum before making this post, and I know that there are other "Wuddhists" out there
. The questions that I bring to you pioneers are: in embracing both Buddhism and Wicca, what is your resulting worldview? What philosophy have you developed that allows you to bring these two wonderful vehicles together as a single practice?
For any readers that aren't of the Wuddhist persuasion, I still invite you to participate in this discussion. I welcome any questions that you might have about my joining of Buddhism with Wicca; the act of explaining my synthesis to another will undoubtedly help me to further flesh out my system.
Thank you for taking the time to read/respond.
I did a little searching about this forum before making this post, and I know that there are other "Wuddhists" out there
. The questions that I bring to you pioneers are: in embracing both Buddhism and Wicca, what is your resulting worldview? What philosophy have you developed that allows you to bring these two wonderful vehicles together as a single practice?For any readers that aren't of the Wuddhist persuasion, I still invite you to participate in this discussion. I welcome any questions that you might have about my joining of Buddhism with Wicca; the act of explaining my synthesis to another will undoubtedly help me to further flesh out my system.
Thank you for taking the time to read/respond.
1
Comments
What is your need to practice magick? I believe it can be real, but can you see any benefits from it? A lot of magick has to do with summoning and making partnerships with spirits. Sometimes these partnerships with spirits end up giving the magick user abilities that they think are their own, when in reality it tends to be the spirit doing you a favor. Which if you keep asking for these types of favors, most likely there will be negative karma, in some sort of way.
That is just my opinion based on what I know and what I have seen.
I feel they're very different religions. Buddhism is mostly beneficial psychology for ones mind. Wicca is practice of witchcraft, more often than not using the aid of spirits. Some Wiccans also worship these spirits. That is attachment to something for power. I don't think that compliments Buddhism too well.
Buddhism is mostly a philosophy, so you can practice Wicca while being a Buddhist, but then you throw a lot of Buddhist philosophy away. Because if one studies Buddhism enough they see that there is not too much benefit from worshiping spirits. I practice martial arts, and work out, but I do these for my own health, self improvement and perhaps one day for money (you need money to live). But I have no religious faith towards these disciplines, they're just tools for self improvement.
Maybe if Wicca could be done that way it could be good. But the problem would be that when you practice magick or worship spirits you're no longer working on self improvement. And there could be karmic backlash for relying on spirits.
It was very compelling what you wrote although I don't know much about Wicca. In Tibetan Buddhism there are 'spirits' in the form of Deities. The difference is that you realize the deity is luminous and empty. Thats the first step. My teacher tells me thats all the steps too. Or at least the end. There might be some skillful means to awaken the seed and bring it to a stability and manifest?
Sometimes when you are missing real compassion you can look up to avalokiteshevra or another friend and wish that that feeling and ?? don't have the words. I think you are right that it isn't exactly a power, but power is ok as long as its not the center of our values. I imagine even witches are in tune with more than just power.
The pull of a spirit could form an attachment, but for me thats like the pot and kettle I guess, in that I am attached to good feelings and it is like pulling teeth to get me in tune with the messages from reality in mindfulness.
Jeff
Just another perspective to offer...
I view this in the same way as I view Fusion cooking.
What's the point?
Buddhism is Buddhism, Wicca is Wicca....
Why try to meld the two?
because people want the best of both worlds...
They combine the two because they feel committed to one, but reluctant to release the other....
So one foot in each canoe seems to make walking on water much simpler.
Until they start drifting apart, that is....
Then, you have to make the choice which foot to lift, and put into the same canoe as the other.
:rolleyes:
Let me now take some time to delve into this issue.
While reading, please keep in mind that the statements that I make concerning Wicca are tailored to my particular branch and understanding of it. I do not wish to misrepresent any differing interpretation of Wicca that one may possess. Thus, I affirm here that I do not speak for Wicca as a whole. Having said that...
Wicca is traditionally held to be duotheistic; it is founded on the presence of a God and a Goddess. These two figures are often further conceived of as manifestations of the One Thing, the non-dual source of all things that defies description and explanation. Wiccans may work with and revere the Lord and Lady, but most are acutely aware that these figures serve as psychic intermediaries that allow the mind to interact with something that it would otherwise be unable to conceptually latch on to. I should also mention that some branches of Wicca view deity as being immanent throughout the material world. Everyone and everything has a projection of the God and Goddess--and thus the One Thing--within. My conception of deity is more pantheistic in that I see all things as being deity; there is nothing to project into because that which receives the projection is nothing other than deity.
How am I defining deity, then? If Buddhism has no place for spirit worship, then how does the concept of any deity at all fit into the matrix of my beliefs? For me, deity isn't something that is external to me. It isn't an anthropomorphic entity or collection of entities. It is simply the underlying nature of all things. It is an inconceivable, a changeless, and a pure state of being. Its Buddhist analog would be the Buddha-nature. My path does not require a worship of this nature; it merely offers means to reach it (or to realize that it has always been there).
This is where the God and the Goddess play a role and where I've borrowed from ceremonial magic and Tibetan Buddhism. In my paradigm, I work with and "address" the God and Goddess as aspects of that nature (that I already unknowingly possess) that I aspire to, but I do not worship these figures as separate, autonomous entities.
You should feel free to merge any beliefs you want. That's the nature of belief. There's a peace beyond the need to believe, though, and that is what can be of benefit from the teachings of the Buddha; a more lasting benefit, if you come to know the nature of this grasping.
When Wiccans run around in the night circling a stick burrowed in the ground uttering lyrics in hope of some kind of release which may initialize some change in the universe which again will make rain fall and crops grow in Africa, I donate to Unicef - that way I don't have to hope my contribution to this world makes a real difference in the lives of people.
The "magic" - being really cool and awesome, and I wish I could believe such things - also has a tendency to take over everything. It's mystical and cool, feels important, is easily done, it attains your hearts wish and builds ego like nothing else - it has all the elements which makes it a great attraction.
You can spend hours and hours reading about and planning rituals, trying and trying over (when the results stay absent it's not because the magic doesn't work, it's "just me doing it wrong/not believing enough/not being ready/evil forces/etc.")
All that time and effort was better spent meditating, practicing the Path and attending your job/study/both - the effects show themselves immediately..
Wiccans are almost always nice people with sympathetic views, but frankly I find their (understandable) fascination of tell-tale "magic" quite incompatible with Buddhism..
@Mr Serenity, I think Wuddhism, like Jubu, just sounds baddass.
@Ficus_religiosa, Maybe the magic(k) functions sort of like prayer, something that even Buddhists engage in.
So "what's the point?" What's the point in maintaining hard and fast delineations that don't exist except conceptually? It goes against the grain of human history NOT to fuse, NOT to pick and choose and bring to bear our own history, influences, personality and temperament, preferences, cultural heritage, experience, etc. onto the foods, the landscapes, and, yes, the ideas and religions we come across. Modern "fusion cooking" is simply carrying on this millenia-old process. We all do, whether we admit it or not. Most of us on this forum are practicing "fusion cooking" of various disparate traditions of Buddhism that have had no contact with one another until fairly recently: Soto Zen here, with Burmese Theravada there, or Thai Theravada here, mixed with Vajrayana there. And, indeed, many of these various traditions wouldn't exist if they hadn't melded what was originally an Indian religion to their own preexisting cultures. Hell, even the very words we use are admixtures of various influences: English is a mongrel of Latin-by-way-of-the-Normans and German-by-way-of-the-Anglo-Saxons.
Just some "food for thought." (Pardon the pun.)
I like you.
I think Wicca and Buddhism is a great example of extremely poor fusion cooking.
Rather like Pidgin English, or a Jewish woman falling in love with a Muslim....
Bad mix.... inadvisable.
Some fusion is good, but if there is no inherent advantage, I think it best to work on the individual components and not meld them for no reason....
Wuddhist in Chaos....
Seems apt.
@WuddhistInChaos, you are right that the inclusion of the Goddess is of immense importance in the growth of these spiritualities.
Of course, we, here, are so advanced that we can see that all dualities are empty. We live in a world of total unity. Don't we?
Well, not by me we don't. So much response here asserts or implies that "I am right and you are wrong."
@Fede, some have found a resting place. I would, however, question the image of the canoeist, one foot on the bank and the other in the boat, or that of riding two horses. It is more like a child on a scooter: we still need to propel ourselves along with one moving foot.
We may be far behind some of our friends here, or we may be streaking on ahead of them. I have no way of telling but I enjoy the ride and it certainly reduces my own stress.
My point is that in trying to balance a foot in each canoe (One being Buddhism, and the other being Wicca) at one point or another, there will be a wobble, an imbalance, and it will eventually be impossible to maintain an equilibrium.
I am not the only one to state this, and I think, through my experience, that it is true.
In order to call one's self Wiccan or Buddhist, that is what you have to be adhering to.
To call yourself a Wuddhist actually doesn't mean you are both. It means you are neither.