Reasons to Convert to Buddhism?
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Why I Can't Give You Any
By Barbara O'Brien, About.com
After reading a heartfelt essay listing reasons to convert to Christianity, I
began to play with the idea of listing reasons to convert to Buddhism. And I
decided against it. Writing the list, I mean.
The truth is, I don't necessarily think everyone should convert to Buddhism. As
a religion -- and, yes, Buddhism is a religion 1-- Buddhism can be aggravating.
It takes discipline and dedication, many of the doctrines are bleeping near
impossible to wrap your head around, and non-Buddhists often will size you up
as some kind of post-Flower Child flake.
What is it to "convert," anyway? I suppose I should know this, since I was
raised in one religion and now practice another one. But I had left my
religion-of-origin and was used to being "Not a Christian" long before I
stumbled into Buddhism and realized I was home.
If "converting" means abandoning one religious path to take up another, I
didn't covert. Although my path led from Christianity to Buddhism, it was all
one path. Jesus still teaches me, just as Dogen and Nagarjuna and the Buddha
do.
True Religion
People who are eager to convert others to their religion usually believe their
religion is the "right" one -- the One True Religion. They think their
doctrines are the true doctrines and their God the real God, and all others are
wrong. Such a view makes two assumptions that I reject.
The first assumption is that an omnipotent and omnipresent entity such as God
-- or Brahma, or the Tao, or the Trikaya -- can be completely understood by
human intellect, and that this perfect understanding can be expressed in words
to form doctrines that transmit this perfect understanding to others with
unfailing accuracy.
And I say that's nonsense. I say no doctrines of any religion, including mine,
are the complete truth. All fall short of perfect understanding. All are
frequently misunderstood. The truest doctrines are just pointers, shadows on a
wall, or a hand pointing to the moon.
At the same time, it may be that most of the doctrines of most of the world's
religions reflect some small part of a great and absolute truth, so they aren't
necessarily false, either. As Joseph Campbell may have said, all religions are
true. You just have to understand what they are true of.
The Search for Transcendence
The other false assumption is that thinking the correct thoughts and believing
the correct beliefs are what define religion. I'm with historian Karen
Armstrong2 when she says that religion is not primarily about beliefs. Rather,
"Religion is a search for transcendence."
Of course, transcendence can be conceptualized many different ways, also. We
might think of transcendence as union with God or as entry into Nirvana. But I
don't think the conceptualizations are all that important, since all are
imperfect. Maybe God is a metaphor for Nirvana. Maybe Nirvana is a metaphor for
God.
The Buddha taught his monks that Nirvana cannot be conceptualized. In Exodus,
God refused to be limited by a name or represented by a graven image. It may be
hard for humans to accept, but there are places our almighty imaginations and
intellects cannot go.
Lights in the Darkness
I'm not saying beliefs and doctrines have no value, because they do. Doctrines
can be like a flickering candle that keeps you from walking in total darkness.
They can be like markers on a path, showing you a way others have walked
before.
Buddhists judge the value of a doctrine not by its factual accuracy but by its
skillfulness. A skillful doctrine opens the heart to compassion and the mind to
wisdom.
Rigidly fixed beliefs are not skillful, however. Rigidly fixed beliefs seal us
off from objective reality and from other people who don't share our beliefs.
They render the mind hard and closed to whatever revelations or realizations
Grace might send our way.
The One True Religion
I believe the world's great religions have all accumulated their share of both
skillful and unskillful doctrines and practices. I also have observed that a
religion that's good for one person can be all wrong for someone else.
Ultimately, the One True Religion for you is the one that most completely
engages your own heart and mind. It is that engagement that enables
transcendence.
I left Christianity because it no longer engaged my heart and mind. Well, the
heart maybe, but the mind said "Nope." But just because I walked away from
Christianity doesn't mean I think Christianity or any other religion is wrong
for everyone else.
Just yesterday I had a lovely conversation with the cantor of a nearby
synagogue. As he spoke of being a cantor is was clear that Judaism illuminates
his life and is his One True Religion. I'd have been the world's most boorish
ass to even think of "converting" him.
Engaged Buddhism
It's been twenty years since I found Thich Nhat Hanh's Fourteen Precepts of
Engaged Buddhism 3. The first one is:
"Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even
Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not
absolute truth."
I knew then that Buddhism was a religion I could enter into with my entire
heart and mind without leaving my critical thinking skills at the door. And
it's also why I feel no deep compulsion to convert anyone.
If you are looking for a spiritual home, I'm happy to help you learn about
Buddhism. But I can't give you reasons to convert. You'll have to find those
within yourself.
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