- that nickname really appealed to me before I visited Thailand for the first time. When I learned the country is 90% buddhist, and then visited, I really enjoyed the people and everything you describe. Caused me to return a few years later, and travel around there a few months. Buddhism appeals to me. It's so non religious chauvinism, as you aptly say.

Thanks for your post.

Back in the "Olde Days" (well, more than at least a half century or so ago) people were less rude about their faith groupings, at least in public. Each group quite naturally thought theirs was the preferred one, but no one got shirty about it or felt the need to wave pom-poms and scream about their choice like they were at the Superbowl!

I hope we can emulate that kind of vibe here...I imagine there's something we all can learn from most religions, certainly from the ones that have more than a few adherents, anyway.

It was a shake-n-bake project (An' ah hepped!!!)...but a load of people from all faith groups and none weighed in to demonstrate a desire for the place, their input was vital.

It took awhile, but third time's the charm, I guess. I think the admins wanted to make sure the previous efforts weren't just a flash in the pan. I also think the recent Pope resignation/conclave did point out a need for a place where people could just talk and be decent to one another.

is in a way spiritual. For this I'm grateful, wherever it may occur.

Many years ago when I was young, as a Catholic, we were absolutely forbidden to have any association with Protestant churches, services, etc. And I knew Protestants who believed some odd (and incorrect) things about Catholics. That has faded away to a large degress over the years, and at least in my town, there are good feelings and joint events/activities between the Catholic and Protestant parishes.

Of course, this was all withing the context of Christianity, where we all had more-or-less the same beliefs.

People were much more coy about how they dealt with the differences, though. I don't know if their way of handling it was better, but it was certainly less overtly rude! That said, a lot of little kids were probably left the dire and horrible unspoken "knowledge" that their pals of different faiths were going to have trouble as a consequence of belonging to the "wrong" club!

I think, aside from ecumenical efforts by priests, ministers, rabbis, etc., media has helped a lot to change attitudes and foster understanding, too. Religion is woven into everything from dramatic presentations on TV and movies to comedies. When people are able to see the people from other religions practicing their faith, it becomes less strange to them.

Even today, though, Sunday morning is still the "segregated hour" though that paradigm is slowly being challenged. There are more multi-racial/multi-cultural churches today, but there are still a lot of places that are still rather homogenized!

Try being a Catholic kid in Alabama in the 1950s. My teacher had me stand in front of the class while they prayed for my soul. When my parents complained, the principal supported the teacher. It could have been worse: I could have mentioned that my mother was a Jew.

Though recently she has become more devoted to the Buddhism, specifically Thich Nhat Hanh. She has founded a small sanga.

Bhikkhu Buddhadasa.

There is a large volume of his work that has been translated into English. He is easy to understand, and very direct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhadasa

Also there is a Forrest Monestary in Escondido California

http://www.watmetta.org/

It is run by American monks and the abbot, Acharn Geoff was trained in Thailand for many years.

They are very meditation oriented. You can visit and stay for free and practice meditation there, and receive numerous volumes on Buddhism in English.

They receive thousands of visitors from all around the world, including many from Europe.

Deer Park Monastery

http://deerparkmonastery.org/

My wife and daughter did a summer session at Blue Cliff in New York, which is the closest one to us. We live in Maryland. I lived for many years in Los Angeles, and learned meditation at a metaphysical church.

http://bluecliffmonastery.org/

I will take a look at Bhikkhu Bhuddadasa. Thanks!

We should start a thread in Buddhism Group, interesting places to vist.

I have drawn from both christianity and buddhism. The buddhism has helped me greatly during times of high personal stress or frustration. The christianity has helped me greatly when I have to determine how to interact with other.

His Zen and the Birds of Appetite is fascinating, although he wrote in an afterword that "any attempt to handle Zen in theological language is bound to miss the point," calling his book "an example of how not to approach Zen." I suppose it's an example of how the Buddha which can be spoken of is not the true Buddha.

He died in a freak accident in Bangkok in 1968, when he was apparently electrocuted by a malfunctioning fan.

desert wrings (can't remember the title), & was moved by the grace that can be sharpened by solitude. Being alone, not lonely.

It's a collection, with commentary, on writings from monks right at the beginning of Christian monasticism in the fourth century, most of whom settled in the deserts of Egypt.

One that I particularly remember was from an abbot to another who was just setting up a monastery and had asked for advice. Among other things, the experienced abbot said to screen those seeking to join the monastery carefully, because some of them will be complete nutters, who will be extremely disruptive if let in.

My favorite of his books is Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, a collection of essays. Some of the strictly political stuff is dated, but his thoughts on religion are brilliant. He writes of a mystical experience he had on a street corner in Louisville, Kentucky of all places:

I have the immense joy of being a man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are, and if only everybody could realize what we are! There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun. Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each is in God's eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. I suppose the big problem would be that we would all fall down and worship each other. But this cannot be seen, only believed, and understood by a peculiar gift.

At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth. a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is so to speak his name written in us, as our poverty, as our indigence, as our dependence, as our sonship. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light come together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely...I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.

Merton is trying to describe the soul itself, what the Hindus would certainly call the divine spark. It has no substance, and the divine spark isn't what emits light, it is what really sees light, and good, and evil and all the other things. It feels tiredness indefatigably, feels any amount of pain without injury, sees, hears and feels without effort, perfectly, untouched in its essence by anything that it may witness until it makes a moral decision.

Something else he wrote echoes in my soul:

The Christ we seek is within us, in our inmost self, is our inmost self, and yet infinitely transcends ourselves. We have to be 'found in Him' and yet be perfectly ourselves and free from the domination of any image of him other than Himself. You see that is the trouble with the Christian world. It is not dominated by Christ. It is enslaved by images and ideas of Christ that are creations and projections of men and stand in the way of God's freedom. But Christ Himself is in us as unknown and unseen. We follow Him, we find Him, and then He must vanish and we must go along with Him at our side.

including myself, often, is getting overly frustrated with others who don't see this beauty when we happen to be seeing it clearly. Sometimes just for a fleeting amount of time. When we can see it and also refrain from judging others who aren't seeing it, oh what a joyous feeling. Recalling that feeling even when we're down can sometimes make us feel life is worth living.

Until I spent some time working on some Zen techniques as part of a college class. I still do it some times when I REALLY need to shut down all the junk around me and just look in that mirror. It made me a better Christian. Or at least it made me a better one when I finally took the plunge and became one.

As a Christian it is inevitable on some level that I will be in conflict with other religions. The key for me is how I manage that conflict.

to me. I've had that kind of thing over the years as well. Spent many years not praying at all. Spent many years angry, or praying to things or for things. Lately I just give thanks about blessings like having a roof over my head, heat in the winter, stuff like that. It usually helps me fall asleep better.

but have been put off by the aggressiveness of some forms of Christianity. My father is evangelical Christian. He pushed really hard to try and convert me and my family. It caused a lot of hurt feelings. I am working on forgiving and trusting him again, and hopefully I can get to a point where I can study Jesus.

because he was trying to convince himself.


My suggestion would be to to try and read it with a totally fresh mind and stop at Mark 16 verse 8 and rather than ask the question "who was Jesus?"

Ask yourself the question "why did he write this book?"

Good luck.