I feel like in most cases the best way to learn about another religion is to ask someone pertaining to that religion to explain it to you. Books on religion (and by books I'm not including scriptures) can try to give you the "facts" of what different religions believe, but when you ask a person what they believe I feel like you find more truth in that answer because they explain it more with feelings than with facts.
So it was in our Tibetan class on Wednesday when TJ told us about Buddhism. Thanks go to Megan for asking him to tell us about his religion. And then once we got into the subject most of us joined in with more questions. He probably only talked about it for 10 or 15 minutes, but I learned a lot in that time.
At times Buddhism can seem very different from Mormonism or Christianity, but at other times it is extremely close. This is how I felt when TJ summed up his religion by explaining that basically he believes that you should be a good, compassionate person, and that you should do things to better yourself as well as love and help the people around you. And in the end I think that's what most religions believe in. The doctrines will always have differences, some greater than others, but when it comes down to it, most people feel and believe in "doing good".
This is something that the Dalai Lama also expresses in his book, "Toward a True Kinship of Faiths: How the World's Religions Can Come Together". There is so much misunderstanding, mistrust, and - in some cases - even hate between the religions of the world, but the Dalai Lama explains that all religions believe in being compassionate and urges us to be compassionate to all, no matter what their religion. He says that by getting out of our comfort zone and learning about other religions we will strengthen our own faith as well as our love for others in different religious cultures.
I am looking forward to learning more about Buddhism as well as Hinduism, and I feel that the faith that people have in these religions will play a large role in my project when it comes down to the question of why people are so willing to serve one another.
Great post Matt, thank you for sharing! I am sad I was not in class for this!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like an interesting book you are reading. I too am fascinated by Buddhism, both by the similarities and differences, but it is nice to see that all religions preach good moral principles. I remember learning once that Buddhism was the only major world religion that have not warred against other religions. I think I heard that in my World Religions class, and I am not sure how legitimate that is, but I think that it is interesting.
I like your thoughts on learning about religion. There really is value in focusing on the lived experience of religion and not just the doctrine. I think it also relates to an earlier discussion in class regarding values and the difference between ideals and lived values. How does your interest in lived religion influence what you want to learn about Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism? Are there certain approaches that may be useful when studying this aspect of religion?
ReplyDeleteDitto on what Ashley said. Sometimes even two drastically different doctrinal worlds are not necessarily at odds when it comes to day-to-day priorities and practice.
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