There are questions in life that may never be fated to meet their own answers, like "What is God?" or "What is Love?" or "What is Self?", and many more of them. No matter how we try to label some definitions upon those matters, it feels like we're fooling ourselves, pretending that we understand despite the honest fact within our mind. Dewi Lestari (Dee) in her book "Madre" said that God and Love are experience instead of explanation, journey instead of destination, expressing she didn't know the real answer when being asked about.
And as I've been learning Buddhism for some couple of years, it turns out there are "Buddhist-curious" out there who happen to be questioning some phenomenons in their lives and they've found it within Buddhism instead of the religion marked on their ID Card. My action has been inviting them to come and see me, and they ask me why I choose to learn Buddhism, and in the end they want to be "more Buddhist".
The problem is, most of us are clueless about how to be "Buddhist". Is it about meditation? Is it about performing rites in Buddhist temples? Or is it about setting up incense and then kneeling and prostrating before the Buddha statue? One thing for sure, it's absolutely not about converting your religion into Buddhism and then having it typed on your citizen ID Card.
We may have seen how Muslims are happy welcoming those non-Muslims who want to voice out the Shahada as their religious creed, or how Christians try to evangelize their neighbors, but my Buddhist friends instead are always worried whenever there are non-Buddhists who come saying they want to abandon their previous faiths and become a Buddhist. Even there is a Samanera (Novice Monk) I'm acquainted well with who, instead of explaining about Buddhism, preaches about Islam or Christianity to such kind of people according to their initial faiths.
A friend who initially was a Christian:
"I want to be a Buddhist. I've found many not wrong things to be judged wrong in my religion. It makes no sense."
"I want to be a Buddhist. I've found many not wrong things to be judged wrong in my religion. It makes no sense."
A Tibetan Mahayana Novice Monk (Samanera):
"What for? It's not important. You've been a Christian for more than 19 years. It's better for you to learn Bible thoroughly and pray routinely. Be the teachings you've been told not right and judgmental, but whose fault is it? Jesus? No. It's the people who surround you. The Lord Jesus gave the teachings of love, but the people may not have done it right. Perhaps you just haven't yet found the right community, and in Buddhism we call it the fruit of your bad Karma. One day, however, you may find the right ones and you won't feel like leaving your religion, but will become the one who enlightens others instead; you just have to be patient for the good Karma to bloom. It's not the label in your ID Card that matters, but the shape of your mind and heart within."
"What for? It's not important. You've been a Christian for more than 19 years. It's better for you to learn Bible thoroughly and pray routinely. Be the teachings you've been told not right and judgmental, but whose fault is it? Jesus? No. It's the people who surround you. The Lord Jesus gave the teachings of love, but the people may not have done it right. Perhaps you just haven't yet found the right community, and in Buddhism we call it the fruit of your bad Karma. One day, however, you may find the right ones and you won't feel like leaving your religion, but will become the one who enlightens others instead; you just have to be patient for the good Karma to bloom. It's not the label in your ID Card that matters, but the shape of your mind and heart within."
The Samanera added:
"Remember, it's not that your God didn't listen to your prayers. It's just He's got so many prayers, and naturally He will prioritize those who always keep in touch with Him, text Him everyday, talk to Him in every chance. If you keep approaching Him, He will answer all of your life's questions eventually."
The friend mentioned above still sometimes goes to Church, but now he also comes to Vihara (Buddhist Temple) and performs the Buddhist prayers. I believe the words that Samanera deciphered has made him more certain to be a Buddhist, ironically.
There is a Mahayana Buddhist Monastery in Southern Jakarta called "Vihara Mudita". Once, there was a girl wearing veil (hijab) visiting the place. She met the Head of the Temple and a Samanera there asking:
"What is the purpose of me performing Shalat (Islamic prayers)?"
She was answered by the Samanera:
"There is a 'Light', The Source of Everything, that we're originally from. Our purpose in life is to return to That Source, and that is achieved by performing Shalat, because Shalat will get us closer to The Source, so that we will be accepted by It."
The Head of the Temple and the Samanera said that afterwards the girl never came back, but it's okay, because what matters is not the package but something inside of her that has swiftly changed since.
A Buddhist Teacher in my University has been teaching that there are actually 3 characteristics of Buddhism, which are:
1. Less of bad deeds
2. More of good deeds
3. Purify the mind and heart
Those 3 characteristics can be accomplished not only within Buddhism, but also in other religions. According to him, that's how someone becomes more Buddhist. Various ways attempted to achieve those 3 characteristics don't matter as long as the result is the same.
A book "What Makes You Not A Buddhist" by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse explains that someone is not a Buddhist if he or she ignores the truth about impermanence. When we are tethered to any worldly existence, hoping things to forever last, wishing for eternity to be embodied on mortality, we at the same time allow our ego and desire to take control over our mind and heart. Ego and Desire are the source of suffering, because when we insist not to let go of the ego and desire despite knowing of the impermanence, it's going to hurt us to lose things, while losing things is inevitable.
"Remember, it's not that your God didn't listen to your prayers. It's just He's got so many prayers, and naturally He will prioritize those who always keep in touch with Him, text Him everyday, talk to Him in every chance. If you keep approaching Him, He will answer all of your life's questions eventually."
The friend mentioned above still sometimes goes to Church, but now he also comes to Vihara (Buddhist Temple) and performs the Buddhist prayers. I believe the words that Samanera deciphered has made him more certain to be a Buddhist, ironically.
There is a Mahayana Buddhist Monastery in Southern Jakarta called "Vihara Mudita". Once, there was a girl wearing veil (hijab) visiting the place. She met the Head of the Temple and a Samanera there asking:
"What is the purpose of me performing Shalat (Islamic prayers)?"
She was answered by the Samanera:
"There is a 'Light', The Source of Everything, that we're originally from. Our purpose in life is to return to That Source, and that is achieved by performing Shalat, because Shalat will get us closer to The Source, so that we will be accepted by It."
The Head of the Temple and the Samanera said that afterwards the girl never came back, but it's okay, because what matters is not the package but something inside of her that has swiftly changed since.
A Buddhist Teacher in my University has been teaching that there are actually 3 characteristics of Buddhism, which are:
1. Less of bad deeds
2. More of good deeds
3. Purify the mind and heart
Those 3 characteristics can be accomplished not only within Buddhism, but also in other religions. According to him, that's how someone becomes more Buddhist. Various ways attempted to achieve those 3 characteristics don't matter as long as the result is the same.
A book "What Makes You Not A Buddhist" by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse explains that someone is not a Buddhist if he or she ignores the truth about impermanence. When we are tethered to any worldly existence, hoping things to forever last, wishing for eternity to be embodied on mortality, we at the same time allow our ego and desire to take control over our mind and heart. Ego and Desire are the source of suffering, because when we insist not to let go of the ego and desire despite knowing of the impermanence, it's going to hurt us to lose things, while losing things is inevitable.
A Friend:
“I choose Buddhism, but my dad disagrees. He keeps telling me to go to church. I don’t want to, but I’ve just been from church this morning.”
Me:
“What did make you decide to finally go to church?”
A Friend:
“To let go of my ego, and that’s what Buddha teaches.”
That friend still sometimes goes to the Catholic Church, she sometimes prays there, sometimes meditates there. She tells me that anyhow, she respects Jesus as a Teacher, she respects Mother Mary and the Saints for the good qualities within them, and therefore she's okay to bow down to those figures albeit her choice of Buddhism. But then again, she does it because she has chosen Buddhism.
I believe that's the unique part of Buddhism. Here, we are not indoctrinated about the righteousness and wrongness, but instead we are asked to explore it ourselves, to distinguish it by experience, rationality, and conscience. We are free to believe in anything that makes us better persons. In fact, by learning Buddhism means we have to also understand about other religions to their essences; this once was also expressed by Buddha that the Dharma (Enlightening Teaching) He had been giving was only as many as leaves in his hands, while the Dharma He had not yet explained was as many as leaves in the Jeta Woods.
So if we get back to the square one, "How to be a Buddhist?", I suppose the answer lies on how much someone is selfless and altruistic, and how much someone is full of equanimity. The more they are selfless & altruistic, the more they are cocooned in equanimity, the more Buddhist they are. The way how to get there is not dogmatic, but is defined personally. Who knows a devoted Muslim or Christian out there who's never heard about Buddhism stealthily is much more Buddhist than me? Not to mention that according to Buddhism everyone has the same chance to enter heaven regardless of their religious belief.
Sabbe Satta Bhavantu Sukhitatta
“I choose Buddhism, but my dad disagrees. He keeps telling me to go to church. I don’t want to, but I’ve just been from church this morning.”
Me:
“What did make you decide to finally go to church?”
A Friend:
“To let go of my ego, and that’s what Buddha teaches.”
That friend still sometimes goes to the Catholic Church, she sometimes prays there, sometimes meditates there. She tells me that anyhow, she respects Jesus as a Teacher, she respects Mother Mary and the Saints for the good qualities within them, and therefore she's okay to bow down to those figures albeit her choice of Buddhism. But then again, she does it because she has chosen Buddhism.
I believe that's the unique part of Buddhism. Here, we are not indoctrinated about the righteousness and wrongness, but instead we are asked to explore it ourselves, to distinguish it by experience, rationality, and conscience. We are free to believe in anything that makes us better persons. In fact, by learning Buddhism means we have to also understand about other religions to their essences; this once was also expressed by Buddha that the Dharma (Enlightening Teaching) He had been giving was only as many as leaves in his hands, while the Dharma He had not yet explained was as many as leaves in the Jeta Woods.
So if we get back to the square one, "How to be a Buddhist?", I suppose the answer lies on how much someone is selfless and altruistic, and how much someone is full of equanimity. The more they are selfless & altruistic, the more they are cocooned in equanimity, the more Buddhist they are. The way how to get there is not dogmatic, but is defined personally. Who knows a devoted Muslim or Christian out there who's never heard about Buddhism stealthily is much more Buddhist than me? Not to mention that according to Buddhism everyone has the same chance to enter heaven regardless of their religious belief.
Sabbe Satta Bhavantu Sukhitatta
May All Beings Be Happy
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