What is Religion?
The context of my blog
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
With palms together,
Hello All,
Several people here at JoeUser have been offended (I suppose) by my blogs. Not intended. Please forgive me. I want to talk a little about how I see religion and what my role is as a monk and how I blog. Maybe this will help. In the western sense, religion is seen as a seperate aspect, like a category, of life. We understand God as a being greater than ourselves who resides outside of ourselves as "wholly other." We see time as linear. We see the universe as dualistic having a subject and an object. Our language is predicated on that model and worldview.
A Zen Buddhist doies not understand the world that way. We do understand the universe as essentially non-dualistic. God is not apart from us, nor are we apart from Him. He and us are one, just as you and I are one. Time does not have a beginning, nor did the universe, neuther wil they have an ending. Time and being are one, not two. All universes and the three times are one, right here, right now. In this sense, Zen Buddhism is a living religion where life itself is its church.
There is nothing outside of it.
When I blog, I am writing as a monk. I am writing as a concerned citizen. But most of all, I am writing to jar people sometimes, open their eyes a little, perhaps. I risk closing some, I know.
There are many misconceptions here at JoeUser about Buddhism and about Zen. I fear most of you know little about it short of what you may have seen in a movie or read in a book. First misconception: Buddhists don't make judgements. Wrong. Everyone makes judgements. The questionm is how wedded are we to them. We suffer in direct proportion to our investment in ideas. Zen Buddhism is not about ideas, it is about action. Writing is one of my actions. Buddhists are supposed to be compassionate, thefore they should not be critical or judgemental. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Compassion is not fluff. Its not about taking care not to hurt someone's feelings. Sometoimes it is necessary to do just that to help them. While is not a good thing to be judgemental of people, and I try hard not to be, it is a necessity to attempt to understand and evaluate points of view, values, and ideas.
When I make a comment about religion, I am usually talking about my own and from my own religious point of view. Which as a Buddhist is very different from Christian monotheism. To assert the value of my own religion, its precepts and practices is not to place my religion on higher ground, as some of you have suggested. It is simply to say these are what we do. What we hold. What we value.
I value all religions, including those of the fundamentalists. And I will defend your right to hold the beliefs that you do. However, I will also reserve the right to point out problems in your behavior toward me and mine.
I am sure we will enjoy each other's company over time. I certainly hope so.
Lastly, there are two things that I do as a priest that I do regardless of where I am: one is that I place my palms together as a gesture of reverence to you, the other is that I wish you well. Neither should be taken as an advertisment of my faith. Its what Zen Buddhist priests do, that's all.
Be well.
Hello All,
Several people here at JoeUser have been offended (I suppose) by my blogs. Not intended. Please forgive me. I want to talk a little about how I see religion and what my role is as a monk and how I blog. Maybe this will help. In the western sense, religion is seen as a seperate aspect, like a category, of life. We understand God as a being greater than ourselves who resides outside of ourselves as "wholly other." We see time as linear. We see the universe as dualistic having a subject and an object. Our language is predicated on that model and worldview.
A Zen Buddhist doies not understand the world that way. We do understand the universe as essentially non-dualistic. God is not apart from us, nor are we apart from Him. He and us are one, just as you and I are one. Time does not have a beginning, nor did the universe, neuther wil they have an ending. Time and being are one, not two. All universes and the three times are one, right here, right now. In this sense, Zen Buddhism is a living religion where life itself is its church.
There is nothing outside of it.
When I blog, I am writing as a monk. I am writing as a concerned citizen. But most of all, I am writing to jar people sometimes, open their eyes a little, perhaps. I risk closing some, I know.
There are many misconceptions here at JoeUser about Buddhism and about Zen. I fear most of you know little about it short of what you may have seen in a movie or read in a book. First misconception: Buddhists don't make judgements. Wrong. Everyone makes judgements. The questionm is how wedded are we to them. We suffer in direct proportion to our investment in ideas. Zen Buddhism is not about ideas, it is about action. Writing is one of my actions. Buddhists are supposed to be compassionate, thefore they should not be critical or judgemental. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Compassion is not fluff. Its not about taking care not to hurt someone's feelings. Sometoimes it is necessary to do just that to help them. While is not a good thing to be judgemental of people, and I try hard not to be, it is a necessity to attempt to understand and evaluate points of view, values, and ideas.
When I make a comment about religion, I am usually talking about my own and from my own religious point of view. Which as a Buddhist is very different from Christian monotheism. To assert the value of my own religion, its precepts and practices is not to place my religion on higher ground, as some of you have suggested. It is simply to say these are what we do. What we hold. What we value.
I value all religions, including those of the fundamentalists. And I will defend your right to hold the beliefs that you do. However, I will also reserve the right to point out problems in your behavior toward me and mine.
I am sure we will enjoy each other's company over time. I certainly hope so.
Lastly, there are two things that I do as a priest that I do regardless of where I am: one is that I place my palms together as a gesture of reverence to you, the other is that I wish you well. Neither should be taken as an advertisment of my faith. Its what Zen Buddhist priests do, that's all.
Be well.
