"What in Buddhism Have I Changed My Mind About, and Why?"
Via the great Phil Ryan over at the Tricyle Editors’ Blog: the venerable Buddhist magazine, inspired by Edge.org, poses the question,”What in Buddhism have you changed your mind about, and why?” to seventeen Buddhist teachers representing various traditions. Phil asked readers if they themselves had answered the question, and that got me thinking (since I hadn’t). So, I’ve decided to answer the question here at the blog and share it with you. And I invite you to share your answers here, at the Tricycle Editors’ Blog, and/or the magazine’s website.
“What in Buddhism have you changed your mind about, and why?”
I am a Buddhist. At the same time, I feel very dedicated to the rigorous, academic study of that faith tradition in all of its vast and varied forms. I’m a spiritual person, but I’m also a postmodernist. I used to think I couldn’t really honor both commitments at the same time. I thought that at the end of the day I kind of had to “pick one.” That has changed. It is my feeling now that these two commitments do not necessarily have to be in tension.
My graduate studies at Naropa University certainly helped me shift my thinking on this issue. There I experienced the university’s approach to Buddhist Studies in the context of “contemplative education” as especially powerful and challenging. It was really my discovery of John Makransky and Roger Jackson’s book Buddhist Theology: Critical Reflections by Contemporary Buddhist Scholars, though, that offered me the specific tools I needed to honor both commitments.
“Buddhist theology” refers to systematic, critical-yet-constructive reflection on Buddhism by Buddhist scholar-practitioners. In this undertaking, bringing one’s practice to study (and vice versa) is not anathema, but a source for unique contribution.
That said, for me, Buddhist theology is more than just a niche found. Like all forms of socially engaged Buddhism, it is practice—as important as meditation or any other more traditionally Buddhist practices. In a uniquely Buddhist way, I resonate very strongly with the experience of Karen Armstrong, who writes:
- …I have found that sitting at my desk, immersed in a sacred text or involved in the discourse of any one of the [major world religions], I have mini-seconds of transcendence, awe, and wonder that give me intimations of what an experience of the divine might be for more gifted souls…Like all great art, theology should invade us and reach the core of our being. But like all art, it is what Muslims call a jihad, a word that should not be translated as “holy war,” but rather means “struggle, effort.” [1]
So, I’ve changed my mind about the potential and possibilities for exchange between the distinct worlds of Buddhist study and practice.
WORKS CITED:
- Karen Armstrong, “The God of All Faiths” in God At 2000, ed. Marcus Borg and Ross Mackenzie, 106-7 (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 2000).
