Non-Religious

WoodMoor Village is non-religious and non-sectarian, if you follow the traditional understanding of religion or religious. I know that my humanist friends might think I am an apostate for even implying that the word religion can be defined and used differently -- that is, salvaged. But I am a rhetorician by training and I'm aware of the power of words. I advocate great care and sensitivity when using the words Religion and Spiritual, but use them we must sometimes and perhaps we can make them do our bidding. In any case, human beings do not need a religion (as traditionally understood), nor belief in supernatural entities in order to bring peace, kindness, and love to their lives and to the world.

I'm not hostile to religion, but believe it should be as open to critical assessment as any other doctrine. I am interested in religious thought that promotes the virtues of love, compassion, kindness, and peace. But I firmly believe that those virtues do not stem from some supernatural source. These virtues originate with us, and we need to work toward developing them. It is only through our work at developing and attaining these virtues that that which we call humane/humanity/spiritual can fluorish. Take spiritual with a huge grain of salt. For me, besides the notion of enthusiastic, spirit/spiritual is best understood as a mindful state of being, distinctly human. [In fact, the notion of spirit as enthusiastic does not escape the supernaturalistic connotation. The roots of enthusiastic lie with enthused, and enthused refers to being filled with the spirit. The word enthused has Greek roots and refers to the ancient Greek oracle, where the priest/ess would be filled with the spirit in order to provide answers.]

Work toward making the world a better place requires mindful consideration of all dimensions of life. Yet mindful does not mean a limp-rag, fuzzy touchy-feely-ness. It does mean an ethical pursuit of skillful means to work together for the benefit of all living beings. It takes as central respect and speaking mindful truth to power.

If you seek justice, peace, compassion, kindness, love, and the construction of a community and an ethics of care, welcome. Join as many people as you can in making those virtues be primary in this life and in the world

Comments

[SB]

"For me, besides the notion of enthusiastic, spirit/spiritual is best understood as a mindful state of being, distinctly human."

This has given me something to think about. "Distinctly human." It seems to me that much of the harm we do stems from us 'distinguishing' ourselves from other living beings.

[Nacho]

Hi SB! Thanks for posting here! Yes, I don't disagree with you. I think we humans separate ourselves too much, and do not see the interconnectedness that exists in life. Yet, the concept of "spirit" and of being filled with "spirit" are human constructs. This construction is seen in how some folks will deny that animals have "souls" or "spirits" (some religious groups do not consider animals to have souls). Unfortunately, that thinking led to much abuse of animals circa the middle ages. Would seeing the world as spirited make a difference in terms of how much harm we do? It doesn't seem that way, and plenty of religious thought pointing to the sacredness of nature and the whole of "God's" creation exists. Have you read Starhawk's Declaration of the Four Sacred Things? I have it around here somewhere... let me find it and I'll get back to you! Thanks again.

[Nacho]

Here it is:

http://www.woodmoorvillage.org/zendo/2004/06/declaration_of_.html

What do you think?

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Three phrases should be among the most common in our daily usage. They are: Thank you, I am grateful and I appreciate.

[griff]

I am attracted to some of the meditation practices, mental discipline, and tenets of Buddhism, but I don't believe in the supernatural, and I distrust religious heirachies. So I practice meditation on my own. I do read about mindfulness training on the internet, in books, and I have friends who practice meditation. So I don't feel the need for any type of Buddhist community.
I do enjoy your web site though. Keep it up!
Griff

[Nacho]

Griff, thanks for the note. Yes, one doesn't have to be Buddhist, nor buy into Buddhist philosophy in order to practice meditation or lead a mindful life. I certainly don't believe in the supernatural, in kind of deities, etc. But I do find that Buddhist ethical thinking is very compatible with my secular humanism. Thanks for visiting, and I hope you keep enjoying the site!

Thanks

N

[Ray]

Hi Nacho,

I think I would have run in the other direction if I had thought I was becoming "religious" when I first became interested in Buddhism. How things change! At our Bodhi Retreat last December, Dharmavidya David Brazier presented the following statement. I like it a lot -

"You may have heard that Buddhism is “not a religion”. Amida Buddhism, however, retains the true religious core of Buddha’s message - faith in the Unborn - and so provides a safe place where each person can penetrate below the veneer of rational secularist practice and explore the heart of faith in an intimate and vibrant way, free from judgementalism or narrowness. According to Buddhism, religions are made by humans to put us in relation to that which no human ever made - that which is beyond this relative world. Each religion is fallible, but what it points toward is eternal. Buddhism is no exception. Buddhism points out the Deathless.

Amida Buddhism, therefore, is a religious path. Its particular approach is to take refuge, as a deluded and vulnerable being, in the Unborn - in Amida Buddha - through a simple act of prayer called nembutsu. We can say, therefore, that there are three elements to Amida Buddhist belief and practice: the ordinary nature of the devotee, Amida Buddha as the object of devotion, and the nembutsu prayer as the primary form of practice. Amida Buddhism partakes of the Pureland tradition of Buddhism deriving from the Buddha in India via a transmission through China and Japan. It is not a self-improvement technique nor an exotic pastime - it is a deeply personal, yet wholly transcendent, inquiry into the meaning of one's life.

The characteristic flavour of Amida Buddhism is the bitter-sweet feeling of confronting one’s own far from perfect nature and also the many troubles of the world around while feeling totally loved and accepted just as one is. This religion thus provides a place where we can face ourselves as we truly are and arrive at a deep sense of fellow feeling with all sentient beings, all being likewise afflicted, likewise impermanent. It also provides the frame within which to turn one’s life to useful purpose. There is here no requirement that one must achieve any particular degree of spiritual accomplishment before one can make oneself useful. You do not have to struggle to love yourself - because you are loved already and received by the Buddha just as you are. You do not have to cultivate self-esteem, for the modest are always acceptable. You do not have to become enlightened - because it is precisely for deluded beings such as ourselves that Amida Buddha made his great vows.

This, then, is a religion - a good religion - a religion free from judgment, where love is central, where friendship prevails, and the spiritual search can be conducted amongst good company in real safety and where one's existence can become purposeful in the profoundest sense - the sense that assuage one's deepest religious instinct. It is a religion directly concerned with the nature of faith and its sustaining and revolutionary power. It is a path to which one can commit one’s life at any level and to any degree. It is a religion of open-handed grace. In the eyes of the gentle Buddha we are already acceptable. If we can allow this truth to penetrate deeply while remaining honest with ourselves about our nature, we will experience both joy and pain and we will swiftly enter into the bitter-sweet, yet completely pure, realm of Amida Buddha. Then we will find our life naturally guided into a new path - the path described by all Buddhas - in which one’s views, thoughts, speech, actions, lifestyle, effort, preoccupation and vision are all naturally yet wonderfully transformed."

Namo Amida Bu

~ray

[Nacho]

Those are nice phrases penis... : )

[Nacho]

Ray, it has taken me a while to return to this post. Thanks for posting your thoughts and the explanation of Amida Buddhism. I find the perspective refreshing. My difficulties with religion are, though, more than just about finding a "good" religion. Religious thought itself presents some problems for me. Then again, I'm always intrigued by how folks in Ethical Religion groups seek to re-define religion.

Thanks!

[ray]

Hi Nacho,

I think people bring different experience when they talk of religions and religious thought. I would never have been attracted to buddhism if i thought it was a "religion". Like a lot of people who come across buddhism in the west, I was attracted by meditation. The first book I read was Stephen Batchelor's "Buddhism without Beliefs" - I am still very fond it, and I went on my first day retreat with him 6 years ago. I was attracted to his agnostic, "stripped down" approach. None of that religious symbolism! Looking back at this book, it is telling how he sees religion -

"Historically, Buddhism has tended to lose its agnostic dimension through becoming institutionalised as a religion (i.e. a revealed belief system valid for all time, controlled by an elite body of priests". BWB,p16

Now,warning against the institutionalisation of religions is perfectly valid, but does this necessarily mean rejecting religion altogether?

Rev Alfred Bloom www.shindharmanet.com has an online course introducing shin buddhism. In his introduction he offers five points to consider in approaching the subject of religion, and of religious traditions. First, He is a believer in history. Everything must be seen in its relation to history and the context from which it emerges. Second, he is also a believer in concrete, personal existence as the central issue of religion and thought. Whatever abstract ideal or theory we accept must have its roots and relationship in our immediate experience of life. Third, he believes in metaphysical and philosophical thinking. Metaphysics attempts to clarify the mystery of existence. It is never complete, but open. Even though few questions have final solutions, it is necessary to question and explore. It has been said that the unexamined life is not worth living. Fourth, he says, for him, religion means openness, sharing, compassion, love, justice, and community. To be open does not mean to be apathetic or uncritical. Sharing does not mean squandering. Compassion and love are not sentimental emotions, but fundamental life values. Justice is not legalism; community does not require conformity. Fifth, as he believes it was in the life of Shinran, tradition should be a stepping stone to deeper insight and experience, and not a barrier to growth. Tradition should not become ingrown, but it should be out-growing as it correlates to the ongoing times. He modifies a quote of Dr. Radhakrishnan concerning Hinduism, saying that we should consider Buddhism in the following way:

"Buddhism is a movement, not a position; a process, not a result; a growing...tradition, not a fixed revelation."

Elsewhere, he has cautioned thus _

Shinran recognised “that religion itself is a danger to one's spiritual development. The belief that one may achieve enlightenment through one's own practice leads to comparisons, self-righteousness and the elitism that infects all religions (including later Shin Buddhism). Shinran's view of Other Power altered the understanding of religious life by transforming it from a religion of self-perfection or self-benefit to a religion of gratitude and commitment. Religious faith became an end in itself and not a tool or means to some other end. For Shinran, one becomes religious because one is aware of the compassion that embraces one's life and expresses it in gratitude and sharing. The essence of religious faith is altruism. One lives to convey compassion to others."

Personally, I don't think that buddhism necessarily has to be seen as a religion, but I do feel that a religious expression of buddhism can also be an authentic path, and one, somewhat to my own surprise, that I have now found myself embracing.

Lovely site. Thought-provoking. All the best

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