Just Learning

[wannascuba]

Hello,

I just starting reading my first book regarding Buddhism and find that the precepts seem to fit my way of thinking and lifestyle. My dilemma is that I was raised (Baptized) at birth as a Catholic. Is it Ok to retain my Catholic faith and practice the precepts of Budhism. As I understand, you can pratice Budhism to the best of your ability at not be a Budhist. I somewhat feel like I am at a cross-roads. My Mother is Catholic, and she really believes that her prayers protect me, and I belive it also and that my prayers help my loved ones.

Basically, is it OK for me to practice both religions. Please pardon my ignorance, as I have just started learning / reading about Buddhism. Any advice or personal expierences will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Scuba

[thaibebop]

Yes, many people do this. Practice the philosophy of Buddhism while holding faith in God and Jesus. It is a very common mixure in the West I think.

[Brucenkhamen]

Hello,

I just starting reading my first book regarding Buddhism and find that the precepts seem to fit my way of thinking and lifestyle. My dilemma is that I was raised (Baptized) at birth as a Catholic. Is it Ok to retain my Catholic faith and practice the precepts of Budhism. As I understand, you can pratice Budhism to the best of your ability at not be a Budhist. I somewhat feel like I am at a cross-roads. My Mother is Catholic, and she really believes that her prayers protect me, and I belive it also and that my prayers help my loved ones.

Basically, is it OK for me to practice both religions. Please pardon my ignorance, as I have just started learning / reading about Buddhism. Any advice or personal expierences will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Scuba

Yes it's perfectly ok, I know a lot of people who do. Anything you have difficulty accepting with either approach just put it aside. Some Catholics may not see it that way though so I'd be careful what you tell people.

[wannascuba]

Thaibebop & Brucenkhamen,

Thank you much for your replies. They make me feel much more at ease at continuing my learning. After all "Wisdom" if used for the best intentions towards oneself and others can never hurt. One concern was to tell my Mother that I am intersted in Buddhism, but after reading your replies and my own self reflection - I know she will have no problem with it. Many Thanks. Still look forward to more responces, but I may not be able to reply for some time due to work.

Scuba

[jdinasia]

Can you find a way for the religions to mesh? I could not. Buddhism does not buy into the concept of Deism.

[suegha]

Can you find a way for the religions to mesh? I could not. Buddhism does not buy into the concept of Deism.

That's not quite true, is it?

[Brucenkhamen]

Can you find a way for the religions to mesh? I could not. Buddhism does not buy into the concept of Deism.

Buddhism neither buys into Deism nor denies it.

One can practice the Buddhist techniques of mental cultivation without it being necessary to buy into any beliefs on life the universe and everything, so you can still rely on your religion for that if you want to.

There will probably be small clashes at times, nothing open mindedness and integrity can't solve.

[suegha]

Can you find a way for the religions to mesh? I could not. Buddhism does not buy into the concept of Deism.

Buddhism neither buys into Deism nor denies it.

One can practice the Buddhist techniques of mental cultivation without it being necessary to buy into any beliefs on life the universe and everything, so you can still rely on your religion for that if you want to.

There will probably be small clashes at times, nothing open mindedness and integrity can't solve.

Good post B!

[traveller5000]

Hello,

I just starting reading my first book regarding Buddhism and find that the precepts seem to fit my way of thinking and lifestyle. My dilemma is that I was raised (Baptized) at birth as a Catholic. Is it Ok to retain my Catholic faith and practice the precepts of Budhism. As I understand, you can pratice Budhism to the best of your ability at not be a Budhist. I somewhat feel like I am at a cross-roads. My Mother is Catholic, and she really believes that her prayers protect me, and I belive it also and that my prayers help my loved ones.

Basically, is it OK for me to practice both religions. Please pardon my ignorance, as I have just started learning / reading about Buddhism. Any advice or personal expierences will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Scuba

The major conflict in your situation is with the prayers. Every prayer contains within it the seed of desire, at its essence. Desire really is at odds with the 4 noble truths of the Buddha.

There is something else that concerns me, and something I see often in children growing up with Christian parents. That is , the unspoken agreement that says, "If you change religions, I will not love you as much." Conditional love basically. Perhaps this is the case with you. I bring this up only to highlight the significance of this possibility.

Edited March 24, 2008 by traveller5000

[Brucenkhamen]

The major conflict in your situation is with the prayers. Every prayer contains within it the seed of desire, at its essence. Desire really is at odds with the 4 noble truths of the Buddha.

Every time you sit down on the meditation cushion there is the seed of desire, or any time you do anything really. It's part of the human condition, if it wasn't there you'd be pretty close to enlightenment I'd think.

Over time I think wannascuba will find his buddhist practice will deepen his prayer lif, especially if he finds it is too desire centric.

The dualism of there being a pray-er and a pray-ee is more problematic I'd think, but again that can change over time as your practice deepens.

Edited March 24, 2008 by Brucenkhamen

[slept]

Hello,

I just starting reading my first book regarding Buddhism and find that the precepts seem to fit my way of thinking and lifestyle. My dilemma is that I was raised (Baptized) at birth as a Catholic. Is it Ok to retain my Catholic faith and practice the precepts of Budhism. As I understand, you can pratice Budhism to the best of your ability at not be a Budhist. I somewhat feel like I am at a cross-roads. My Mother is Catholic, and she really believes that her prayers protect me, and I belive it also and that my prayers help my loved ones.

Basically, is it OK for me to practice both religions. Please pardon my ignorance, as I have just started learning / reading about Buddhism. Any advice or personal expierences will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Scuba

Yes it's perfectly ok, I know a lot of people who do. Anything you have difficulty accepting with either approach just put it aside. Some Catholics may not see it that way though so I'd be careful what you tell people.

Brucenkhamen,

If you could not even to leave your faith in your previous belief, how could you leave your Atta?

Don't fool urself.

[Brucenkhamen]

Brucenkhamen,

If you could not even to leave your faith in your previous belief, how could you leave your Atta?

Don't fool urself.

Yes that's a good point, but I didn't get the impression that wannascuba was expecting to become fully enlighted in this lifetime.

To do that not only would he need to leave behind clinging to the belief structures of his old faith but he'd need to eventually leave behind clinging to the structures associated with Buddhism.

[slept]

Brucenkhamen,

If you could not even to leave your faith in your previous belief, how could you leave your Atta?

Don't fool urself.

Yes that's a good point, but I didn't get the impression that wannascuba was expecting to become fully enlighted in this lifetime.

In that case, Catholic and meditation is good enough. Don't bother to call it Buddhism, though.

To do that not only would he need to leave behind clinging to the belief structures of his old faith but he'd need to eventually leave behind clinging to the structures associated with Buddhism.

True.

[Brucenkhamen]

In that case, Catholic and meditation is good enough. Don't bother to call it Buddhism, though.

True, and it probably sounds more acceptable to his Catholic friends also.

[khaojao]

Hello,

I just starting reading my first book regarding Buddhism and find that the precepts seem to fit my way of thinking and lifestyle. My dilemma is that I was raised (Baptized) at birth as a Catholic. Is it Ok to retain my Catholic faith and practice the precepts of Budhism. As I understand, you can pratice Budhism to the best of your ability at not be a Budhist. I somewhat feel like I am at a cross-roads. My Mother is Catholic, and she really believes that her prayers protect me, and I belive it also and that my prayers help my loved ones.

Basically, is it OK for me to practice both religions. Please pardon my ignorance, as I have just started learning / reading about Buddhism. Any advice or personal expierences will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Scuba

Ajahn Buddhadasa (a thai monk) wrote a book about religions before...i think it's called "christianity & buddhism" or "one religion"...i'm not too sure. perhaps u would like to try reading that book for a better understanding of cultural & religious differences?

i've known lots of ppl who keep the faith they were born with and practise the buddhist philosophy of life (whether consciously or sub-consciously)...and they're perfectly beautiful ppl

[Slither]

Sure, at this day and age of choice one can integrate aspects of Buddhism into a different religion, after all the precepts seem complimentary to Christian codes of conduct.

But ultimately, the two don't jell, Buddhism does not recognise any single absolute god, this belief is regarded as an illusion. On the other hand, Buddhists have held on to nature-religions and spirit-worship in Thailand and elsewhere, Buddhism does not 'disallow' worship as such.

[Yamantaka]

Hello,

I just starting reading my first book regarding Buddhism and find that the precepts seem to fit my way of thinking and lifestyle. My dilemma is that I was raised (Baptized) at birth as a Catholic. Is it Ok to retain my Catholic faith and practice the precepts of Budhism. As I understand, you can pratice Budhism to the best of your ability at not be a Budhist. I somewhat feel like I am at a cross-roads. My Mother is Catholic, and she really believes that her prayers protect me, and I belive it also and that my prayers help my loved ones.

Basically, is it OK for me to practice both religions. Please pardon my ignorance, as I have just started learning / reading about Buddhism. Any advice or personal expierences will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Scuba

When I took my first Dharma course way back in 1979, there was a Catholic woman in my class who asked the very same question. The easy answer is that Buddhism is not a religion in the Judeo-Christian sense. It is more a psychology, a way to view your life and your environment within the context of absolute reality. Not having a God or rules or dogma for that matter, it is perfectly possible to be a Catholic Buddhist or maybe a Buddhist Catholic, same as you can be both a football and basketball fan. One does not preclude the other.

An interesting but unrelated point the woman in my class made was that when she was in Catholic school, she had a priest as a teacher who had served at the Vatican and claimed that there were records of teachings by Jesus on karma and reincarnation that the Church did not want to ever be made public.

[Austhaied]

Can you find a way for the religions to mesh? I could not. Buddhism does not buy into the concept of Deism.

A glimpse of the future perhaps.

http://www.lotus.org/docs/yantra.htm

I hope so.

[Xangsamhua]

Can you find a way for the religions to mesh? I could not. Buddhism does not buy into the concept of Deism.

Deism is not the same as Theism. The former refers to the belief popular among the 18th century Enlightenment intelligentsia, including the writers of the US Constitution, that God, though the Creator, does not intervene in Creation. People like Voltaire, Kant, Jefferson, perhaps Hume and a fair swag of liberal thinkers before the French Revolution found this idea attractive. Indeed many still do. A recent "convert" to Deism is the former atheist philosopher Antony Flew. Even Richard Dawkins has acknowledged, in a discussion arranged by Newsweek with a Christian physicist, that he could believe in a supreme being of this kind (though I don't think he'd see much point in it).

Theism is the belief in a Creator God who has an ongoing engagement with his creation and intervenes in human lives and events at times. I think one could say that the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) are theistic. I'm not sure about Hinduism. Buddhism, as I understand it, in some forms (Tantric?) has gods, but they are lesser beings - below a boddhisatva or arahant (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Atheism finds theism irrational for various reasons, at least for the fact that it posits an original creator at the beginning of all causation. I think Buddhists would have the same objection, among others. However, as a Catholic Christian in terms of my heritage, religious experience and theological education, I have no difficulty with the atheist objections to theism. They seem perfectly logical to me. My problem is not with explanations for existence but with existence itself. It defies explanation, whichever way you look at it. So (now that the existential horse has bolted) does non-existence. Talk about God, therefore, whether by theists, deists or atheists (I don't know if there are any a-deists), is just that - talk. It serves a purpose in giving a framework to discussions about meaning, authority, justification, etc., but doesn't help us know any more whether God exists or intervenes or whatever.

Of course there's agnosticism, either positive (I don't know if God exists, but I think it is possible to know) or negative (I'll never know the answer to the question because the question doesn't make sense).

The original question was: Can one be a Buddhist and a Catholic at the same time? I suggest that you can if you are not too locked in to systematic theologies. If you want to grasp systematic Catholicism in one hand and grasp systematic Buddhism in the other and somehow marry them without modifying either or by creating a fusion of the two, then I suggest you'll end up with a bit of this and a bit of that - neither Buddhism nor Christianity. They have very different origins, presuppositions, histories and ways of approaching the world (regardless of whether Jesus and others on the Galilean trade routes were aware of Indian and Buddhist teachings). I suggest you acknowledge what responsible others think you need to believe to be a Catholic or a Buddhist, but in the long run you'll have to make your own decisions. Learn from Catholicism and take on what is worth retaining; learn from the teachings of the Buddha and take on what you think you can. Ultimately it's up to you to make your own judgements and you can't believe what you can't believe, no matter how much others may wish you to conform.

So, the answer, I suggest, is both yes and no. To go beyond the question, however, and find satisfactory guidance in your quest for meaning and identity you'll need to transcend the categories of "Buddhist" and "Catholic".

A suggestion for reading, though it won't answer all your questions, is Thich Nhat Hanh's "Living Buddha; Living Christ".

Edited May 3, 2008 by Xangsamhua