Buddhist Conversion

[JimsKnight]

My wife is keen for me to convert to Buddhism - has anyone ever done this, what did it involve?

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Well many buddhists consider their religion to be a more of a philosophy religion than hard-core diety worship. Some buddhists make the conversion merely by concious choice rather than ceremony and ritual.

[bina]

This usually solves any problems. Although sometimes I get: “Meditation? How is it you always want to meditate when the washing up needs doing? I tell you – you should shave your head – be a monk – then you’ll find out what real meditation means.”

often we will sit and 'do nothing' and the main park boss will come by and ask why we arent working; i answer, we are, we are observing the animals for possible changes in behavior illness etc...5555

great answers; actaully buber i've read but its simone weill sounds interesting.... your comment about age and viewing similarities as opposed to differences is very true... older people gain more distance from events, have seen/done more, etc tend to be less extreme in every thing (when i was about 18 remember my mother told me to hide my birthcontrol pills from my grandmother, my grandma (thinking i had no boyfriend) asked if i was a lesbian and that it was also ok but she would still like grandkids ) as we all know, younger people are more extreme in belief/thought/action that older as seen by the general age of terrorists, etc...

i do live my life as if tomorrow i may be blown up

as in the 'does it matter?' absolutely not... i think 'conversion; is a waste of time: my sister in law still goes to a christian church and my italian catholic brother in law in america keeps shabbat etc w/o having converted officially ....

i'm not sure if sophistication =purity.... that all sounds a little like 'the natives should stay 'native' i.e. live in grass huts etc....the 'idiot savage' childlike native etc...

buddhism seems pretty sophisticated to me... u are the master of your own fate... whereas believing in god is like a child needing a parent to guide him and is more simplistic...but it is a shame that many of the attributes that made thailand what it is are 'plasticizing' i.e. sa they more and more lose their touch with agriculture and quiet living and are going for the 'want more want more... plastic' western style of living

Well many buddhists consider their religion to be a more of a philosophy religion than hard-core diety worship. Some buddhists make the conversion merely by concious choice rather than ceremony and ritual.

obviously depending on whom u speak too... but if u ask thai people as we've noted before, (at least the country folks that i know), they wont say if it is a philosophy or religioun, it just is the way they live and they dont mull about it too much....

curious to know what the OP's wife says to all of our comments etc??? or why she wants 'consversion' or if it is just a language translation/understanding gap here....

thomas i like your very clear and well written comments; always a joy to read

[Thomas_Merton]

Bina,

I've blued you again, principaly because what you write is interesting but also because you are keeping close to the theme of the OP.

Hopefully our discussion can help,

TM

often we will sit and 'do nothing' and the main park boss will come by and ask why we arent working; i answer, we are, we are observing the animals for possible changes in behavior illness etc...5555

Aside: Are you in the Negev?

great answers; actaully buber i've read but its simone weill sounds interesting.... your comment about age and viewing similarities as opposed to differences is very true... older people gain more distance from events, have seen/done more, etc tend to be less extreme in every thing (when i was about 18 remember my mother told me to hide my birthcontrol pills from my grandmother, my grandma (thinking i had no boyfriend) asked if i was a lesbian  and that it was also ok but she would still like grandkids     ) as we all know, younger people are more extreme in belief/thought/action that older as seen by the general age of terrorists, etc...

Wisdom is very rarely a function of youth. It's quite comforting really, realizing that there are somethings the young'uns don't receive automatically. Only hope we have it when we get old.

i do live my life as if tomorrow i may be blown up

I've got friends who morbidly call this "Jerusalem Syndrome". I try to explain to them JS is something completely different - although not a 100 miles from this discussion on conversion.

as in the 'does it matter?'  absolutely not... i think 'conversion; is a waste of time: my sister in law still goes to a christian church and my italian catholic brother in law in america keeps shabbat etc w/o having converted officially ....

IMHO conversion only has a value if you feel (believe deep within yourself) your tradition is not for you, and the other tradition appears to "ring more bells" in your subconscious (I cannot write any more precisely than this). But conversion because of family, political or immigration reasons is at its best ludicrous and at its worst pure hypocrisy. I would like to believe that a prerequisite of marriage is love between the partners, which by its nature ought to involve awareness of differences in beliefs and customs plus the generosity to be able to accept these differences and work through any conflicts. But, each to their own - we can never be aware of other's needs.

i'm not sure if sophistication =purity.... that all sounds a little like 'the natives should stay 'native' i.e. live in grass huts etc....the 'idiot savage' childlike native etc...

buddhism seems pretty sophisticated to me... u are the master of your own fate... whereas believing in god is like a child needing a parent to guide him and is more simplistic...but it is a shame that many of the attributes that made thailand what it is are 'plasticizing' i.e. sa they more and more lose their touch with agriculture and quiet living and are going for the 'want more want more... plastic' western style of living

I wrote Impurity - meaning that a natural consequence of the rapid material advances of the last 200 years is a tainting of beliefs and traditions that had remained mostly unchanged for at least a Millennium. Some may argue this is a positive development - I am not arguing against this point of view - but just noting the consequences which are, in varying degrees: questioning, doubts, scepticism and rejection (conversion?)

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Well many buddhists consider their religion to be a more of a philosophy religion than hard-core diety worship. Some buddhists make the conversion merely by concious choice rather than ceremony and ritual.

obviously depending on whom u speak too... but if u ask thai people as we've noted before, (at least the country folks that i know), they wont say if it is a philosophy or religioun, it just is the way they live and they dont mull about it too much....

curious to know what the OP's wife says to all of our comments etc??? or why she wants 'consversion' or if it is just a language translation/understanding gap here....

Highly likely.

thomas i like your very clear and well written comments; always a joy to read

Todah Rabah, Shabatt Shalom.

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