Hi Mr. V,
How are you? I guess you are like me, back to the busy teaching schedule in the college.
I am writing this email with a heavy heart because of the experience I had at P the monk's class last night at the M temple. I feel that I should write to you and let you know what'd happened and how I feel and perhaps we can come to a resolution of the issues that were brought up in last night class.
Last night (Monday night) was my first time attending his class. I went to his Thursday meditation session but not his Monday teaching session. The topic of the lesson was "theology and God", something like that. All were well and good and I was enjoying and learning in the class. However, I was a bit uncomfortable when he talked about Christians and our belief and concept of God because there were a bit of distortions as well as misinformed on his part. For example he said Christians think Buddhists are evil people because Buddhists don't believe in God. Well, perhaps that may be true in California, USA but definitely that's not true in Malaysia. Evangelical Christians in Malaysia think Buddhists are all idol worshipers and need to be saved from the fire of hell. Besides, I thought it wasn't fair to make sweeping statements about God, concept of God and the belief in God. Moreover, the religious and spiritual experiences of Muslims and Christians should be taken into consideration. In a nutshell, we don't really have any rights to comment on other faiths which we haven't had or limited experience, especially we bound to make mistakes and distortions when come to theology, interpretation and experience. I would be ok with him if he just this is what Buddhist believe without criticizing other religions who don't believe like Buddhists do.
It was under that pretext that I asked him the question "what do you think about people's experience with God". Perhaps was the way I asked him or I not sure what triggered the situation, he started to bombard me with questions like "tell me about your God", "explain what you mean by personal experience", "if you can't explain it, means you don't know" etc... I was very disturbed by those line of questioning and answering. He told me since I couldn't explain it he couldn't answer me, bringing the discussion down to a personal level.
I couldn't answer those questions without using Christian terminologies and words he had ridiculed during the lesson. The line of questioning he threw at me was actually cornering me into admitting what he had said was the "mistakes" or "dreams" that Christians have in their belief system. At one point, I was actually forced to tell my conversation experience which was very personal (involved my mother who had passed away) and yet instead of hearing me out he immediately dismissed my experience as self induced or influenced by my upbringing etc...basically it was a no win situation for me to have any intelligent and respectful dialog with him. The moment I said I was a Christian, that's it, I have been judged and everything I said was to be discredited.
Another question that was impossible to answer and to me, was intended to discredit, was when I told him that this was my spiritual journey, he asked me "what journey? where are you going?" and the rest joined and said if I don't know where I am going then I am not really "knowing".
This is what made the situation worst, the class which consisted of about 50 people joined in. I was told since I couldn't explain my spiritual experience so I didn't understand or I didn't know. One told me to discard what I belief then I will understand. Well, I understand and continue to understand more but that doesn't mean I have to discard what I have been believing because God has done a lot of good in my life. My walk with the Lord Jesus has made me a better person. Who I am today has a lot to do with my faith and my experience with God. However, these people seem to choose to disregard that...which is ironic. When P the monk said Christians think Buddhists are evil people because Buddhists don't believe in God. Here, I became an evil person because I believe in God.
After the lesson, people came up to me to talk to me. None of them asked me where I am from, what I am doing, why am I there etc. Every single one of them, one way or another, was trying to convince me that believing in God is an illusion, is wrong. One even came up to me and said, you Christians don't think! The other said to me she went to a church and they said bad things about Buddhism also. I can't see the logic, just because Christians in a church say bad things about Buddhism, Buddhists can say bad things about Christianity in their temple? Two wrongs wouldn't make one right. Later my friend (yes, I have a Buddhist friend attending the class also) took me out for a drink and again, he was trying to convince me that Buddhism is right and Christianity is wrong.
For a moment, I thought I was back to the churches I have grown up in. May be is my karma because those churches used to ridicule other religion so I was reaping what I had indirectly sow. However, last night experience has brought me into the following conclusion:
1. As much as I want to respect P the monk as a spiritual leader and a knowledgeable monk, I have lost respect for him. Because he made statement about other faiths without having thorough understanding (he may think he has thoroughly understood the faith) and showing respect for those faiths. In that aspect, he to me is no different than any dogmatic priest, pastor, and imam. Definitely he can't be the "guru" I'm looking since there is not even a tiny connection in spirit between us. But what disturbed me the most is the perpetuation of stereotyping of other religious faiths by religious leaders. I thought at first Buddhists will be different, surely that's the impression I got from reading some Buddhist books. But last night experience definitely has changed my view.
2. My impression about Buddhists have changed. I told my friends once that I felt that the Buddhists I met in the temple were not much different than the Christians in the Church. Each hold on to what they believe in strongly, which is ok, as long as they have the realization of other people's faith and experience are as valid, and not shoveling their own opinion into others' throat. Not what I had experienced last night.
3. In Malaysia, as leaders of any religious organization, we have to be very careful to foster and cultivate spirit of peace and tolerance. Yes, each religion will hold on to what they believe is the truth, that's inevitable. But every religion also teaches their believers to respect and accept others who are different. "There is no compulsion in religion", "do unto others as you would have others to do unto you" are universal. What surprises me the most is this kind of I'm right and you are wrong mindset is actually cultivating in a Buddhist temple. The Roman Catholic Church that the few people in the class had "ridiculed" as narrow minded, not thinking and dogmatic is having inter-faith dialog and lessons to foster good understanding and relationship with other faiths regularly but what I have noticed is there are very few Buddhists attending such meetings and talks. And I haven't heard of any Buddhist temple actually organizing any inter-faith talk or meeting. Maybe they have and I don't know about it.
Last night was not pleasant for me but it was a good experience for me. I may not want to go back to the class or the meditation session again but I have no hard feeling towards anyone in that temple. I was judged, stereotyped, and put in a box the moment I said I was a Christian (in fact, I hate telling people I'm a Christian) and there is something I feel very disturbed about. If even the Buddhists who are reputed to be compassionate, accepting, tolerance etc have this "I am right and you are wrong attitude (fundamentalism), we have a lot of work to do in cultivating inter-faith dialog, understanding, respect and cooperation.
The recent "Allah" issue is the prime example.
I'm sorry to put you through this long letter. Hope you can forgive me if I have written something that is offensive to your belief and faith. I stand to be corrected. Thanks for your patience and willingness to hear me out.
May you be peaceful, free and healthy.
BLISS
My dear Bliss,
As I read your letter, I kept saying, over and over again, “Oh, my god!” I am really very sorry for what you had to go through. I wish I had been there to gauge exactly what the undercurrents were and how others were ‘misreading’ your cues. However, I do feel partly responsible because I think I had recommended P the monk to you. On hindsight, it was a mistake because P the monk is not the most tactful person I know. He has purportedly studied Religion and Philosophy in the US and I would have expected him to have been more respectful of you as a person although he might not have agreed with your beliefs. Others also have had such experiences with him. His line of argument against you is unpardonable. His disregard for your views as a Christian, trying to learn about Buddhism is also unpardonable. I feel he has done Buddhism a great injustice. I really wish you had the opportunity to have met our late Chief, Ven Dhammananda. He would have treated you very differently. We Buddhists have an extra reason to hang our heads in shame, because we make such a big deal about how tolerant we. Those of us who belong to the ‘ism’ are just as intolerant as everyone else who holds fundamentalist views.
In a broader context,in trying to come to terms with this episode, I am wondering why people reacted as they did last night. I think they are under a siege mentality, as much as the Muslims are over the Allah issue. The fundamentalist Christians have made Buddhists, (especially those not too strong in their understanding) feel they are threatened. They have been fed with stories of families being broken up, and underhand means being used to promote their faith. The story of Buddha prophesizing the coming of Christ is a case in point. When you are threatened and feel defenseless you react negatively. This is certainly not good. Buddhists must be more knowledgeable and be empowered to discuss religious issues rationally without hurting the feelings of others, using expressions like ‘evil’ and so on.
I am going to discuss this issue with the President of the Temple to alert him to the dangers of people who give a bad impression of Buddhists. I have learnt from this too. I have to be extra careful when I deal with the public, because there may be people of other faiths involved, and you never know whom you will be hurting.
Apologetically yours
V
They should all be ashamed of themselves, esp the monk!
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