Interfaith

Crossroads

Approaching the varieties of religious expression and trying to make sense of them can be daunting to the casual observer.  The World’s Religions are a peacock’s feathers display of color.  There are differences in language, ceremony, and religious attire, as well as customs and histories making it all very confusing.

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A Belief that Changes the World

First you must believe that you are already within the Way.  You must believe that you are free of delusion, illusory thoughts, confused ideas, increase, and decrease and mistaken understanding.  Believe in this manner, clarify the Way and practice accordingly.  This is the essence of studying the Way.

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The Earth, Sun, Moon, and Me

by Keith Knapp I walked that early morning path of stillness and embraced that felt comfort of expansive solitude, the moist air, and wind inspired

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Choice: Laying the Foundation for Living Ethically

The Abrahamic faiths as well as Buddhism offer ethical guidelines for how to attain their respective goals – whether it be intimacy with God or Awakening. The Hebrew Bible talks about, among other things, Commandments. But just the word, “Commandment” can be problematic if we have not properly developed our ability to choose from an early age, prior to understanding right from wrong. The 10 Commandments are really an advanced kind of practice, in my view, once an understanding of choice has been well established. If choice has not been well established during youth, in other words if a young person is consistently denied opportunities to make choices, or even consistently given things that they would never choose, then that person will not be prepared to even consider living by the 10 Commandments. I think the same can be said of the Buddhist precepts. The flip side of this is that – considering that the mental factor of choice has not been well developed – then precepts or “commandments” will most likely be followed blindly without the ability to question them.

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The Courage to Change

I was struggling with the fact that altars in my mind always had crosses on them, not Buddhas. When I approached altars in church, it was a sacred event, and it was almost always to receive the Eucharist from a priest, and to say a prayer to Jesus. Would God punish me for getting this close to a Buddha statue and a Buddhist priest? When I look back on this event today, it’s a totally ridiculous question to me now, but at that moment my fears were real and stemmed from teachings about not worshiping idols.

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“Conversion” to Buddhism

 “How did you feel about transferring from one religion to another?  Have you found any conflicts between the two religions?  What have you learned from

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No Compulsion in Religion

The Quran states, “And had your Lord willed, those on earth would have believed – all of them entirely.  Then, O Muhammad, would you compel

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