The Search For Enlightenment

In a quiet moment this afternoon, when our internet access had gone down due to some outage in Bristol, we got talking about religion.

Obviously, the guys in the office know that I am a Buddhist, they even jokingly (I hope) suggested that I should decline my invitation to the company Christmas do.

It transpired that the partner of one of the chaps has been attending the Alpha Course at their local church and although he has been totally accepting and supportive, he does not hold the same beliefs as her.

It turned out that he actually has no accepted spiritual beliefs, nor is he an Atheist. In fact he had some harsh words for them for trying to belittle or demean the beliefs of people who do believe in a god. He thought everyone was entitled to their own beliefs, or to hold no beliefs, if that was what they wanted.

I agree with him, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Unlike my old mate Billy Brown, whose favourite saying was ‘Everyone is entitled to my opinion’ and he wasn’t always joking.

Even though I believe totally in Nichiren Buddhism, I don’t see my role as some kind of evangelist. I am happy, even keen, to talk about my beliefs and the details of the Practice, but I don’t try to ‘convert’ people directly.

I guess deep down, I would like to think that I can extol the virtues of Buddhism in such a way that it might tempt someone into finding our more for themselves. But that’s where it ends. When you compare that to some religions, mentioning no names, who tend to turn up on your doorstep in the middle of the Sunday roast, or forcibly separate family members if one of them leaves their church, it’s pretty laid back.

At the end of the day, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so remember that when you find yourself trying to ram your ideas, or ideals, down someone’s throat.