When I was growing up, it was a perfectly acceptable response to answer the question
"What religion are you?" with something like "I'm a Methodist [or Anglican, or Christian, or
X], but I don't practise". That was generally interpreted as meaning one had been raised in
a family which said it was Methodist, maybe because they had got into the habit of saying
it, but no-one went to church, or did any of the things one was supposed to formally do.
Actually, maybe their practice of their faith was simply not based around the outer
dressings of their faith. As an example, when my (adoptive) mother died, I found out how
many church activities she had been involved in (day trips, fund raisers, social groups,
volunteer work), but she had never been strong on going to church. I don't think she liked
the sorts of sermons they dished out in those days.
Well, this is a topic that has been exercising my mind lately. I missed the last full moon
again, though illness, and started thinking: at what point should I say I'm a practising or
non-practising pagan/Wiccan/Druid? There are quite a few aspects of being
pagan/Wiccan/Druid that are about your attitudes and thinking processes, so the rituals
are, to some extent, merely the outer trappings that result from your inner thoughts and
attitudes - which is something Rampa wrote about.
On that, I've been rereading some Rampa books, and getting annoyed at the sexism and
misogyny as much as enjoying aspects of the books. I've also realised that one of the
problems I had with being Buddhist, back in the days when I was, was that when people
asked me about being Buddhist, they really meant "what are the outer manifestations of
your inner state of being that you do?" They didn't care that I was committed to being as
decent (compassionate) a human being as I could be: they wanted to know if I meditated
naked round the may pole under the full moon. OK, so I mixed my stereotypes then, but -
hey! I mix my paths as well :D
On questions about being Buddhist, that also applied to questions I had about what version
of Buddhism I followed - questions usually asked by people who knew a little about
Buddhism. Well, even that was problematic. For a start, when I "converted", people talked
about Mahayana and Hinayama, which is a split that I understand dates back to the fourth
Great Council, held in Kasmir in the first or second century CE under the patronage of the
Kushan Emperor Kanishka: suddenly there was all this talk about "Theravada": Theravada?
Where the hell had that come from? (I've also since discovered that "Hinayama" may be
seen as a pejorative (abusive) term for what is now more widely known as Theravada,
which is probably closest to the original teachings of Buddha. I guess all my early texts
had been written by Mahayana Buddhists!)
I've now realised that, effectively, what I was following was Vajrayana, sometimes called
Tantric Buddhism, which - to simplify it to the elements I practised - means "self
generation as the Deity". In other words, being the change you want to see. BEING
compassionate and caring and aware and responsible in your thoughts, attitudes,
emotions, actions and deeds. It didn't matter what rituals you did or didn't do, it mattered
how you lived your life. (I used to think this was a division of Mahayana Buddhism, en
Buddhism is a division of Mahayana Buddhism, but Vajrayana really is a third "version" of
Buddhism.)
I guess, in that sense, I was an actively practising Buddhist despite not being able to
answer with the appropriate label. My mother was an Anglican despite not having set foot
in a church since I'd dragged her in there when I was confirmed (yes, I had a Christian phase too!).
And I'm pagan now whether I do the rituals or not.
But I might just say I'm a non-practicising pagan occasionally, just to stimulate a bit of
thought :)
I'll also answer any question about "So what do you do as a 'X' [insert religion of choice]?"
with "I think like one."
Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr
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Tags: attitudes, Buddhism, commitment, communication, daily life, interpersonal interactions, growth, life lessons, personal characteristics,
First published: Saturday 17th October, 2009
Last edited: Saturday 17th October, 2009
