In adopting a spiritual practice, there must not be change of culture but rather the absorption of additional religious practices into the culture and integrating it into the culture of the community the person comes from. It is not for a person of one society or race to behave as though he is of another culture or race in the name of religion.
For instance, Europeans are very much still Europeans even if they adopt practices of a religion, be it Christianity or Buddhism. But even if they follow Buddhist principles, they are no less Europeans and the teachings of Buddha merely make them better in whatever they are. The teachings do not make them somewhat Chinese, Indians or Thais.
Asians do not end up less Asians if they practice a religion not originating from the country of their race. Instead for Chinese, you may find that Chinese become more Chinese and their religious practices simply continue to exude more of Chinese culture and thinking. Buddhism seems to be an extension of Confucianism and Taoism. The Buddha they refer to may not even be Siddhartha, but a Chinese version instead.
The Dalai Lama is correct when he says,
Please be a better whatever we are, never mind if the saint or sage we adore is not of our culture or race. It would be uprooting from our culture if we adopt the culture of the race the saint or sage comes from or if we adopt the culture of the very people who introduce us the saint or sage.
We are not changing race and we are not even discarding our background religious beliefs but merely improving, adding on and in some way changing the beliefs we already have. We cannot behave like we are no longer of the same culture of our ancestors but we can evolve and add on to that culture.
So every time we think of religion, we must not muddle it with culture. We cannot be uprooting ourselves from our race or culture in the name of religion.
The Dalai Lama is no less a Tibetan just because he is a Buddhist. He is very much Tibetan and his admirers the world over know that and eschew him for being Tibetan. In fact, many view him as a Tibetan religious leader rather than see him as a Buddhist in the sense of being a follower of the historical Buddha.
In fact, in Tibet of greater China, the dominant reference is to various enlightened saints and deities in Tibetan culture instead of Siddhartha - the historical Buddha.
Religion must be in context of culture and not culture in context of religion. If this is indeed the case, then in China, people may worship Lao Tse and Confucius or even Jesus even if they declare themselves of one religion, be it Buddhism or what religion there may be.
We would not usually find outside China except the foreign Chinese, people of any specific religion other than Taoism or Confucianism worshiping Lao Tse or Confucius, do we? But this is common place in China and in any country where there are ethnic Chinese.
It is because they are Chinese and it is in their culture to do so unless they pretend somewhat to be no longer Chinese. That would be sad indeed.
In reality, the Chinese people who profess for example to be Buddhists are practicing enlarged versions of culture of China but by terminology and for sake of convenience and identity, they may be Buddhists or Taoists etc.
We must strive to have the enlightened approach to life and not be myopic. Religion if misconstrued can lead to serious myopia and misrepresentation of life that need to be corrected.
Well, the good lord Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) is never wrong in saying we must learn and believe in all heavenly saints and all religions. He descended in 1969 to say this. This is the focus and the very basis of all his messages.
Let us be better at whatever we are. We can always learn from the teachings of all heavenly saints. This does not mean we must act like a Chinese if the saint is Chinese or act like an Indian if the saint is Indian.
An interesting point is how do we label someone who respect and learn from more than one heavenly saints and the saints are of more than one religion? Well, he is just Chinese if he is Chinese but to some if his focus is on Buddha, he is Buddhist and if Jesus, he is Christian.
But this can be misleading to those not in the know of cultural context. It is the cultural context that counts.
As for spirituality, it is the teachings or principles that are important and not who said it as the very saint who propounded the teachings did not and do not own the teachings though we owe him gratitude for bringing to the world the teachings in his perspective.
We are not changing race and we are not even discarding our background religious beliefs but merely improving, adding on and in some way changing the beliefs we already have. We cannot behave like we are no longer of the same culture of our ancestors but we can evolve and add on to that culture.
So every time we think of religion, we must not muddle it with culture. We cannot be uprooting ourselves from our race or culture in the name of religion.
The Dalai Lama is no less a Tibetan just because he is a Buddhist. He is very much Tibetan and his admirers the world over know that and eschew him for being Tibetan. In fact, many view him as a Tibetan religious leader rather than see him as a Buddhist in the sense of being a follower of the historical Buddha.
In fact, in Tibet of greater China, the dominant reference is to various enlightened saints and deities in Tibetan culture instead of Siddhartha - the historical Buddha.
Religion must be in context of culture and not culture in context of religion. If this is indeed the case, then in China, people may worship Lao Tse and Confucius or even Jesus even if they declare themselves of one religion, be it Buddhism or what religion there may be.
We would not usually find outside China except the foreign Chinese, people of any specific religion other than Taoism or Confucianism worshiping Lao Tse or Confucius, do we? But this is common place in China and in any country where there are ethnic Chinese.
It is because they are Chinese and it is in their culture to do so unless they pretend somewhat to be no longer Chinese. That would be sad indeed.
In reality, the Chinese people who profess for example to be Buddhists are practicing enlarged versions of culture of China but by terminology and for sake of convenience and identity, they may be Buddhists or Taoists etc.
We must strive to have the enlightened approach to life and not be myopic. Religion if misconstrued can lead to serious myopia and misrepresentation of life that need to be corrected.
Well, the good lord Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) is never wrong in saying we must learn and believe in all heavenly saints and all religions. He descended in 1969 to say this. This is the focus and the very basis of all his messages.
An interesting point is how do we label someone who respect and learn from more than one heavenly saints and the saints are of more than one religion? Well, he is just Chinese if he is Chinese but to some if his focus is on Buddha, he is Buddhist and if Jesus, he is Christian.
But this can be misleading to those not in the know of cultural context. It is the cultural context that counts.
As for spirituality, it is the teachings or principles that are important and not who said it as the very saint who propounded the teachings did not and do not own the teachings though we owe him gratitude for bringing to the world the teachings in his perspective.
