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I was recently on holiday in a buddhist country with my family. We passed some steps up a moutain and heard chanting. A buddhist monk sat praying/chanting outside a cave. He gestured us to go in. After going through his living quarters we entered another cave which had been set up as a place of worship with several Buddhist statues which were lit up by the glow of candles incense and, in one corner, the sunshine breaking through a hole in the ceiling of the cave. I helped my youngest child light an incense stick and we paused to offer up some thoughts to the heavens on behalf of his sick grandfather.
Everyone spoke quietly and reverently and, I think, felt something special.
I’m very comfortable with the idea that it was a place where people, including myself, were able to feel close to God as they understood Him and to commune with him.
Hmmm. I just was in the Buddhist cave temples in Dambulla, Sri Lanka. They are as old as Christianity and very interesting. Here are some images: https://www.google.com.sg/search?q=dambulla+cave+temple&rlz=1C1CHWA_enUS521US521&aq=0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=LFI3UYrqM86NrgeJzoGwCg&biw=1366&bih=643&sei=L1I3Ub6qN8rJrAeRzoGwCQ I always find it fascinating to see something that has been sacred to people for 2000 years.
Have been to a few, but generally prefer the thought to the imagery of Buddhism, which can be sinister at times. One of the things I like about Buddhist temples… and Shinto shrines is how they incorporate nature. The buildings seem to be in harmony with their surroundings. The buildings try to compliment nature, not triumph over it. I have never been to a cave temple but I visited a temple in Japan called Yamadera several years ago that touched me. True to its literal meaning of “mountain temple” it was 1000 steps to the top. These steps are a path up a mountain surrounded by trees and birds and a chorus of cicadas the temple is famous for. The journey was an experience in itself. At the top I lit incense, admired the amazing view, and said a prayer of thanks for the experience. I left with a peace I’ve rarely felt in our temples save a few special experiences. Again I think the incorporation with nature is the key. God’s creation is so much more beautiful than anything built by man. I’m often amused that we block out nature with the walls of our temples only to try and recreate them with paintings and 30 year old stock footage in a movie.
I like learning about the creation but I never feel closer to god than when I’m surrounded by his creations and not ours.
Quote:I’m very comfortable with the idea that it was a place where people, including myself, were able to feel close to God as they understood Him and to commune with him.
Amen.
Quote:“Where two or three are gathered in my name . . .”
I think God is comfortable with the different names people use, so I believe this scripture is MUCH more expansive than most people assume.
I wrote the following in December 2011:
“Why I Like the Jewish Custom of Not Using God’s Name”( http://thingsofmysoul.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-i-like-jewish-custom-of-not-using.html mackay, hawkgrrrl, wuwei, Fascinating stuff. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
What I find fascinating is that if one actually spends time understanding buddhism, and other asian systems-of-thought (they’re not really ‘religions’ in a western way of thinking), then the idea that a meditative, spiritual experience becomes no longer confined with “the only true church”.
Many believers find this quite disturbing. I was just at the DC visitor’s center at the temple, and there was a sister missionary from Taiwan. I engaged a bit on discussing Confucius and Laozi, and she mentioned “Zhuangzi” as being someone whose writings she was familiar with. I was initially impressed, but then she started saying that these writers did not write about god, as if that would render their writings as being invalid. She was quite serious. I felt it was time to end that discussion, and thanked her for her testimony of the one true church…
I had a similar experience in India with some of the elderly missionary couples there. When I asked if they had been able to understand how hinduism could bridge to LDS thinking, they categorically would reject it — “Oh that’s just about all those gods…did you know that hindus believe in millions of gods?” I said, “Yes they do, they believe that our souls (the Atman) are all of a divine nature, children of gods, and therefore can all be gods to the extent that we are unified with the divine nature (the Brahman)”. So as to not confuse the metaphor, I didn’t use the formal sanskrit words in parenthesis to refer to this principle.
whooosh. right in one ear and out the other.
I have not always found the same peace as you mention here. I do love the idea of lighting incense and meditating with it in a temple, but I sort of get lost when the object of worship is a lingam or yoni.
Interesting insights wayfarer. I know far too little about Buddhism and Hinduism to even consider any meaningful interaction with their belief system or theology. I think what impressed me about the solitary monk praying/chanting outside the cave and the atmosphere inside it, was one of peace and sincerity. I sometimes am sad to hear people talk of ‘satan’s counterfeits.’ This was certainly a place of interaction with the god they understood and I’m glad my children could feel that too. Perhaps one day we’ll take the time to understand it better. For now they have my respect and reverence. mackay11 wrote:Interesting insights wayfarer. I know far too little about Buddhism and Hinduism to even consider any meaningful interaction with their belief system or theology. I think what impressed me about the solitary monk praying/chanting outside the cave and the atmosphere inside it, was one of peace and sincerity. I sometimes am sad to hear people talk of ‘satan’s counterfeits.’ This was certainly a place of interaction with the god they understood and I’m glad my children could feel that too. Perhaps one day we’ll take the time to understand it better. For now they have my respect and reverence.
i have heard about satan’s counterfeits, but i cannot help but think that it is simply polemic language when applied to other mainstream faiths. sometimes the buddhist expression applies: there are many paths to the summit.one of the most important and unique doctrines of mormonism is eternal progression. We are not strictly god’s creations, but each of us have an eternal intelligence, co-eternal with god. as well, we recognize that not everyone can or will accept the gospel in this life, but indeed, the work of eternal progression leaves a lot of options, provided we concentrate on god’s love rather than some arbitrary “you get one shot at this” model that turns god into a monster.
one of the things i admire most about joseph smith is his syncretism: that is, the ability to find truth anywhere, even in a masonic ritual. he talked to josiah seixas about judaism. he talked to muslims. he found good wherever it was taught. divine truth is not found in a single, cohesive revelation, but rather, holographically apparent in the texts of all people, as reflected in their holy works and works of wisdom.
more than anything, the book of mormon radically transforms and restores christianity to involve new scripture. here is what that new scripture said about canon:
Quote:Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written.
For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written.
For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it. (2 Nephi 29:10-12)
while we don’t know where the books of the lost tribes are, we certainly have access to the books of the nations. assuming that this was written around 550 BCE, there are a set of contemporaries to that time, or shortly thereafter that wrote the seminal holy texts around the world: Cyrus the Great, Pythagoras, Confucius, Lao tzu, and Gautama Siddhartha were all contemporaries to Nephi, or lived and taught shortly after the above scripture was penned by Nephi. The sources of hindu vedanta, the upanishads and the bhagavad gita were written in proximate era. what we have is the origin of monotheism and the reinstatement to the temple in jerusalem, the very source of judaism, christianity and islam owe their heritage to Cyrus, hindus to the writers of the upanishads and gita, daoists to laozi, all asian religions to confucius, math to pythagoras, and buddhism to Gautama… all of which lived at nearly exactly the same time!!!
if the book of mormon contains divinely revealed truth, and i believe that it does, then we ought to take seriously that there are far more scriptures out there than the bible and its direct derivatives. we will be judged from these books, to the extent that they reveal truth, and i believe they do.
one of my primary reasons I stay LDS is the truth i find in these amazing doctrines.
Wayfarer, quite often your posts are way over my head. These reached out to me. Thank you. One of the things I believe is that there are many ways back to God and Mormonism is just one of them
I mentioned the eastern concept of oneness as I taught about the spirit and being close to god and the spirit of revelation. The whole room goes quiet when I suggest there may be something we can learn from eastern religions. We really have become closed minded and afraid of the other sources of wisdom and truth out there johnh wrote:I mentioned the eastern concept of oneness as I taught about the spirit and being close to god and the spirit of revelation. The whole room goes quiet when I suggest there may be something we can learn from eastern religions. We really have become closed minded and afraid of the other sources of wisdom and truth out there
and i find this very sad.as do I Thoreau wrote:Wayfarer, quite often your posts are way over my head. These reached out to me. Thank you.
One of the things I believe is that there are many ways back to God and Mormonism is just one of them
thanks, thoreau. i have always enjoyed your posts and find them thought provoking…i apologize if i get too erudite — i really need to simplify…thanks for your feedback.
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