Finding Christ in the Buddha:
My visit to a Buddhist Meditation Center
As a part of my seminary World Religions and Missions course, we are required to visit the worship service of another religion, in order to experience their spiritual practices, and also to talk with them and build a connection. The goal is to put a human face on Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. in order to better understand the people who practice these religions so that we can be effective missionaries of the Gospel to them. But evangelism is NOT a part of the assignment, only observation and research.
With that in mind, I visited the Shambhala Meditation Center. I went in with an open mind, eager to learn.
Upon arriving, the building itself is nondescript. Just a rectangular standalone on the corner near downtown Lexington. It is roughly the size of a typical fast food place and was formerly an art gallery, and was to be renovated soon to better suit the needs of the community. Inside, the floor is grey-blue tile and the walls are white plaster lined with many pieces of art, made by locals in the Tibetan style. It was all very simple and clean.
There were just two people there meditating. Will, is a young man and a student at UK. Then there was Denise, who was the substitute leader. She told me that she is regular who sometimes fills in when the normal leader cannot be there. I explained my purpose and asked if it was okay if I just observed. She and Will had no issue, so I took a seat to the side and watched as they went through their meditation forms. They were doing sitting meditation when I first arrived, but soon after moved to walking meditation. At that point, I noticed they had removed their shoes and were in sock feet, so I followed suit, out of respect.
As they slowly shuffled around the room in circles, Denise told me that Buddhist meditation of this type focused on exhalation and pushing out thoughts of any sort, to “get to the space between thoughts.” They continued to make laps, eyes staring at the floor without really seeing it or anything else, and I made notes.
Eventually, I gave it a try while remaining seated. I found great difficulty in clearing out all thoughts, but I definitely felt a spiritual connection, which I attributed to be the Holy Spirit finally having room to operate without being crowded out by my racing brain’s random thoughts.
After walking meditation, they moved onto seated contemplation. Denise read a lojong teaching, which instructed the reader to “first, train in the preliminaries”, those most basic thoughts upon which all others are built. There were four preliminaries described, which are:
- Human life is precious
- That life ends and death comes for us all
- Each and every action, virtuous or not, has a result
- Satisfying your selfish desires will not bring true happiness
As I watched Will and Denise stare off into space and retreat into their minds, I also allowed my mind to drift and to focus upon the “preliminaries”. They really are almost universal across the religious spectrum. Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism also place a high value on human life, acknowledge the finitude of life, and seek to live unselfishly because of the value placed upon community and others. Buddhism is pluralistic in that it incorporates the aspects and teachings of many other religions, as it seeks to bring about an enlightened society.
As I sat there, meditating upon these four thoughts, I really came to appreciate the beauty of Buddhism. I saw a lot of crossover and connection with Christianity. I found the meditation to be helpful, allowing me the time and place to let go of my thoughts and cares for a time and let God have space to enter into my life. It is something that I confess that I don’t do often.
And in my conversation with Denise, I noticed a focus on outreach to the community. The renovations will allow more space and ability to have classes and bring in more people. The Shambhala community has an intentional focus on enlightening others and improving their lives.
Another common theme is familiarity with Christianity. Denise grew up Roman Catholic, Will is a pastor’s son, and Susan, who I met as I was leaving, grew up Baptist. Each person had left behind Christianity for one reason or another and had found peace and solace in Buddhism. It was all very fascinating to me.
Throughout my time there, I asked a few questions, and Denise, Will, and Susan were gracious enough to answer as best they could. I did not prepare many questions in advance; I simply wanted to experience Shambhala Buddhism.
In all honesty, I would like to go back, to continue building relationships with the people and perhaps answer some of their reservations and doubts. I think that building bridges and forming relationships is one of the best ways to evangelize.
It’s how I see Jesus operating in the Gospels. And I have seen the value in silencing the “chattering monkeys” and allowing the Holy Spirit space to work and in just being present.
(Photos are my own)
For more of my musings, check out revcodyblog.com.
God bless you!
