Easter as a Buddhist

Since becoming a Buddhist, I have had difficulty celebrating two Christian holidays, Easter and Christmas. Most people would point out the differences in faith, being the obvious reason as to why. However my problem is more with the commercialization and junk food associated with the holidays.

So here I sit wondering what to do this weekend with my children, 6 and 4 years old. I spoke with my husband and we agreed to do the egg coloring, and allow the Easter Bunny to leave baskets and hide the eggs. I'm thinking more of a celebration of Spring, without the 3 pounds of candy normally associated with the holiday.

This issue with the holidays changed somewhat after seeing the movie, Rise of the Gaurdians. If you haven't seen the movie, it truly is a wonderful family movie. The story is about these figures (Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and the Sandman) needing Jack Frost's help to defeat the Boogie Man, or Pitch Black.

The premise of the movie is as long as a child believes in the figures, they are real, they exist. Therefore their job is to protect the children, allow them to be children with a sense of wonder and hope. Jack isn't believed in as a real figure, he is more of a concept, and therefore cannot be seen by any child.

I won't get into any more details of the movie, because I'm horrible about giving movies away. Not as bad as the guy who told my husband about the kid in The Sixth Sense, but kind of bad.

What I love about this movie is the characters are not what I was familiar with as a kid. Santa in this movie is a two-sword carrying Russian who just takes charge. The Tooth Fairy is not the delicate princess thing I imagined, but this bird/person/fairy person. The excitement she has about teeth actually makes me want to floss better. The Easter Bunny is my favorite character in this movie. Instead of the fluffy, white bunny, we get a boomerang carrying Aussie that doesn't put up with much. Unfortunately, I never imagined what the Sandman looked like, because the concept of someone sneaking into my room in the middle of the night to give me dreams, creeped me out. A fat man can break into my house and leave gifts, a fairy can purchase my teeth and a bunny can leave me candy, but I drew the line at dreams.

After watching this movie, I really wanted to celebrate Christmas and Easter, plus I was more excited about my daughter's loose tooth. Why is this?

The movie didn't even touch on religion. It was simply about children believing in magic and wonderful things.  By believing in wonderful figures, they are using their imagination and creativity to chase away the Boogie Man. If you take the religious and marketing aspect away from Christmas and Easter, what's left?

The Easter Bunny in the movie said that Easter was about hope and new beginnings. I totally agree, it's Spring. Grass is growing, flowers are flowering, trees are starting to flower or grow leaves. The days are getting longer; their is more time after school or work to go outside and enjoy each other. It is truly a time to celebrate the beauty in the world and the time you get to spend with those close to you.

Two guys walk into a...

No, this is not an attempt at bar humor. Today at temple our Sensei spoke about the commonalities between Jesus Christ and Buddha. Our dharma talk was about the period of Lent and how it signifies to many the period that Jesus went into the desert to get answers.

Without getting too deep into each story, here's a synopsis: both Jesus and Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) were born into an established religion. Both figured out that something didn't fit with what they were told or taught. At a later age, both took a journey where they could be alone and think about some things. Buddha sat under a bodhi tree for 40 days and nights, while Jesus went out into the dessert for the same period of time. There is also a lot of other religious stories that deal with the number 40, so I'm not sure if there is a historical significance here. The important thing to take from this is that both men went somewhere secluded and prayed or meditated for quite a long time.

In Jesus' stories he was tempted by the Devil, while Buddha was tempted by Mara and his daughters. (Mara's daughters represented: Craving, Boredom and Attachment/Passion). Both rejected the temptation and received their revelation or attained enlightenment. Wow! That seems easy, doesn't it? All I have to do is say "no" to some dude when he offers me cool stuff. Kind of like, "Say No to Drugs!"

As I have not read any Christian religious books, I can't say that Jesus doesn't guide people through this revelation. I have read several books about Buddha's life and it seems that there are several out there that explain how to say no to these temptations, how to become enlightened.

In the Buddhist belief you are already fasting, you are in a way "suffering." The fundamental belief of Buddhism is briefly put as: there is suffering, it has a cause, there is an end to the suffering, and there is a cause to end suffering. Suffering isn't pain, it is more wanting things you can't have or can't get enough of and not seeing what is actually in the world, in your daily life.

When you honestly look inside yourself to find what is causing your suffering, you can begin to remove those problems. Now that you know what is causing this suffering, you remove it or you let go of it. After many years, or lifetimes, depending on your commitment level, you can remove all of your suffering and truly see the world, its people and all it's beauty.

In my opinion, Heaven to Christians is like being enlightened to a Buddhist, the big difference is I don't have to die to experience enlightenment. I can end my suffering, my cravings and my ignorance. I can become at peace, have endless compassion for others and have infinite wisdom. I can, in a way, have Heaven on Earth while I'm still alive. All I have to do is look inside myself and let go of a lot of baggage that everyone carries around.

If you think about the fact that every religion, no matter which (or how many) God you support, they ALL try to make the world a better place by making people better beings. They all have different rules or guidelines, but when you take all the marketing, every rule and the destination or goal away, every religion just wants you to be a good person.

I will leave you thinking on one of my favorite quotes by Ajahn Chah:

"If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace."

And so it begins...

This blog is the beginning of a new journey that my husband and I are taking. We are 30 somethings feeling our way through Buddhism. For several years, we were what some people call "Nightstand Buddhists." This refers to reading about Buddhism and discovering things that you'd like to change or discover within yourself. Most people in this stage keep copies of books on their nightstand, usually reading before sleep to maybe have more profound dreams? Who knows.

My husband and I have progressed past this stage and found a wonderful Buddhist temple, where we can participate and learn through weekly dharma talks. Having a Judeo-Christian upbringing, I compare dharma talks to sermons. Unlike sermons, dharma talks encourage questions and discussions. For example, today during a dharma talk about the Pure Land, a member raised her hand and stated that she didn't believe in the Pure Land as she didn't believe in Heaven, therefore she was confused. Our reverend stopped his speech and as a group we openly discussed the differences in Pure Land belief just within our group at the temple.

It was acceptable that she didn't believe in it as an after-death place, because others agreed and thought it was more similar to attaining that "perfect moment" or what the world would be like if everyone was more compassionate and let go of their egos. With most of the people in our temple, most come from some form of Judeo-Christian upbringing and are in need of something else. Something in their lives doesn't fit into that blind faith anymore; their questions need answers. Buddhism allows you to question, constantly.

This acceptability within a "religion" is what made the difference to my husband and I. The fact that we could have differing opinions and discuss our ideas or questions with others in an open-minded atmosphere was the "cherry on top."


We are going to use this blog as a way to discuss ideas or questions we may have with each other or anyone who feels compelled to comment. I will say that those who do leave comments, if you choose to say hurtful things about anyone's opinion, it won't be posted or it will be deleted. I want the discussions to be just that, discussions. We may just find a way to enlighten each other!