It's one thing to have a child be "taught" religion. It can be quite another thing if the education system gives the child the tools to explore religion and spirituality. I like this approach because it allows the student to be immersed in the religious/spiritual environment.
My local Zen center would occasionally play host to student visitors. They ranged from high school to graduate students, coming because of some kind of class assignment. They would arrive armed with a list of questions and it was not unusual for me to become their interview subject. If I did my job right (and objectively) it allowed the religious practice to teach the religion while maintaining the context of secular education. This frequently led to interesting side effects.
I remember one high school freshman that I spoke with. He was a slight boy who was a first generation Vietnamese-American. His family was "culturally Buddhist, but not practicing," only going to temple on high holidays. His father dropped him off at the center with the intent of returning to pick up his son up when the assignment was over. This student chose a bunch of Westerners to find out what Buddhism was about.
I answered all of his questions and instructed him on meditation. Since it was our habit to hold discussion after meditation, I told him that he could ask that evening's meditators any question he wanted. He was quite the novice in the zendo, not moving a bit during the meditation in spite of his discomfort sitting cross-legged for all that time.
After the meditation I introduced him to the group and asked him to put any question to them. He asked a question that was not part of the list he asked me: "Why do you meditate?" You should have seen at the looks of horror on these people's faces! His "innocent" question placed them in a vunerable place, forcing them to reveal themselves not only to him but to each other as well. But how could they refuse to answer, especially considering that many of them were academic teachers themselves? They couldn't easily reject their role. He had them pinned down the way a Zen teacher would.
It was important to him to hear why these people came to Buddhism and meditation, and what they experienced as the benefits of their practice. It was interesting for me to note that none of the reasons given had anything to do with "enlightenment." He discovered a Buddhism that doesn't exist in books.The point is that it was the student's own curiosity that stimulated the question. As a tool, the class assigment created the context so that he could go out and investigate religion on his own, without parents or teachers lording over him. It gave him the opportunity to find out what he wanted to find out and not be drilled with what he should be taught.
The Buddha suggested that we should become lamps unto ourselves. I'd like to think that the Buddha was also suggesting that we choose our own lamps, fill it with an appropriate oil and find the proper flame to ignite it with. Just as there is a proper place for religious tradition, there is also a difference between religion and "my stuff about religion" or the "stuff" that another would try to impose on me. My hope is that this student will continue to visit other churches and temples so that he can encounter the different practices and people that could work for him throughout life.
© Richard Aquino, 2007
"Hey, that's not Buddhism...that's just true!"
Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral
from What's the Big Deal About Buddhism?
As an aside, this exclamation comes from an entertaining, humorous and informative conversation between Alan Jones and Theravadin monk, Ajahn Amaro. It is an excellent example of what eccumenical dialogue can sound like. Click on the link to listen to this 45 minute recording.
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