On how the two people who fell in love, with differences of religions, worked it out, despite them believing in different gods, this is what religions are about, acceptance of those who are, different than we are! Translated…
My wife is Catholic, I, a Buddhist, and our friends and family predicted, that we would be engaged, in the war of, religious beliefs.
Before we wed, her sacred beliefs seemed to have been, submerged underseas, what floated onto the surfaces was her passions, her kindness, her gentle nature which I’d found attractive. While my wooden fish, had, tilted its head every now and then, and I’d, recited the Heart Mantra every now and then.
As we were newly wedded, we’d gotten along, okay. Not long after we wed, we bought a four story home, she’d told me that she wanted to celebrate the “holy”, I’d asked her, if she was to perform the rituals of Catholicism to move in? “Yes!”, “To keep everybody blessed!”, “Certainly.”, “Then surely, have the rituals performed then!”
Early in the morn, the priest came here, took the holy water with the cup, and the items, after he’d recited the blessings, he’d started spraying the holy water from the living room, climbed up the steps, another floor…………finally, the father had, arrived at, the fourth floor, he’d lifted his head, SHOCK, a statue of Buddha was, on the shrine, with the Heart Mantra on the opposite of the walls. This priest must’ve been through everything, he’d become stunned for no more than three seconds, then, he’d, carried that majestic manner, bowed to the statue of Buddha, then, splashed the holy water onto the Buddhist statue, while the statue still held its hand in front of its chest, like nothing happened. That was, the very first time I’d ever witnessed, how god is loving, that Buddha showed no preferences for those who aren’t believers.
After the blessings were completed, the statue of the Christ my wife had in the living room, looked, glowing.
From dating to outing, into sharing the same roofs, our own habits started, becoming clear to one another. As a Buddhist, I’d mediated, and practiced the religions at home, rarely attended the gatherings hosted by the temples; my wife who’s a faithful Catholic, she’d gone to the masses, early prayers, night prayers, and, prayed before mealtime, and when she was confused, she’d, prayed on.
Once we were trying to catch the trains, I drove really fast, and we were there, thirty-seconds before the train departed.
“whew! Buddha had blessed us!”, “Thank you, Lord!” as we both breathed out our separate sigh of relief, we’d, looked at one another, smiled.
After we wed, my wife saw me offering the incense to the statue of Buddha day and night, didn’t say anything, after all, the Catholic would offer too to their ancestors. But one day, she’d mocked me, “my sisters said, offering to Buddha is offering to the evil spirits!”
Although I’d understood, that Christians are iconoclasts, but I was still, shocked at the moment, but, I’d learned from the Father’s means, only stumped for about, five second’s time.
“Buddha is a philosopher!”, I’d said firmly to her, “Buddhism is about the philosophies of, life!”
Later, I’d started telling her about the beliefs of Buddhism, and she’d slowly begun believing, that Buddha was, a, philosopher.
But, this wasn’t as easy as I’d, imagined. One day, I’d found that as she’d prayed, she’d started, gagging.
how the two different religions came together…
and this, is the TRUE meaning of religions, accepting those who are, different than we are! Image from online
“What’s the matter? Are you ill?”
“No, this is the Holiness, moving me!”
Then, I’d, known that she’d gone to the “Holy Prayers Gatherings”, while she was praying, there were the slurs of her tongues that came out, spiritual language that I couldn’t understand, sometimes, she’d cried and fallen to the ground. She’d told me that this was “God’s Grace”, that it cures all illnesses.
Buddha told us to treat others as we treated ourselves, but I’d felt, that she’d become, a medium who’s, possessed by the spirits, and it’d not played well with me. Are we, two different religious believers, about to go into, the predicted, holy, war now?
After I’d stayed confused for a little while, I’d decided, to study the religions. And my thesis topic was “Prayer”, and I’d discussed the model of prayer, “The Holy Prayers Together”.
After two years of study, a year of field research, my beliefs had been, altered. I was, deeply affected by the psychology of religion of William James, started using the psychological foundations to interpret the many different religious experiences, believing, that if I can get something spiritually positive, then, the mediums should understand it. And, because of how we’d started trying to understand one another’s, religions, we’d started, sharing the beliefs we’d had, the enlightenments in our lives.
Ever since, the statue of Buddha glowed even brighter on his head in the attic.
I had a beautiful dream recently.
Buddha was sitting next to Jesus, one was comforting a lost lamb, another with the hand gestures.
“I love everyone”.
“I don’t differentiate”.
“See!”
“They are even, more in love as a married couple, despite their, religious differences!”
So, this is on accepting, and loving each other for everything one another is. Although this couple had different religions, they did NOT force their own beliefs onto one another, instead, they’d carried that open mind, as they each engaged in the separate worshipping activities, and it’s this sort of acceptance of one another’s differences, not criticizing each other’s beliefs, that’s made them so wonderful together.
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