Buddhism and St Paddy’s Day

Last updated on: March 18, 2010 at 2:29 am by Justin Whitaker

Buddhism and St Paddy’s Day 2010-03-18T02:29:00-06:00 Justin Whitaker

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Buddhism and St Patrick’s Day?

Yea, I’m Irish. More Irish, at least, than this guy;.

With some Flood and Doyle on my pappy’s side and some I-forget-what on my mum’s, I’m probably just over a quarter Irish, but I round up to half.

And so, as with past St. Paddy’s Day, it’s time for our annual Catholic-bashing (well, not really).

And for fun I had a couple twitter tweets myself finding curious similarity between Buddhist and Irish (though not necessarily Catholic) culture:

First, this via Bodhipaksa.

About four minutes in he notes, “In the US, they don’t let gays march, whereas in Ireland, gay people get prizes for being the most colorful group.”

And this also from twitter and Bodhipaksa.

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In the past I’ve noted theirony in mixing mass intoxication and resurrection when St Patrick’s Day conflicted with Easter. I also wrote in protest when Gays and Lesbians were not allowed to march in the 2006 St. Paddy’s day parade (perhaps what Mr. McCourt was referring to above) and back in 2005 when the Catholic church announced that there are mistakes in the bible (gasp!).

We could toss in there this year that the Catholics have come out in opposition to reforming Health Care. But… in very good news of late, Catholic nuns, yes nuns, have come out in support of the current Health Care bill (and here). My favorite line from them is that because “the legislation also will help support pregnant women … “this is the real pro-life stance.”

As something of a Pro-Life (and Pro-Choice, because the two need not conflict) Buddhist, I’m happy to see this. In fact the traditional Buddhist and Catholic views on the sanctity of fetal life are remarkably similar. Buddhists are, however, IMHO much less likely to force their views – via government or otherwise – on others.

But despite the politics of religion – and Buddhists have their faults, mind you – it’s unwise to fail in mentioning the beauty of Catholicism and all religions. Any faith that could provide such luminaries as Thomas Merton (aka Fr. Louis, pictured here with H.H. the Dalai Lama) and Anthony De Mello deserves our respect.

Before I was a Buddhist, I spent several years as something of a raving hardcore atheist (I liked “anti-theist” at the time). But, if anything, Buddhism has softened my stance on all religions. As a scholar I’ve found plenty of faults in Buddhism, as well as secular philosophies and philosophers. As I’ve done so it has been easier to appreciate the beauty of say, Hafez or Rumi, without getting hung up on the theologies or violent people of the same religion. In doing so we learn to see deeply the humanity of all people, and perhaps even beyond that, to sentience itself and our fundamental interconnectedness with all beings. Speaking of Rumi, he states it well here:

“When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’ doesn’t make any sense”

“Who gossips with you will gossip of you” – Irish wisdom on the 4th Buddhist Precept for St Pádraig/Paddy’s day

and
More Irish/Buddhist wisdom (4th Precept): of a gossiper: “S/he has a tongue that would clip a hedge.” #stpatricksday

And at left is a photo I took in London a couple years back, laying out Irish Philosophy.

Those of you familiar with Śāntideva might appreciate these lines from his famous text A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life (ch6):

Even if I fall into extreme adversity, I should not disrupt my happiness. When there is frustration, nothing is agreeable, and virtue is forsaken.

If there is a remedy, then what is the use of frustration? If there is no remedy, then what is the use of frustration?

And to bring us full loop, from Ireland and the Catholics, via Śāntideva and the Buddhists, we end with Bobby McFaren

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/video/x1xuvd
Bobby McFerrin – Don’t Worry Be Happy
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(sorry for the odd formatting at times, blogger and I just don’t always get along)

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