{"id":197,"date":"2010-03-18T02:29:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-18T02:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2010\/03\/buddhism-and-st-paddys-day\/"},"modified":"2010-03-18T02:29:00","modified_gmt":"2010-03-18T02:29:00","slug":"buddhism-and-st-paddys-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2010\/03\/buddhism-and-st-paddys-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Buddhism and St Paddy’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

Buddhism and St Patrick\u2019s Day?<\/i><\/b><\/span>

<\/i><\/b> Yea, I\u2019m Irish.\u00a0<\/span>More Irish, at least, than this guy;<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>

With some Flood and Doyle on my pappy\u2019s side and some I-forget-what on my mum\u2019s, I\u2019m probably just over a quarter Irish, but I round up to half.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so, as with past St. Paddy\u2019s Day, it\u2019s time for our annual Catholic-bashing (well, not really). <\/p>\n

\n
And for fun I had a couple twitter tweets myself finding curious similarity between Buddhist<\/a> and Irish (though not necessarily Catholic) culture:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n


First, this via\u00a0<\/span> Bodhipaksa<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>

About four minutes in he notes, \u201cIn the US, they don\u2019t let gays march, whereas in Ireland, gay people get prizes for being the most colorful group.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

And this also from\u00a0<\/span>twitter<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Bodhipaksa<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart<\/span><\/a><\/td>\nMon \u2013 Thurs 11p \/ 10c<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Holy Sh*t<\/span><\/a><\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
www.thedailyshow.com<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n\n
Daily Show
Full Episodes<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n		Political Humor<\/span><\/a><\/td>\nHealth Care Reform<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

In the past I\u2019ve noted the<\/span><\/span>irony in mixing mass intoxication and resurrection<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>when St Patrick\u2019s Day conflicted with Easter. I also wrote in protest when Gays and Lesbians were not allowed to march in the 2006 St. Paddy\u2019s day parade (perhaps what Mr. McCourt was referring to above) and back in 2005 when the Catholic church announced that <\/span><\/span><\/b>there are mistakes in the bible<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(gasp!).<\/span>

<\/span>
We could toss in there this year that the Catholics have come out in <\/span>opposition to reforming Health Care<\/span><\/a>. But\u2026 in very good news of late, Catholic <\/span>nuns, yes nuns, have come out in support<\/span><\/a> of the current Health Care bill (and <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>). My favorite line from them is that because \u201c<\/span>the legislation also will help support pregnant women \u2026 \u201cthis is the real pro-life stance.\u201d<\/span><\/span>

<\/span>As something of a Pro-Life (and <\/i>Pro-Choice, because the two need not conflict) Buddhist, I\u2019m 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 \u2013 via government or otherwise \u2013 on others.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

But despite the politics of religion \u2013 and Buddhists have<\/span> their <\/span><\/span>faults, mind you \u2013 it\u2019s unwise to fail in mentioning the <\/span>beauty <\/span><\/b>of Catholicism and all religions. Any faith that could provide such luminaries as\u00a0<\/span>Thomas Merton<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(aka Fr. Louis, pictured here with H.H. the Dalai Lama) and\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Anthony De Mello<\/span><\/a> deserves <\/span>our respect.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>

<\/span> <\/span>
Before I was a Buddhist, I spent several years as something of a raving hardcore atheist (I liked \u201canti-theist\u201d at the time). But, if anything, Buddhism has softened my stance on all religions. As a scholar I\u2019ve found plenty of faults in Buddhism, as well as secular philosophies and philosophers. As I\u2019ve done so it has been easier to appreciate the beauty of say,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Hafez<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Rumi<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>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:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase \u2018each other\u2019 doesn\u2019t make any sense\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span><\/a>
<\/span> \u201cWho gossips with you will gossip of you\u201d \u2013 Irish wisdom on the 4th Buddhist Precept for St P\u00e1draig\/Paddy\u2019s day<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

and
More Irish\/Buddhist wisdom (4th Precept): of a gossiper: \u201cS\/he has a tongue that would clip a hedge.\u201d\u00a0#stpatricksday<\/span><\/a>
<\/span>
<\/span> <\/span>
And at left is a photo I took in London a couple years back, laying out Irish Philosophy.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Those of you familiar with \u015a\u0101ntideva might appreciate these lines from his famous text\u00a0A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life<\/a>\"\"\u00a0(ch6):<\/span><\/p>\n

9. Even if I fall into extreme adversity, I should not disrupt my happiness. When there is frustration, nothing is agreeable, and virtue is forsaken.<\/span>

<\/span>
10. If there is a remedy, then what is the use of frustration? If there is no remedy, then what is the use of frustration?<\/span>

<\/span>
And to bring us full loop, from Ireland and the Catholics, via \u015a\u0101ntideva and the Buddhists, we end with Bobby McFaren\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.dailymotion.com\/video\/video\/x1xuvd<\/a>
<\/b>Bobby McFerrin \u2013 Don\u2019t Worry Be Happy<\/a><\/b>
Uploaded by jpdc11<\/a>. \u2013 See the latest featured music videos.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

(sorry for the odd formatting at times, blogger and I just don\u2019t always get along)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buddhism and St Patrick\u2019s Day? Yea, I\u2019m Irish.\u00a0More Irish, at least, than this guy;.With some Flood and Doyle on my pappy\u2019s side and some I-forget-what on my mum\u2019s, I\u2019m probably just over a quarter Irish, but I round up to half. And so, as with past St. Paddy\u2019s Day, it\u2019s time for our annual Catholic-bashing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBuddhism and St Paddy's Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Buddhism and St Patrick's Day? 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