. <\/span>And yet, in the end, he thinks about the meaning and supposed experience of an awakened being, \u201cwe would \ufb01nd that they point to the complete overcoming of discriminative thoughts and the fostering of unconditional compassion.\u201d<\/p>\nMy wonder is if we might profitably think of exclusivism (the belief that your tradition is right, <\/span>and all others wrong, or at least inferior<\/span>) as a stage in one\u2019s spiritual path.<\/p>\nTanaka himself admits that some of his inclusivism toward other religions might just be a sign of his luke-warm status as a practitioner. I recall listening to one teacher, Geshe Michael Roach, relating a period in his spiritual development when he loved to see Buddhists win in debates or discussions with other traditions, or to point out the foolishness of people in this or that other tradition. Geshe Michael said that it took him a <\/span>long<\/span> time to get past this, to see that all traditions have something possitive to offer people<\/span> and that through any of them the possibility of awakening is held.<\/p>\nI, too, have moved from exclusivism as an atheist to quasi-exclusivism as a Buddhist to a much more open and inclusive thinker toward religious traditions<\/span>. How did this happen? Partly I think my exclusivism came from looking at how stupid and harmful people of various religions have been over the years. Most of my angst was aimed at Catholicism, the religion of my upbringing, but it easily extended out to Christianity as a whole and other theisms. I\u2019m sure that if I had looked at the time I would have found plenty of faults in Buddhism and Buddhists as well, but angst toward theisms can pretty easily consume all of a young man\u2019s free time.<\/p>\nBuddhism, when I finally did start to study it, didn\u2019t look much better. \u201cLife is suffering, blah, blah, blah\u2026\u201d was my initial, know-it-all, impression. <\/span> It wasn\u2019t until I engaged in meditation in a course at the University that my views began to soften. Slowly but surely I began to get into it. First the philosophy (of course), then other things, bit by bit, being careful to separate out the superstition and foolishness (so I thought) as I went.<\/p>\nUltimately what the process has done though is forced me to look more at myself. <\/span> I saw that I\u2019m obviously not perfect either (I awoke to this several years ago but still forget from time to time!), and that my expectations of religion were greatly inflated. Toning those down a bit I became more accepting of the world, and of myself. Tanaka, too, notes, \u201cI have personally been quite surprised by my insistence on looking inward when addressing social issues. And after some re\ufb02ection I have come to the conclusion that this is very much a manifestation of my Buddhist DNA\u2026 which highly values introspection.\u201d<\/p>\nThe process has led me to look less at views and words and more toward actions and what actually works<\/span>. Meditation, for me, works. It brings calm, openness, joy, and peace.<\/p>\nI teach meditation to others. Many say it works for them too. Perfect. What else do we need?<\/p>\n
So perhaps this has led to its own kind of exclusivism: we <\/span>all<\/span> must do what works.<\/span><\/p>\n
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