Combining Religious Traditions

It was a home away from home in some ways. My mom was always working in the office, teaching Sunday school, or cooking up something in the church kitchen. I enjoyed my time there, and I was often in different plays and concerts. I loved the happy feeling of the upbeat worship music, and I definitely felt something important was happening during communion. I may not have fully understood why people knelt to pray at an altar illuminated by candle light, but I knew it was powerful event at the tender age of eight.

I felt comfortable there both because it was a friendly place to be and because it was familiar to me. We make family wherever it is that we find ourselves I suppose. As I got older it started to dawn on me that this was my mother's church. This was her faith. Was it mine too? I wasn't sure. The pre-teen and teen years are full of questions and new connections, and for me "Who is God?" was among them. It proved to be too much to deal with for quite some time and I just sort of let it go. It would also prove to be too important to me to ignore.

As I came to my mid twenties I found myself reading more about religion and the variety of paths to God. I started to realize that my exposure to religion had been extremely limited, and I was really naïve about how people outside of Christianity felt about God and life in general. I started to read my mom's old copy of the New Testament, books that summarized major religious traditions, and various web sites on line. It was wonderful to have access to all of the new information, but it also left me feeling overwhelmed. There were so many different denominations of Christianity alone! Then there were Islam, Judaism, and Bahai just to name a few. Which way was the right one? Was there even such a thing as a "right" religion? I knew I believed in something, and I prayed hoping that something was hearing me. I began to meditate a lot too even though I wasn't really aware that it was meditation I was doing..

Through an acquaintance, and a great website called Beliefnet.com, I began to read about modern Pagan religions specifically Wicca. It was exciting and, if I am being honest, it scared the hell out of me. The church I had grown up in was never about condemning other groups to eternal damnation for not being part of their tradition, but they were pretty clear that Jesus was "the way" and others were misguided. The connection between the word "pagan" and "hell" was fairly concrete for me. But were Wiccans worshipping the devil? Did I even believe in such an entity? The only way to know was to research these things and my own heart. I learned that Wicca was a modern religion based on old beliefs and rituals. Wiccans believed in and connected with a God and a Goddess, or many different Gods and Goddesses. They placed great value on nature, celebrated the seasonal cycles on holidays called "sabbats", and often practiced magic.

It took some time, and a lot of introspection, but Wicca became my chosen path. It was the first adult decision I had ever made about religion, and it definitely changed my life. The biggest change would be that began to care for the earth in a deeper way. When your God is actually part of the earth suddenly wastefulness and pollution are a real concern to you. Reduce, reuse, and recycle became far more important to me. I had days of celebration that recognized the seasonal changes such as the Litha which is more commonly known as the summer solstice. I began to decorate a seasonal altar, and I read my children different myths about the Gods and the Goddesses. I learned how to be open with others about what I believe, and how to deal with negative reactions.

Wicca was a practice that rooted me to the earth and to the God and Goddess, or what I call "the Divine". I felt very at peace in Wicca but I kept up my reading of other religions. In 2003 I began reading about Buddhism more deeply than I had before. I'd read about it casually in many books and on line, but I never paid much attention to it. I started to feel very drawn to the practices and teachings of the Siddhartha Guatama, usually referred to as Buddha, and his focus on personal responsibility and compassion. When I began to really look into the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eight Fold path it was a truth I could not turn away from. It went right to the heart of me and took root there. I had to ask myself, "Could a person be both Wiccan and Buddhist?", and then I had to look within for the answer. I began to meditate according to instructions written by the much loved Zen Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh to start that journey.

Looking back now it seems that my decision to begin practicing Buddhism was less of a decision and more like something natural that just happened. I just was. Of course I did have to actually start to practice at some point, and I found that blending my two chosen religions was easier than I thought it would be. It was as if this was exactly where I was meant to be! My life has been changed and enriched by learning about the different kinds of meditation, such as Vipassana or "insight" meditation. Years ago I would have never thought about impermanence and interconnectedness, both core Buddhist teachings, and how they affect my life. As a child I couldn't have imagined that the teachings of a man who started out a runaway Indian prince and ended up a fully awakened being thousands of years ago would mean anything to me.

There are people who tell me that I can't really be practicing both traditions at once. They certainly have the right to that belief, but I find that line of thinking to be far too narrow. Each of us has to find out what we believe for ourselves. Further more we should try to find out why we believe it. Together the two traditions nourish me. They keep me grounded and focused on compassion so I can better the world around me. I truly believe they make me a better mother, wife, friend, daughter, and human being. The Buddha said "Do not accept what you hear by report, do not accept what is taught by tradition, do not accept what is found in books." Instead we are to practice teachings to see if they bring about real results and change. I encourage everyone to follow their heart and follow a path that connects to peace.