5 Ways Buddhism is Helping Me Rebuild My Christian Faith
In the evangelical background, I come from, the idea of another religion teaching or speaking to my Christian faith is a major no-no. This is because, in these circles, the Bible is seen as the single source of religious truth and God’s perfect word given to humanity. This view of the Bible is a major claim regarding what makes Christianity special and unique.
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When a group believes they have a monopoly on God’s self-revelation, finding meaning and wisdom in the teachings of another religion often leads to allegations of a significant lack of faith, slipping into syncretism or the nasty h-word (heresy). Over the last year, my family and I have experienced multiple ebbs and flows regarding our Christian faith. As we continue to recover from 15 years in pastoral ministry within evangelicalism, there are a lot of wounds and trauma that we are still working through.
For the last few months, we’ve been in a significant lull. Something I realized is how much American Christianity emphasizes believing over following. Much of the Christian life revolves around believing in the right things. Even our oldest creeds, the Nicene and Apostles creeds, are primarily concerned with telling us what we believe and not how we should live.
This lull in my faith and realization that we have a hyper-focus on belief led me on a journey to discover a more experiential faith. This journey guided me to the teachings of Buddhism. Coming out on the other side of my research, here are five ways Buddhism has helped me be a better Christian.
1. Buddhism Helped Me Practically While Not Caring What I Believe Metaphysically.
Buddhism is a religion that heavily emphasizes looking inward, examining the world soberly as it is, and embracing the reality that much of life is suffering. By suffering, what is meant is more akin to unfulfilled desire than it is going through hardship and pain, though hardship and pain often come through not getting what we desire… Just keep thinking about it, and it’ll make sense. 😉
Because Buddhism emphasizes being fully present in the here and now, its core practices are incredibly practical to everyday life. Buddhism doesn’t particularly care about or ask metaphysical questions. The Buddha’s teachings deal with gaining enlightenment by looking at the self and don’t see the existence of God as pertinent to helping the self attain enlightenment.
Through the four noble truths, Buddhism has helped me and my family grow in being present with our emotions, present with each other, and accepting life on life’s terms. This has helped us focus on what we can control and trust God to handle the 99% we can’t.
2. Buddhism Helped My Mental Health
Tied to focusing on what I can control and letting go of everything else, Buddhism has helped improve my overall mental health. It helped me to slow down, breathe, check in with myself, evaluate, and think when stressed instead of trying to jump into action.
It has also been a huge help in teaching me to be slow to speak, as my inclination to speak quickly is usually a result of fear or insecurity. Implementing the four noble truths has literally prevented me from having panic attacks and kept me grounded in stressful situations that normally would lead me into a bout of anxiety or depression.
3. Buddhism Gives Me a Greater Appreciation of God’s Presence
Much of the eightfold path that makes up the fourth noble truth revolves around what’s “right.” For example, the eightfold path consists of things like; the right view, right intention, right speech, right action…
Buddhism looks to the self as the source of making right and wise decisions. I agree with my Buddhist brothers and sisters, but the reason I believe this is true is because God is a reality. What Buddhism has helped me better understand is that God is not some being out there in the heavens somewhere who only makes their presence clear in spectacular moments.
Need to part the red sea? God shows up. Want to stop time? God shows up. Want to see a resurrection from the dead? Look at God! But in the mundane regular stuff of life, where is God?
Buddhism helped me understand being present in the moment of regular day-to-day life is where we most encounter and experience God. The Apostle Paul summarizes this reality when he says,
“For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’;” Acts 17:28 (NRSVUE)
To fully appreciate God’s immanence Buddhism has helped me see that God is spirit and is present in everything. We can experience God in the simplicity of everyday life, not because we have to reach out to God or hope God does something spectacular, but because God is already here, present in everything. At the same time, God is transcendent as God is present in everything and above space and time. This is what Isaiah is describing when he says,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Isaiah 6:3 (NRSVUE)
The reason we can know and be known by God is because God is already everywhere. Our connecting to God and meeting God is tapping into a presence that is always there. This view isn’t new but is a millennia-old view of God called Panentheism.
4. Buddhism Introduced Me to Christian Mysticism and Contemplative Prayer
Coming out of a season of learning and sitting at the feet of the Buddha and Buddhist teachings, I asked myself, “Where can I find this type of practice within my own faith tradition?” Following the lead of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, I was able to identify a number of contemporary and ancient Christian Mystics. Some contemporary mystics are Thomas Keating, Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault, Joan Chittister, and Thomas Merton.
I’ve also begun learning about centering and contemplative prayer from ancient mystics like Julian of Norwich, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, and Meister Eckhart. Over the next few months, I hope to sit at the feet of many of these Saints to learn how to walk in the contemplative and mystic Christian tradition.
In case you’re interested, I recently signed up for this course Intro to Contemplative Prayer & Meditation, on Udemy.
5. Buddhism Helped My Faith Become More Real by Emphasizing a Path through Relationship over a Dogmatic Belief System.
As I stated at the beginning, much of American Christianity revolves around dogma. My right standing within most churches and with God is understood as being determined by my acknowledging and agreeing with a set of beliefs.
Do I believe the Catholic church is the one true church and that the Pope uniquely possesses papal authority and infallibility? Yes, then, I’m a good Catholic. No, then I’m not.
Is the Bible the infallible and inerrant word of God? Should only consenting believers be baptized through immersion? Is Jesus the literal Son of God who literally created the earth in seven days and literally rose from the dead? If yes, then I’m a good Evangelical. If not, then I should seriously consider my life’s choices and how my beliefs may lead me to an eternity burning in a lake of hellfire.
You get the point. I no longer care about faith from any tradition that is premised on dogma with little to no concern about a relationship with God. Buddhism has helped me understand God cares far more about my loving God and others through following the way of Jesus over the certainty that I have all my doctrinal ducks in a row.
Looking at the book of Acts, we see in the earliest days of Christianity that Christians were initially called “the Way,” not “the Beliefs.” Buddhism helped me remember that God is relational by nature. Whether it’s through attending Synagogue, Zen meditation, or Contemplative Prayer, what Buddhism helped me see is God is present, God is for me, and God desires a relationship with me.
I AM JAMES GÓMEZ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
