Religion and Theology

The site of interview
The following interview was conducted at the New York insight meditation centre, New York City, the centre of New York metropolitan area. New York is in most populous and densely populated city in the United States and the gate pass to immigrants entering the country. The city is governed by 51 council members and the current mayor is one Mr. Michael Bloomberg. The city has an estimated population of over 8 million people with a third of them being Buddhists of different originalities. This metropolitan area serves as the centre of the other five boroughs of New York and is home to the famous statue of liberty. The city is also home to the Buddhism temples of Mayana, the three jewels, myosetsuji, the Tibet house and the shambhala centre. The interviewee is an American nationality and a strict follower of the Buddha and a resident of New York City, New York. He is a religion consultant of the Hearst Corporation one of the big media centre in America and a teacher at the mayana temple, the biggest Buddhist temple in New York The temple was erected in commemoration of Mrs. Annie yings a great follower and teacher of Buddhism (Maraldo, 2007, p.35). He is one of the organizers of the lokrang folk cultural program, an initiative aimed at shedding light to the religion of Buddhism all over the world and mostly in America.

1. Why Buddhism and not any other religion
I was born and raised in a strict Roman Catholic family at in New York City, New York. It is the biggest and the most ethically diverse borough in the state of New York. I grew in the times of little religious freedom and by that time Buddhism was less recognized in New York. My neighborhood consisted mostly of Chinese immigrants and they practiced Buddhism. There was no significant temple for the Buddhist to conduct their prayers and they used to gather at designated homes to say their prayers. I liked the Chinese way of life and most of my friends and school mates were Chinese Buddhists. I received a lot of spiritual intervention from them. One of my friends father was a Buddhist teacher. By the time I was twelve he had already recognized my liking in the religion and he used to engage me in religious talks regarding the best way of life.

I can say that is when I discovered my interests in Buddhism. Though young, I knew my calling was to be a Buddhist teacher and I wanted to live the life of my friends father. I wanted to know more and be able to teach others. After comparing Buddhist teachings with the teachings of other religions, I decided that Buddhist was the way of life I wanted and here I am a great follower and believer of the Buddha.

2. My familys opinion towards Buddhism
By the age of 15, I was so immersed in Buddhism and had learned a lot about Buddhism. It did not take long before my parents realized the change and approach in my behavior and the manner at which I conducted my activities. My parents were so shocked by my decision to convert to Buddhism. My family members were very strict Catholics and not in one day they supported my decision.

I even remember one time my parents engaged my friends father in a heated argument about my religious transformation. He went ahead and told them that I had a choice to worship and be were I wanted.

3. Reasons for converting to Buddhism
My conversion to Buddhism was backed by three major reasons
I needed a religion which supported the monastic way of life. The monastic community in Buddhism is referred to as the Sangha. Joining the monastic community states that you are ready to declare and form a commitment in following the way of life of the Buddha and adhere to provisions of the monastic order. A religious translator C. Maraldo stated that

The purpose of the monastic order was twofold. Its primary purpose was to provide a community that would give the optimum opportunity for its members to practice the Dharma and attain Nirvana. Its secondary purpose was to transmit the Dharma and be a witness to its transforming power (p.3).

It includes renouncing the conventional way of living and conducting a life full of holistic values. I needed a religion which will increase my level of wisdom and knowledge toward the course. I was strongly in support of the process of meditation and needed to learn more about its purpose in life. I even remember locking myself in my room for two days in order to meditate of which it did not work because I was too young to understand the practice of meditation (Samadhi) like I do now.

I wanted to learn more on the teachings of Buddhism also known as the Dharma. Just like Jesus Christ in Christianity and Mohamed in Muslim, the Buddha incorporated a series of canonistic scriptures and holistic values in his teachings. The teachings of Buddhism calls for the invocation of bodhisattvas in ones life.
The third reason for converting to Buddhism was the urge to know more about the Buddha himself. I needed to expound the life of the Buddha fully so that I could teach others. I had come to realize that the Buddha did not only teach about achieving the nirvana( this is a way of freeing oneself from the world of sorrowful and cruel activities and live a life of self actualization) but also indicated support of various spiritual philosophies and codes of ethics. I needed to know exactly what was it like to live a life of non materialism.

4. Have you ever considered changing religion
Religion is a set of believes. Different religions were born because peoples opinions differed on this sets of believes. I personally perceive the religion of Buddhism as being of great value to its followers. Being born from a family of strict Catholics, I can clearly state that Buddhism has managed to maintain strict rules on its followers. A strict Buddhist is bound to be punished for his misconduct against the teachings of the Buddha. On contrary, leaders in other religions break the codes of ethics of their religion and go Scot-free. What I am trying to say is that the teachers of other religions are not that strict to set good examples to their followers like the teachers of the monastic community.

5. Holidays and traditions of importance to my life as a Buddhist
Just like any other religion, Buddhism has a series of holidays and traditions. However, these traditions may differ according to the provisions of various schools of Buddhism or country. These holidays and traditions are based on lunar dates or Buddhist calendars. The most important of all festivals to me is the Buddha day. This day celebrates and marks the birthday (the Vesak), the enlightenment and the death of the Buddha and it falls on the month of May during the full moon on the Buddhist calendar. It is a tradition for this time for all the Buddhist followers to attend the local templemonastery and celebrate together with the monks. I always attend the Dharma talk and later in the circumambulation of the sputa to demonstrate my respect to the Buddha. The day usually ends with multiple chants of the teachings of the Buddha and meditation.  The New Year comes on the first full moon day of January. Just like followers in any other religion, I usually take this time to make resolutions while on meditation and ask the Buddha to bless the work of my hands for the coming year just like the Buddha did. The magha puja day follows on March on the first day of the full moon. I usually take this day just like the 1250 disciples (Arahats) of Buddha did to honor and pay my respects tom the Buddha. There are other string of holidays but I do not recognize them being of relevance.6. Importance of Buddhism to my life

Buddhism has helped me find my inner self and has critically improved my perception of a holy life. In other words I can say that Buddhism has opened my eyes to know there is more to life than the having all the material things in the world. I relate my story to that of American writer Henry Thoreau why I went to the woods. He stated that his reasons t9o go to the woods were to search for his soul.

7. Challenges faced if any
According to me, I havent faced any challenges since Buddhism is like a way of life in India. But I know our brothers and sisters abroad are facing various challenges like discrimination since Buddhism population is not that popular in all the regions of the world.

8. Personal advice
According to me, I dont take sides in terms of religion. The important thing I can advice someone seeking spiritual guidance is for him or her to first know what shehe wants in life and what is morally right to the eyes of our maker. After that analyze which religion practices those norms in order to live the life of a normal person. But one should bear in mind that the most important thing of all is a good personal relationship with
God.

9. What id someone who has a negative opinion or feelings about Buddhism
The only thing I can tell this person is that religion is just a movement but what are important are our actions. As long as we all praise and worship the one and only God then religion is of no relevance.

10. Has in any time has my faith being tested or questioned
The answer to this is no and it is very general. Every believer has a different personal relationship with God. What I believe and know is that God cannot test you on grounds of religion.

Comparing and contrasting Buddhism and Christianity
Buddhism is a way of life defined by the scriptures and teachings of the Buddha. Buddhism is estimated to have come around in the world around 563 Before the Common Era (BCE) a period much older than the times of Jesus Christ. Both the two religions have seen two millennias full of both alterations and benefits. The most unexplainable feature of the two is the way they grew to become more popular in regions away from their origin.

Significantly, both of them are more practiced by races and linguistic groups different their original founders. These indicate that both of them have experienced various changes both developmental and destructive in the past two millennias. With both recording various distinctions, they form the largest flock of followers than Hinduism and Muslim.

The following are some of the similarities contrasts between the two
Both the teachers (Jesus  the Buddha) observed the golden rule in their teachings. This means that their teachings were focused on the welfare of their followers and to the good life of all human races without discrimination in terms of whether rich or poor.

Both the movers of Christianity and Buddhism advocated for less or no asceticism in their teachings.
Both religions observed and served only one God as their almighty. Not until recently that in Buddhism the eminence of some various Godly figures was recognized (Maraldo, 2007, p.26).

The Buddha in his teachings advocated that one has to work for his own salvation through meditation and righteous living but in Christianity Jesus told his followers that salvation will be granted to those who accept him as their personal savior.

The concept of external life in Buddhism implies that it will depend on the karma of the life in which an individual is living at the present moment. Christianity has no believe in karma but believes that external life will come out of salvation.

Christianity believes that God loves and protects us all but Buddhism believes that Ones action determines the love which heshe will get from God.

Christianity defines the beginning and outlines that there will also be an end but Buddhism believes in neither.
The encrypts of the Buddhists (canons) only mentions the activities which the Buddha realized and interpreted through sheer strength while the bible includes both realities and non-realities not known or experienced and not experienced by human beings (Maraldo, 2007, p.22).

According to the interview, it is eminent that Buddhists are strict and serious observers of their conduct codes than most religions in the world.  Buddhism advocates for simplicity in life. Both the other religions observe materialism even in their churches. From the comparison of the two above, it is evident that both Buddhism and Christianity advocate for and recognize the presence of one supreme and majestic God which they both honor and praise. Despite the few differences eminent in their way of doing things, they both advocate for what is morally right in the eyes of God and people.