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Why I Am a Buddhist

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Why I Am a Buddhist

How Buddhist Practice and Teaching Shapes My Spiritual Journey

Commentary by Tracy Simmons

Because I write about faith, people often ask me what religion I am. 

Sometimes I stumble over my answer. I admit I worry what people will think when I say “I’m a Buddhist.”

It sounds so … trendy, which I am not. At the garden store Buddha’s statues have become as popular as St. Francis.

According to Pew Research, the number of Buddhists in North America is growing and will continue to do so over the next few decades.

In a SpokaneFāVS column from 2015, Sarah Conover wrote, however, that it’s not Buddhism that’s become popular, but mindfulness.

“Indeed a tsunami of mindfulness teachers, books, films, workshops, and retreats have found their way into every corner of American society and its institutions from schools to psychotherapy, to medicine, to science, to professional sports, to corporate trainings and even to the military,” she writes. 

The idea of practicing a heightened state of awareness regarding my thoughts and emotions on a moment-to-moment basis is something, I admit, that did initially attract me to Buddhism.

I learned about it by reading Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.

“Mindfulness is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life. To be mindful is to be truly alive, present, and at one with those around you and with what you are doing,” he wrote.

The more I read, the more I realized his teachings were influencing how I engaged with the world.

How I spoke was changing, how I approached relationships, how I consumed things. 

I liked this change and wanted to continue on this path. Buddhism was resonating with me.

I grew up in a Christian home. It was a debauched version, though, that taught hate, not love, and fear, not grace.

I memorized the 10 Commandments as a kid and followed a lot of rules. But I was just going through the motions, following orders.

Though I had, and continue to have, a deep respect for Jesus and his teachings, nothing about the faith I grew up with impacted my daily living the way Buddhism was doing. 

I had done some reporting on Sravasti Abbey, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, in Newport and began reading books written by its abbess, Ven. Thubten Chodren.

She had a way of putting Eastern teachings into Western terms I could understand. I began watching the abbey’s daily YouTube videos, Bodhisattva’s Breakfast Corner, and corresponding with the monastics there.

It was during this spiritual journey I learned about the five Buddhist Precepts:

1. to abstain from taking life

2. to abstain from taking what is not given

3. to abstain from sexual impurity

4. to abstain from false speech

5. to abstain from intoxicants as tending to cloud the mind

I appreciated these principles and was ready to become a Buddhist. What was next?

A nun from the abbey explained. Since Buddhism isn’t theistic, I didn’t have to ask anyone into my heart. There was no baptism or special ceremony. It was a personal choice that could be as private or public as I wanted.

The five Precepts weren’t even a requirement, the monastic explained. If I wanted to, I could choose to commit to all of them, or just some of them.

So one evening about six years ago, alone in my living room, I made a vow to adopt these values. I couldn’t be happier with this spiritual decision.

However, I told Ven. Chodron once that I still don’t know if I can rightly call myself a Buddhist. I don’t have a sangha, (a Buddhist community) and I could certainly be more disciplined in following the Dharma (the teachings). 

She said I’m a Buddhist if that’s what I intend to be. Afterall, that’s why we call it a practice.

In my upcoming columns I plan to write about the precepts and how they influence my life. First up next month: abstaining from taking life.

Tracy Simmons
Tracy Simmons
Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of SpokaneFāVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Assistant Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.

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Don Adair
1 year ago

Glad you’ve found Buddhism, Tracy. It is indeed a powerful tool for learning to live an upright life. Thought you might like to know that the Zen Center of Spokane meets twice weekly for zazen. Philosophically, we are closely aligned with Thich Naht Hanh and meditation is at the heart of our practice. Would you be interested in sitting with us at our zendo in downtown Spokane? If you live on the Palouse, there’s a sister sangha that meets in Moscow. Would enjoy sitting with you someday!

Tracy M Simmons
Tracy M Simmons
1 year ago
Reply to  Don Adair

Wonderful, thank you Don!

Nancy J
Nancy J
1 year ago
Reply to  Don Adair

Thanks for the info Don!

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