The Way and The Awake

On my Formspring Account, I quite recently received a series of questions about the differences between Buddhism and Daoism. I didn't want to take the time to answer them on Formspring (where my thoughts would result in an unwarranted wall of text), so the inquirer suggested I post it on my blog (where a wall of text is completely warranted).

Daoism and Buddhism get along well. Laozi and Siddhartha would have been good friends had they ever met! Despite this, they have their differences, because they tackle different social and spiritual issues.

The world-known Taijitu, or the symbol of yin and yang.

Daoism (also spelled Taoism) comes from the Chinese word 道 (dào), which literally means "road", "way", or "path". The (arguably) earliest known work that speaks of the Dao is the 道德经 (Dào​dé​jīng), which literally means "The Classic Text of the Way and Virtue". The other text that I rely on most heavily, second to the Daodejing, is the 庄子 (Zhuāng​zǐ), named for Zhuangzi who wrote it.

Daoism is predominantly Chinese in origin, but has spread very indirectly and very subtly to influence Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as a handful of other countries in smaller varieties.

The primary principles of Daoism include the concepts of the dao, qi, wuwei, the wu xing or 5 "elements" or "stages", Feng Shui, and perhaps the most famous aspects, the concepts of yin and yang. Daoism stresses health, longevity, compassion, moderation, and humility.

So, the most popular question I get is, "What is the Dao?" The Dao is described as being indescribable. "Well, shit." I know, I know, it seems like a copout on Laozi's part, but the Dao is deeper than that. It's the source of all being. The way to inner peace and outer strength. The binding connectivity of all that is. We are the Dao, and the Dao is in us. But it is possible to stray from the Dao, by straying from nature, from peace, and from simplicity.

I mentioned 無爲 (wúwéi), and I realize that's probably an unfamiliar term. It means, roughly, "non-action" or "non-doing". Wuwei is best described as being patient, mindful, and willing to ask yourself , "Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?" Chapter 15 of the Daodejing is my favorite example of describing wuwei. Through wuwei, you get closer to the Dao. Wuwei always leads to the path of least resistance-- The metaphor Laozi uses is water. Nothing is softer than water, yet through its softness it overcomes rock, steel, humankind, and animals. It gives life and nourishes all things, but knows how to kill. It always takes the lowest path, the most humble Way, and through that humility it is brought to power. Through this knowledge, it's easy to see that the purpose a Daoist takes on is to align himself harmoniously with the Dao.

Daoism arose as a clear response to Confucianism, which placed certain things above others. That, by nature, resulted in a large amount of inequality in ancient China. Laozi and Zhuangzi say in response to that basic inequality, "Hey, man, listen. Money, fame, filial piety, power, those things are all fine... But we only know what "low" is because we assign value to "high". We only know "beauty" because we know "ugliness"." By getting rid of the comparison, they get rid of the inequality. Besides, in the end, we all come from the Dao, so we all are equal in nature because the Dao does not take sides.

A lot of Daoism-influenced countries worship Laozi and Zhuangzi (knowingly or unknowingly) as gods or idols, but I sincerely doubt either of them would have cared much. Maybe they might have even reprimanded those who do so?

So, what does a Daoist expect in death? Daoists believe that the soul is eternal. Instead of true death, that soul, that qi, is transferred or reappropriated somewhere else; maybe to a tree, an animal, maybe another human. So, Daoism believes in a form of reincarnation.

Buddhism is a few centuries earlier than Daoism. The word "Buddha" isn't a name-- It's a title. "Buddha" literally means "one who is Awake". Unlike many other religions and beliefs, the works that reference the Buddha and his teachings didn't start showing up until hundreds of years after Siddartha Gautama Buddha's death.

Siddhartha Gautama was an Indian official or prince; the son of a cleric. He grew up in a world full of Hinduism, and Hinduism's consequent caste system. Buddhism is completely Indian in origin, but it has spread wildly throughout not only Asia, but the entire world.

The primary teachings of Buddhism include the concept of reincarnation, the nonexistence of the human soul, the importance of compassion, and stresses many of the same values as Daoism.

I mentioned the caste system earlier. At the heart of the caste system, similarly to Confucianism, lies inequality. Siddhartha Gautama witnessed this inequality at a young age, and set out to find out the core reason for all of this suffering. He came to the conclusion that to live means you will suffer, without doubt. At the root of this suffering is desire. By getting rid of the desire, you can alleviate the suffering.

Buddhism arose as a clear attack on the caste system that was riddled with social, monetary, and (according to the Hindus) spiritual inequality.The Hindus were all about advancing to the next level, because of the transmigration of the soul. The Buddha, however, saw all of the inequality and social suffering this system of beliefs created, and went ahead to say "Fuck it! You don't have a soul. What transmigrates is the mind, not the soul."

In some countries (mainly southeast Asia), Gautama Buddha is revered as a God. However, he stated numerous times to his disciples that he did not want that at all. Funny how things work out.

A Buddhist believes in reincarnation after death, similar to Daoists. The goal of a Buddhist is to be reincarnated enough times through samsara, or existence, to emerge into Nirvana, the popular grunge band escape from reincarnation into a state of being-nonbeing.


Daoism and Buddhism obviously get along very well, but the key differences are in the details. The Daoist way of life is focused on aligning oneself to the natural way of the cosmos, while the Buddhist is trying to understand and surpass pain and suffering through leading a moral life. If you have any more questions about the differences, similarities, or anything about these two belief systems, you can ask about it in the comments or by way of any of my social networks listed below.

If you like my writing, you can join the site to the right of the page, like Speaking with Storms on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+ . If you have questions or just want to chat, I'm on Formspring too!

Thanks for reading. Stay human, my friends.

This Can Only Be A Good Thing

So, my laptop's hard drive crashed. In fact, the only reason I'm able to type this post is because I am being lent a laptop by a family member. So, what this means is, while I will try and continue updating at least twice a week, I will probably do it at strange times.

Despite the fact that all of my three-plus years of schoolwork, music collections, and writing are all lost, this can only be a good thing. I have a chance to catch up on reading, write even more, exercise more, and other things.

My writing isn't completely lost, either between this blog and my posts on the Random Receipts Facebook group page. Of twenty-eight spoken word poems, I will probably be able to restore about 20 of them. The other 8 were probably not good enough to share. Hahah! So, tomorrow, the quest to rebuild my collection begins! And with my music, I will most likely be able to simply plug my Zune's USB cord into another laptop and save it from my Zune. Problems (mostly) solved! So, I'm just looking on the bright side of things. As Thich Nhat Hanh once wrote,

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."



So I'm keeping a smile on. I try to think of it this way: Even if I have a neutral expression on my face, I don't get the positive energies that a simple smile can grant. If I have that smile, I'll begin to feel better regardless! That's something that some groups of Buddhists call "Smile Meditation". Meditation in the traditional sense takes place when you're sitting and breathing, fully aware. Smile meditation takes place no matter what. Living in the present moment, remembering to smile in every situation can be remarkable in the way it helps to improve moods.

Another reason I have to smile is right on the right-hand side of the page-- The view counter is almost at 3000! I want to thank you all for joining me in my angst, in my celebrations, in my pretentious ranting, in my giddy explosions of joy and in my melancholy reflections! I started this blog back in November 2010 and I am humbled to see the way it's grown. Genuinely, thank you all.

If you like what you've read, you can like Speaking with Storms on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Thanks for reading!

The Dao of Jealousy

Last night I was spending time with two of my good friends. We had gone to get some Burger King, and we sat outside because we didn't want to dirty the lobby of the restaurant at 12h30 in the morning. We began to talk about something, anything, many things, nothing. One of my friends whips out his laptop and displays a personality test for some laughs, and we all realize that it suits him to a T. It was a good night.

As we were driving back to my place, the two guys I was spending time with both told me that they were slightly jealous of me. That really confused me. What do I have that would make others jealous? I didn't (and still don't) understand.

I've always said that while satisfaction may be brought by outside influences such as money, fame, games, sex, things like that, happiness is something entirely different. It's something that comes from within. Finding this happiness from within might seem cliché, but it's all a matter of gratefulness and mindfulness.

When we look within, it requires mindfulness. This can be achieved a lot of different ways, including (but not limited to) praying, meditating, reflecting, writing, and singing. We can see into ourselves and look into the present moment. When we do this, we can see that everything about the present moment is granted to us by kindness.

What did you have for dinner this evening? Whether you made it yourself, your mother made it for you, or you ordered at a restaurant, it was all prepared for you out of kindness. The job that provides for you is a form of kindness. The pure water you drink is kindness. Spending time with your friends, even poking fun at each other! It's kindness. On an even deeper level, your beating heart is kindness. Your mother or father could have ended the pregnancy and you would never have gotten the chance to experience this world. When you boil it down all the way, you get kindness.

If that kindness deeply touches your soul, then it's easy to see how it can be humbling, enlightening, even overwhelming, and you can see how it brings happiness. Despite how awful this world can seem, a lot of times we completely overlook the kindness given to us. This is why Jealousy, while a completely natural thing to feel, is not a healthy thing to dwell upon. In looking for what is truly just satisfaction elsewhere, we miss the chance to see true happiness when it's sitting right on our nose.

I promised myself I wasn't going to put up another super-preachy post anytime soon, but I had been chewing on this for a while and had to get it out of me somehow.

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson is the author that wrote the words of this post's title, and I believe that they ring quite true, even after over 100 years.

Like any other emotion, anger is a response. Our soul reacts to stimuli from outside sources, and anger is just as natural as fear, compassion, greed, and love. Anger is a way to express ourselves! It's not a bad thing. However, how we deal with it can be either constructive or catastrophic.

Anger can be good when we channel it to find results, solutions, or new abilities, but it takes real self control and a strong willpower to know exactly how to forge it into something constructive. I've heard a lot of people say "What would Jesus do? Would Jesus be angry?" Chances are, yeah, Jesus would be really freaking angry. The Bible has numerous accounts (in Matthew 21, Mark 3, Mark 11, and John 2) of Jesus becoming angry with certain people for cheating, and for refusing to answer his questions. What makes his anger justified is the fact that it's not directed at the weakness of another, and it's targeting injustice.

That being said, anger can be (and most often is) very very dangerous when, instead of mastering it, we allow it to master us. When we lose control of ourselves and turn to infighting, violence, and hatred, and when we refuse to deal with it and throw it away, it begins to burn us. When we try to deal with it by becoming reckless, destructive, and unwise, it does damage not only to us but also to the ones that love us.

I asked a handful of friends, "What really makes you angry?" One person answered

"For me Anger results from hindrance and ignorance. It enrages me when people do not put in the same amount of effort as I do, whether it is a relationship or a work project."

Another said

"I become angry when people don't follow through on their promises and when they go out of their way to cause harm to other people."

Neither of these feelings are bad, but dealing with them wisely is crucial. The Buddha said,

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

 So, what's an effective way of handling anger? www.PersonalTao.com gives a simple, yet surprisingly effective list:

1. Take a breath, and just feel it.
2. Look at it, don’t try to answer it, just look at it.
3. Accept it, and then release it as a long exhale.
4. Imagine it going into the earth as compost.
5. With your arms sweep it away: Literally use your arm like a sword to cut through the feelings of anger to say I see the anger: and it is as it was.

The first step is actually all that meditation, in its core, truly is: awareness of breathing. Being conscious of breathing is a way to slow the heart rate, to relax muscles, and to promote mental stability and calm. The second step stems from the fact that rushing to solve a problem too soon might make it worse. As Lao Tzu says in the Dao De Jing,

"Muddy water, let stand, becomes clear."

The third is the core of dealing with anger healthily: acceptance. Seeing as anger is neither positive nor negative, simply accepting it for what it is helps us to see past the anger into the real mind of the situation. The fourth step, at first glance, might seem a bit strange. However, looking mindfully into it, we see that everything comes from the earth and  returns to it in the same way. Our anger comes from our soul, from our core, and accepted, it returns, having served its purpose. The final step seals the acceptance. "It is as it was", before the anger boiled up.

"Do not be deceived by your senses, your feelings of fear and uncertainty, for even as the tempest may howl, just beyond lies a serenity that you would otherwise not have experienced."

Anger is not a bad thing, it is simply very powerful. How we use it decides everything, and when we truly look mindfully into the present situation, we are able to use it to benefit ourselves and those important to us.

Living as a Lion

As much as I love to be a participator in life, you know... Be included, involve myself in things, start up conversations, et cetera... As much as I love that, I equally love being an observer. I absolutely live for the sharing of ideas, especially if they are ideas that are completely alien to me. This may or not be because I incorporate a lot of ideas that are predominantly Buddhist and/or Daoist into my own beliefs-- i. e., "Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know." That sort of thing. However, on the other side of that coin is a side of me that really caused a lot of dissonance within me and didn't fall quite right with me.

That side of me is a fighter by nature. I would rather not engage in conflict, but if I see no other way out, I will not back down and I will fight... fiercely. I have a hell of a time reconciling that with my endeavor to be peaceful in nature, and with my desire to also treat people with respect and love in all cases.

Within Daoism especially is where the dissonance lay. Daoism speaks of a concept known as "无为", "wú​wéi": It translates roughly to "Inaction" or "non-doing". It says that if you take no action, everything flows on in the right, natural course.

This led me to a bit of an internal conflict. For example, if I walked down the street and noticed a good friend of mine being mugged, would I simply sit and watch it happen? Of course not! That can't be right. I wouldn't outright hurt the mugger, but I would do everything I can to defend the lives of both myself and my friend. But would that really fall in line with my core belief of Inaction?

That thought plagued me for months. I meditated upon it constantly until I finally came upon a realization. "Non-doing" or Inaction does not mean sitting and watching life go by. It means participating in it, taking it day by day, and going with the flow: Letting things take their natural course! When the time is right, someone who is really in line with Daoism won't take action: That person will let the action take them.

We shouldn't be hesitant to defend ourselves. We should not be aggressive, though! We should be sturdy and we should stick to what our instincts tell us is right. In the grand scheme of things, though, we do need to realize that it's not incredibly important and the discretion to know action from inaction is key.

I read a quote that stems from a very famous graffiti photograph that has inspired a lot of people, including myself.

"It is better to live one day as a Lion than one thousand days as a Lamb."

My best friend once asked me a peculiar question out of nowhere.

"David, fight or follow?"

 At first, I thought of it as somewhat of an unfair or loaded question. Surely I would need a bit more context! However, she intentionally denied me any such thing. I thought about it for a moment and answered,

"Follow. I think a lot of the things we think matter, in the end, really don't. And that's completely okay. While it's not a bad thing to stick up for what you believe in in any case, I think I personally would rather just avoid the conflict."

 It was the best response I could offer. She responded that she would rather fight, and I was not at all surprised. What I admire most about this girl is the fire in her heart, the ever-extended middle finger she displays to the world.

I used to fight with my family a lot, especially my mother. I've always been the black sheep of the family, and I used to think that my differences were, in a word, irreconcilable. After I was shocked out of it by a few big impacts, I tried to be as peaceful as possible. I tried to preserve harmony at all costs, even if it meant certain people were walking all over me. Now, however, I owe my friend so much for teaching me how to reignite, reforge, and focus my fighting spirit into something different than anger: resolve.

Fight or follow, lion or lamb... Somewhere between these two extremes lies where I try to live. I know that discretion is the better part of valor, and that sometimes it's better to just smile and nod patiently... But I also know that there are simply some things that are not right. When instinct tells me what to do, I try to know to let the right action take me.

Take Heart!

10 days since I was able to post last. Sorry about the delay-- The beginning of this semester has been quite a bit more hectic than I had planned for.

That, and I seem to have developed romantic feelings for someone. Hoboy.

This Sunday I woke up early so I would be able to do a bit of pre-semester preparing. I was all set with a banana for breakfast as I met my parents downstairs telling me we were going to see my little sister's choir group, the Croixaliers (of which I was a member for two years).

It was a bit of an unpleasant surprise. It wasn't that I didn't like seeing the Croixaliers perform-- I just didn't want to be drowned in the nostalgia of people that weren't even in the choir at the same time as me.

However, during the service, I began to look mindfully into my past and I had realized something I never really did before.

That choir just about saved my life.

Now, that's a bit of an exaggeration... You, as diligent readers, must have noticed that I have a flair for the dramatic. However, I should elaborate.

My years at my high school were filled with instances of favoritism and flukes, with only a few of such instances working in my favor. It was unpleasant always getting shafted. Naturally, I was surprised when I made into the choir the first year-- Especially when my equally gifted older sister wasn't so lucky.

I enjoyed it, but I never knew why. I would look forward to it, but it would be full of me trying to be socially acceptable and just keep my big mouth shut. I was only sometimes successful.

I didn't care very often what the others thought about me.

I was a smartass, and a lot of my peers in high school had legitimate reasons not to like me. I was making the wrong decision at every turn and it was harming my self image and letting my conscience decay. I was pursuing short-term satisfaction at the cost of my friends, my family and multiple unlucky girls who were unfortunate enough to get tangled in my life at the wrong time. Long story short, I was treating everyone like shit and wasn't noticing the damage it was doing to my soul until it was too late. Eventually I dropped the "HATER'S GONNA HATE" mentality. I slipped into a lethargic depression, and converted for a short amount of time to a very depressing atheism.

When I walked through the doors to the music room, at first it felt like all of the others in my group were judging me. I walked away from every practice with my instincts telling me that no one else thought I was supposed to be a part of that group. Three, four, sometimes even five times a week I would sing with these people and feel ostracized, like the only fork in the entire silverware drawer that has a crooked tine. That didn't last forever, though.

I knew that even though I had royally fucked my past, I had the potential to keep going and rewrite what I was living for. I knew it all along, but realized it late in the game. I began to study past traditional Christianity and look more mindfully into the Bible while the pastor was preaching during the services that the Croixaliers sang at. Soon enough, I had found a back door into Christianity, and realized a few of the more key truths about it. I realized the religion as a whole is not a bad concept. Mohandas Ghandi said it perfectly:

"I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Reading into the Goodness (rather than the Lawfulness) of the Bible through new lenses, it felt like I could put on a mask and become something different... something better. I felt like I could actually do something right in putting my talents toward something good-- even if it wasn't something my beliefs coincided with 100%. People began to notice a very subtle change in my behavior. I realized this, and finally had something to live up to. It dawned on me that I did have the capacity to do some good and I could be something better than what I was. Jesus said in the book of John, chapter 16 and the second half of verse 33:

"In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have transcended the world."

What he says here can be taken to mean many different things, but at the moment that I read it, it became clear what the words meant for me.

"Life is Suffering" says the Buddha. I know, however, if I live in the 道，the "dao" or "way" of the Universe which is wisdom, justice, and (most importantly) love, I can take heart in the Way that the wisest of men have traveled on and I can transcend this World, which is Suffering. (I will expand on what I mean by this in later posts of this blog.)

If I hadn't rediscovered that aspect of myself, that potential, and if I hadn't reforged that spiritual side of myself (albeit not being the exact same after the process) than I would have continued to do horrible things and I would have alienated myself from everything that was important to me. I would have become a shut-in, antisocial train wreck.

Even if something right now in your life is causing you to feel uncomfortable, judged, insecure, unloved... Take heart! You can transcend it. It may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”

Forgiveness is one of the most underestimated powers humans possess.

I have done a lot of bad things. I often think to myself that if my friends knew all of the bad things I did, they wouldn't want anything to do with me anymore. I don't really know, however, exactly how true that could be.

Recently, one of my past mistakes came back to haunt me. To spare you all the boring details, I did as much as I could to fix it and still received no forgiveness from a former friend. I realized that there was nothing that I could do, and I moved on. However, now that it's returned, I'm finding myself again wishing for forgiveness from this former friend.

I recently read this in a Buddhist book I have.

"The Buddha was sitting under a tree talking to his disciples when a man came and spit on his face. He wiped it off, and he asked the man, “What next? What do you want to say next?” The man was a little puzzled because he himself never expected that when you spit on somebody’s face, he will ask, “What next?” He had no such experience in his past. He had insulted people and they had become angry and they had reacted. Or if they were cowards and weaklings, they had smiled, trying to bribe the man. But Buddha was like neither, he was not angry nor in any way offended, nor in any way cowardly. But just matter-of-factly he said, “What next?” There was no reaction on his part.
Buddha’s disciples became angry, they reacted. His closest disciple, Ananda, said, “This is too much, and we cannot tolerate it. He has to be punished for it. Otherwise everybody will start doing things like this.”
Buddha said, “You keep silent. He has not offended me, but you are offending me. He is new, a stranger. He must have heard from people something about me, that this man is an atheist, a dangerous man who is throwing people off their track, a revolutionary, a corrupter. And he may have formed some idea, a notion of me. He has not spit on me, he has spit on his notion. He has spit on his idea of me because he does not know me at all, so how can he spit on me?
“If you think on it deeply,” Buddha said, “he has spit on his own mind. I am not part of it, and I can see that this poor man must have something else to say because this is a way of saying something. Spitting is a way of saying something. There are moments when you feel that language is impotent: in deep love, in intense anger, in hate, in prayer. There are intense moments when language is impotent. Then you have to do something. When you are angry, intensely angry, you hit the person, you spit on him, you are saying something. I can understand him. He must have something more to say, that’s why I’m asking, “What next?”"

 
Some Christian readers may think of Jesus' teaching of turning the other cheek. What they were trying to convey was not being passive-- No, not at all. In receiving the hostile action, be it phlegm or fist, Buddha and Jesus were both incredibly active in their forgiveness. They responded with love in their hearts.

I was requesting advice from one of my best friends earlier today. I told her that earlier this week I had received a threatening call from someone due to the aforementioned past mistake. When she learned I had wished the threatening caller a good evening, she was quite surprised.

"Being nice doesn't mean you have to be nice with even the jerky ones alright?

Knowing when to stand up for yourself is important too."

 I couldn't agree more. However, our views on what "standing up for oneself" meant differed. If I lead by example, and stand for what I believe in, that is standing up for myself in my eyes. I can avoid conflict as much as possible, and when confronted, ask "What next?" If I don't give people a reason to be hostile to me, I can have faith that eventually we can live in peace, even if we don't see each other or even live near each other.

The man who spit in the Buddha's face was wracked with guilt and uncertainty. It is said that once your life is touched by someone who has been Awakened (read: achieved Enlightenment) that you will never sleep the same way again. The next day, he returned to the Tree and he threw himself down at the Buddha's feet.

"The man looked at Buddha and said, “Forgive me for what I did yesterday.”
Buddha said, “Forgive? But I am not the same man to whom you did it. The Ganges goes on flowing, it is never the same Ganges again. Every man is a river. The man you spit upon is no longer here. I look just like him, but I am not the same, much has happened in these twenty-four hours! The river has flowed so much. So I cannot forgive you because I have no grudge against you.”
“And you also are new. I can see you are not the same man who came yesterday because that man was angry and he spit, whereas you are bowing at my feet, touching my feet. How can you be the same man? You are not the same man, so let us forget about it. Those two people, the man who spit and the man on whom he spit, both are no more. Come closer. Let us talk of something else.”"

This is a beautiful way of illustrating forgiveness. Time progresses. New experiences and new realizations bring people to be different every single day. I know that I can forgive myself for what I've done because I am not the same man who committed the mistake. I know that whether or not the others can forgive me, they are different as well. Not better, not worse. Different. The river has flowed so much.

If you are currently holding a grudge, consider that you are not the same person who had been spit on. Your past experiences have all made you something different. Also consider that your offender is not the same person, either. Since those two people who had the conflict no longer exist, there is no grudge and there is nothing to worry about anymore. Next time someone spits in your face, try and see into the situation mindfully and ask, "What next?"

"Religion divides us, yes, but only because we let it."

Today was quite the eventful day for me. I had the pleasure of being able to spend time with many of my friends after my writing class. I don't even remember how, but somehow the topic migrated to religion. There was a young woman there who was starkly Christian, and she didn't like how I was reading a book ("Living Buddha, Living Christ" by Thich Nhat Hanh) that compared Christianity to Buddhism. I started to talk with her and she revealed to me that she equated Buddhism with worship of Satan, something that not only puzzled me, but also intrigued me.

I asked her why. Without going into too much detail, she had been sent on a mission trip to somewhere (I can't remember exactly where.) and she had been through a very terrifying experience involving what she saw as (and may very well have been) the possession of one or more young children. These children were Buddhist. The experience scared her and shook her so much that she began to directly associate Buddhism with what had happened.

Naturally, when I tried to explain to her my personal beliefs (which are long and complex, and will not be posted here) which include many aspects of both Buddhism and Christianity, she was less than pleased.

"It's impossible to be both Christian and something else. Either you take all of the Bible, which says it's the only way, or you don't take any of it."

 My friend shares an apartment with this woman, and kept continually telling me to stop before I start something.

Many people in this small circle of people had begun to listen to what she was telling me-- partially because I'm a charismatic speaker (or so I've been told), and partially because the woman had noticeably raised her voice. It seems I had inadvertently started something. I explained to her that most of the biggest world religions have one thing in common: They try to better the world by teaching one how to better oneself. Slowly but surely, she opened up and heard what I had to say. After too long, many people had gotten involved and had something to say.

After many controversial words on every side had been said, she and I had both found a strong respect for the other. Not one of us completely shut down on the other, all people involved had gotten a turn to speak when they needed it, and there was a stronger understanding of the other when all was said and done. No violence, no disrespect. Just different ideas coming together to form a deeper mutual understanding.

This is why I speak and write. Because ultimately, the pen is mightier than the sword, and words are what we use to convey ideas-- for the sake of peace and understanding and coexistence, rather than ignorance and close-mindedness and arrogance.