I have been a practicing Pagan for all my life. As I got older and started really considering my beliefs and looking into what I had trained in and learned throughout the years I started to feel that there was allot missing. Then I reconnected to Buddhism after reading Brad Warner’s book ‘Hardcore Zen’. I feel that Buddhism was able to fill in the gaps that Paganism left in my practices.
Even thou I had studied many different variations of Paganism and Wicca they never really gave much more guidance to your life than ‘Do what you want, but harm none’. This leaves a huge interpretation gap and little guidance along your path. There also is little if nothing available to turn to for inspiration or guidance in the form of written word since Paganism has none.
I feel it is very important for members of any Pagan tradition to look into Buddhism for inspiration and guidance along their path, whatever that may be.
Upon my own work with both Buddhism and Paganism I have found not only great similarities but an ease in the ability to blend the two rather seamlessly. For starters there is a great guide to how to live your life known as the Eight Fold Path to Happiness (EFPH). The EFPH gives you the eight Rights on how to live life. They are;
- Right Views: To keep ourselves free of prejudice and superstition, and to see the true nature of life.
- Right Thoughts: To turn our minds away from the violence and hatred in this world.
- Right Speech: To refrain from harmful talk and to use our words wisely.
- Right Conduct: To see that our deeds come from peace and goodwill. To grow every day in the Buddha’s teachings.
- Right Livelihood: To try to earn a living in such a way that we avoid evil karma.
- Right Energy: To use our energies to promote the overcoming ignorance and destructive desires.
- Right Mindfulness: To cherish a good mind, for all that we think and do have roots in the mind.
- Right Meditation: To study the Teachings of Buddha and to practice them to the best of our abilities.
(taken from this site )
These are a simplified version for youth however I prefer this version considering I am using them outside their standard context. I feel this is a much better way to look toward your life then Paganisms ‘Do what you want, but harm none’. This is just the beginning of the many ways that Buddhism can help support you in your Pagan studies
Many thanks for sharing this. No rules about finding inspiration or answers in another path or tradition, whether it’s an eastern or western one really. If it there’s compatibility for the individual then so be it, in fact it can be rewarding when one finds that he/she is drawn to two influences that are actually in conflict, it’s fun to some extent working through this clash!
Thank you for this comment. I agree and as part of my upbringing in a Pagan household I was taught to find what works for you. I am attempting to bring my children up the same way. I have always felt that it was wrong to indoctrinate children to a specific religion without them having a choice in the matter. My kids have starting questioning as they have grown so I have started teaching them about all the paths of the world telling them they have to find the one that works for them. I will admit, however, I am sure they feel the influences of their Pantheist father and Atheist uncle as they spend much of their time with us and listening to us argue.
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I love the framework that Buddhism offers and I definitely agree that it helps to fill in blanks that paganism may have. I read “Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate” and am looking forward to Brad’s other books.
Thank you for the comment. I have all his books and they are all good. I think my favorite was ‘Sit Down and Shut Up’.
I would argue with calling the Eightfold Path one to “happiness” as opposed to “enlightenment,” as an important principle in Buddhism (speaking as one who came to polytheism and magic before and after many years as a Zen Buddhist) is that all things are empty, and that happiness is an illusion, and in the end we must release our attachment to it, just as we release all our desires, for us to truly find peace and understanding-in-non-understanding. If we are seeking happiness, we encounter disappointment, because everything is impermanent, which perpetuates us on the rollercoaster of suffering that the Buddha teaches us to avoid. I think any modern associations with the Eightfold Path and happiness might be monopolizing on our modern obsessive hunt for it.
Otherwise, I completely agree with you: I think there is so much pagans learn from Buddhism, even where our roads dramatically diverge (such as on “emptiness,” polytheism, mysticism, and magic). I incorporate an understanding of what I learned about the nature of the universe as a Buddhist with my current practices. I still perform zazen meditation and Taoism is still an enormous aspect of my spirituality. Avalokitesvara, bodhisattva of compassion and author of the Heart Sutra (a major Zen sutra), even has a place of honor on my altar. I think people of every culture and spirituality can benefit from studying the spiritual beliefs of any other culture and tradition, and know that years of Buddhist study have very profoundly impacted my life.
Thank you for the comment. I have read allot and studied Buddhism, however I claim no expertise and I have never formally practiced with any teacher. While I feel I understand the point of the Eight Fold Path as it pertains to Buddhism I am not sure calling it enlightenment relates toward the common practices in Paganism. From my practices and studies, Pagans are very much about fulfilling the self. The enlightenment that Buddhism seeks I feel is much different then the enlightenment the common Pagan seeks. Buddhism seeks to eliminate the self, were most Pagans seek personal connections to nature and their deities. I have found it to be hard to achieve both goals in a realistic manner.
The website I got that particular version of the Eight Fold Path from calls it the path to happiness and I liked that. I think that version relates much more to what a common Pagans goal is in their spiritual practices. There are even several things I would change about that version to make it even more relevant to my practices. I think from a Pagan perspective that the Eight Fold Path is a great start to learning to live a meaning full life daily. Many Pagans I know need to learn to keep their egos in check but I do not think that the elimination of self is a goal any Pagan would normally have.
Mind you all of this is just my personal experience in the area I am from and the training I have had. I am sure there are many Pagans out there somewhere that are way different than my local ones. I would love to get away from this area and meet some of them. In the mean time I intend to continue modifying my practices to live a happier spiritual life.
I still can’t quite agree: at least in my paganism and the way I have always understood others describe it, magic is the underlying force connecting all things; thus when we practice, we both fulfill (by becoming more in line with our purpose, paralleling Taoist and Zen philosophy) and dissolve the self (by melting our spirits into that golden honey current of the Universe, similar to dissolving the ego). Maybe we’re talking about the same thing, though. I also consider striving towards enlightenment to be an important aspect of modern pagan practice–happiness is shallow and immediate, but walking in line with our True Will (to use Crowley’s language, who himself was heavily influenced by Buddhism and Taoism), we move far beyond the self and we act for the universe. Shamanism and Buddhist thought definitely find a lot of common ground, and perhaps it is the heavy influence of shamanism in my spirituality and practice that causes the difference in our opinions.
But I think it’s altering the Buddhist precepts and language to meet a pagan philosophy is what makes me uncomfortable. I can’t prepare a French dough and flatten it into a disc-shape and expect to get a pizza. Yet Linji did say, “If you meet the Buddha, kill him.” Focusing on Buddhism prevents us from attaining our own buddha-nature within; any structure at all to our spirituality in the end is only a stepping stone, one we must destroy when we are ready if we want to get anywhere at all. I think paganism does agree on this point: what exists in nature that binds all things is beyond language, beyond religion, beyond our daily devotionals, our libations, our books attempting to describe the indescribable. Though these can connect us with it temporarily, “enlightenment” is ultimately moving beyond these motions and swimming in the stream.
Thanks for the food for thought. (: