A few months ago, I was asked to discuss Buddhism with a Presbyterian Church doing a series on religion awareness. They had other Christian faiths scheduled, but at the time I was the most exotic religion in the bunch. That was not too unusual for me. I am used to being the most unusual in most rooms.
I had a lunch with the coordinator to check each other out, which was a good idea. He decided I was normal enough, and I decided they were not going to try to abduct me. Now, I know most Presbyterians are as nice as they come. You just can’t be too sure nowadays. After all, I was told to meet them in the backroom of a bar.
I arrive at the Oyster Bar backroom. There were no ropes or gun-totin’ God worshippers. Instead, I saw some familiar faces, some typical church goin’ types, and a pack of students from Conway that came to witness the spectacle because they knew me. I ate my fried clams and made friendly conversation with the locals. The time came for me to get the show started, and the coordinator gave me a good introduction.
The first thing I did was to ask them to tell me what they know about Buddhism. I went from table to table while they pulled their collective knowledge together. Generally speaking, I was amazed to learn that the young people were the only ones with any general information about Buddhism. The adults were completely in the dark about the most fundamental ideas. There is no room for blame here, but I was taken aback at the total lack of facts.
As I started to weave the story of Gotama and his quest, I could see that they had never heard such a story. As I got into what he discovered, they were nodding in understanding. Could it be that these Christians had an idea about what Buddhism is really about after all? I continued and got to the question and answer section which I deliberately left wide open when I discovered the lack of exposure in the room.
Naturally, the afterlife questions followed and we moved into karma right away. We meandered around life purpose and social justice issues for a bit, and then we got into picky things about good vs bad. Generally speaking I found that they had a truly open mind about what I was saying. The lession I walked away with is one that haunts me today, and is the reason I remembered this story.
You can talk about and examine the ideas and teachings, but they do not count for much. They took in what I said, but it did not make them transform their faith. It is the experince that counts, no matter what the faith or practice. The talk was designed to be just that, a bunch of talk. The transformation comes with the practice.