Nashville, TN (USA) — The grandson of Baptist ministers, a student of Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, and an ordained Buddhist monk, author and teacher Lama Marut is coming to the Bible Belt this week for three events in Nashville promoting his new book, “Be Nobody.
As someone who comes from a Christian background and now lives and practices Buddhism, what is it like to come to a place like Nashville, where Christianity is a big social and cultural force?
I feel quite comfortable. … My interest is in trying to reach people wherever they are, whatever kind of religious affiliation they might have, or none at all. We all are trying to reach the same goal. … Regardless of whatever kind of identity card you’re carrying, or lack thereof, we all want to have a happy, good life, and the way to do that is taught, I think, in its sort of essential form in all the major traditions.
What is the importance of interfaith conversations like the one you’ll be having here, and how do they influence the practice of your Buddhist faith?
In conversation, we can explore the similarities and differences. All religions are not alike; that’s a sort of naive understanding. But I think if you go beneath the surface, the simple superficial level of religious belief and practice, you can find pretty much all the elements of every religion in any religion. … It’s going to be extremely important for us, in an increasingly multicultural, multireligious global society, to learn how to live together in harmony without the kind of problems that we’ve had and continue to have between religious groups.
– Source : buddhistchannel.tv
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