There’s a joke that I heard one time about when the Dalai Lama when to order pizza and the person behind the counter asked, “What would you like?” And the Dalai Lama said, “Make me one with everything.”

It can be a difficult thing for westerners to grasp, especially those who want to reduce religious practice down to core essentials, that not every culture has a reductionist approach to religion. What I understand from watching this video is that rather that trying to differentiate between religions so that one can put labels on who is part of religion A versus religion B, the approach  used in China would be better understood that China has been influenced by three philosophies: 

  • Buddhism
  • Confucianism
  • Daoism

And that individuals or families have their own traditions that borrow from the three philosophies without calling themselves “believers” of any one specific faith. To them, exclusivity is reserved for the priests and nuns of said religions. That must seem like a very weird approach from western culture where we subdivide our religious affiliations based on hundreds of different criteria that may include types of baptismal practices that are accepted, what translation of the Bible is “true,” whether there is a literal hell or not, whether miracles ended when the original 12 Apostles died, are musical instruments allowed in church services, can ordained ministers be married, can ordained ministers be female, can females speak at all in an official capacity during church services, etc. This approach of letting one be connected to all three philosophies without having to commit to any one, is so different. It can be more than a little confusing for a simple westerner. 

I love the reference to the different ghost festivals that are celebrated, remembering and honoring those who have come before us and how their efforts before we were even here still can influence us today. The visual hints to Hayao Miyazaki’s film, Spirited Away, were not lost on me. Maybe I should pull out the old DVD and give it a watch. Enjoy. 

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Tags: Crash Course Religions, east v west, one with everything, Religious studies, Spirited Away

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