Lifelong Learners explore religions
Local group enlightened about Buddhism
By Sean Hart
Argus Observer
Saturday, April 3, 2010 9:42 PM PDT
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| Lifelong Learners organizer Maggie Wood (standing, left) introduces the Rev. Dennis Fujimoto (standing, right) before he delivers a presentation about Buddhism for the group Thursday at the Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple in Ontario. |
ONTARIO — Several days before Easter, at least several Christians spent time at a local Buddhist church.
The Rev. Dennis Fujimoto welcomed about 50 people to the Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple for a presentation he delivered about Buddhism for the local Lifelong Learners group Thursday in Ontario, and most of the attendees seemed to leave the temple a little more enlightened about the 2,500-year-old religion.
“You always want to know what everyone’s religion is based on,” Lisa Toney, Ontario, said after the presentation.
Toney attends First Baptist Church in Payette and has been to all of the Lifelong Learners religious presentations, including Christianity, Islam and Judaism, she said.
“I think I’ve learned a lot — mainly, everybody is not like you,” she said. “It hasn’t changed my religion, but it’s interesting to see how other people think.”
She attended the Buddhism presentation with her husband, Dave Toney, who asked Fujimoto during a question-and-answer session if it was possible for a person to simultaneously be a Buddhist and a Christian.
After some thought, Fujimoto replied, “I think so,” but added, if Buddhist, the person would be attached to neither title. He said Buddhism was difficult to explain because people want to file the religion in a particular, easily understood category, which is against a focus of Buddhism: achieving enlightenment by understanding the infinite interrelationships of life.
In response to another question, Fujimoto said Buddhism was indeed a religion and not just a way of life — though Buddhist teachings focus on attaining enlightenment during a person’s life, not during an afterlife. Fujimoto also said Buddhists generally believe there is no soul — that all things return to dust.
While the Toneys said they believe in a soul as Christians, they also found similarities between Christianity and Buddhism — and the other religions the Lifelong Learners group has explored.
“Out of all the religions we’ve studied, none of them preach terrorism,” Dave Toney said. “They all preach the same way. ‘Do unto others’ in a different way.”
Payette Church of the Nazarene Secretary Judy Goff said she was surprised to learn that Buddhists don’t actually worship the historical Buddha — Siddhartha Gautama, the prince born in India who established the religion — but rather focus on his teachings.
“The idea of Buddhism and the balance of wisdom and compassion — there’s nothing wrong with that at all,” Goff said. “I think if more Christians practiced more wisdom and compassion, there would be a lot less hate in the world.”
Dr. Dorin Daniels, a retired local physician who may sit on the newly formed board of directors for Lifelong Learners, also attended the Buddhism presentation.
“I took a comparative religion course in college way back in the ’40s. It’s interesting,” Daniels said. “They (different religions) approach things differently and their history is different, but they have a lot of similarities. In a lot of them, there’s similar moralities, and helping others, that’s a common thread. It’s fun to see the common threads.”
