I was surprised to learn that Tibetan Buddhists believe that:
"In the vajrayana Buddhist tradition, however, the blessing and the power and the superlative qualities of the enlightened beings are not considered as coming from an outside source, but are believed to be innate, to be aspects of our own true nature."
(Image and info taken from www.dharma-haven.org)
This is in harmony with my own beliefs and ties in to one of the exercises in the "Witch Alone" book that I am currently working my way through. The exercise is to explore other religions and paths while contemplating your own beliefs and what witchcraft means to you. While other pagans and witches believe in God/s and Goddess/es as actual Gods or supreme beings (please note I am not saying that all do), I see them as aspects of ourselves. By externalising them as Gods and Goddesses we are able to look at things more objectively and as such examine our own behaviour or project our desires/longings more objectively.
This post was really interesting in that it made me sit back and contemplate for a minute whether my beliefs were really accurately labelled as "witchcraft" or whether in fact I had been a Buddhist all along! The way in which I believe my practice differs is in the use of magick and attunement with the seasonal festivals and nature, as well as having a Buddhist-like component. In the end I don't believe it's really of that much importance in practice because as many have pointed out in the past, all paths lead to the same destination. This idea has caused a lot of discomfort among some people who adhere to the "my religion is better than you religion" point of view, however it resonates truly with me. Whether or not I believe that witchcraft can be classified as a "religion" or not is probably a matter for exploration another day.
In the meantime I am going to attempt meditating on "Om Mane Padme Hum" as part of my practice on a regular basis to see what eventuates.
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2 comments:
OMMMMM Thank you for the advice!
Looks like some interesting reading going on here, I may have to direct my younger brother to your blog...most of his pre-teen years was spent reading Alister Crowley and believing he was a warlock. He now studies para-psychology.
Ummmmm, I had to stop and think what advice you were talking about for a second! You're welcome :)
Your brother is welcome to read my blog if you think he'd be interested. Never read Crowley myself - I may be wrong, but I think his stuff is a bit too ceremonial for my taste. Having said that, I do believe it's not a bad idea to read far and wide so you never know in the future.....!
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