The theme continued from last month, when three women spoke about their personal spirituality.
Buddhism—Roko Sherry Chayat
Sherry pointed out that most of us are afraid of silence and that at many gatherings there is a lot of nervous chatter. She believes we cannot meet one another until we can be quiet with each other. She is glad there is a place like WTB where we can have openness, share our mutual concerns, support each other, and feel protected. Women are respected for the honest way they express their feelings. Sherry stated that if we are open and alert to our lives, everything is provided to us. The wealth of world views of WTB women is information we can use in our lives.
As an example, she read this prayer given to her by Diana Ryan just before the meeting:
“The more people I meet, the stronger my conviction becomes that the oneness of humanity, founded on understanding and respect, is a realistic and viable basis for our conduct. Wherever I go, this is what I speak about. I believe that the practice of compassion and love—a genuine sense of brotherhood and sisterhood—is the universal religion. It does not matter whether you are a Buddhist or Christian, Muslim or Hindu, or whether you practice religion at all. What matters is your feeling of oneness with humankind.” [From How to Practice the Way to a Meaningful Life by the Dalai Lama]
Sherry talked about her personal perspective of spirituality starting when she was quite young, as she realized that everyone has shared pain. She spoke about growing up in the 1940s, about her father being killed just before World War II ended, about being Jewish in Brooklyn with the Holocaust as a huge presence.
As she matured, she became aware that many people are killed because of their beliefs. She became sensitized to suffering. She moved to New Mexico with her mother and new stepfather and was exposed to a new faith, Cherokee. She understood the Cherokees’ appreciation of life’s sacredness, of the environment, of how everything is interconnected. When her family moved back to Brooklyn, she felt divorced from the religion of her childhood. Her best friend, a Catholic, assured her that she could not be Jewish because she did not have horns! Sherry tried going to temple with her grandparents and attending Catholic and Protestant churches with her friends. She was aware of religious differences and developed a strong spiritual yearning.
Independently, Sherry started to meditate. When she learned about Zen Buddhism in an eighth-grade world-cultures class, she felt the world brighten for her. But she had little information about Asian cultures or religions until after college, when she found Zen studies in New York. This has been her path ever since. She described an instant recognition, a “coming home” to Zen Buddhism.
Sherry’s spirituality in Zen Buddhism moves her to believe in the practice of love. She encouraged all of us to wake up to the wonder of every moment. She said what matters for practitioners of Zen is dedicated commitment. What is important is what comes from your own experience. Some call it God. To practice Zen Buddhism means to pay attention whether in meditation, walking down the street, interacting with others, being aware of the reverential nature of all we do. We fall down but then realize we can change. We all feel regret, but we can apologize and start over.
Islam—Beatrice Muhammad
Beatrice spoke about how Islam has helped her overcome her fears. She asked if any of us had recently experienced the death of someone close to us. Quite a few hands went up. She described how death had become a phobia for her as an adult. As a Christian she could not find a satisfying perspective on death, but when she became a Muslim she better understood that one must go through death to go to Allah.
She was called upon to wash and shroud the body of a Muslim sister. This was extremely difficult for her, but she overcame her feelings when she thought about the fact that her Muslim sister could not do this for herself, that she needed help. Beatrice more fully realized her own mortality and thought about others in her family who had died before her. She followed the directions for washing, and she described touching her Muslim sister’s skin and hair. By now, she has done four or five washings and shroudings.
Beatrice also spoke of her claustrophobia. Last year she and her husband were sponsored by the Islamic Society of Central New York to make the hajj to Mecca. This is one of the five pillars of Islam. Muslims make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their life (if they are physically and financially able).
Beatrice had to fly over water (another problem for her because she does not swim) and be in very close proximity to a large number of people for about a week. She called on Allah to help her overcome her fears. She was able to do so by focusing on the privilege of being chosen for the hajj.
Sharing
The question-and-answer session following the presentations was so lively that we did not break into small groups: everyone wanted to continue the discussion! Questions were asked about parallels between Cherokee and Buddhist beliefs, about how a Zen Buddhist meditates, about whether there are meditation practices in the Islamic, Christian and Jewish faiths. There was discussion of the notion that prayer and meditation have become too cerebral and disembodied in the Christian and Jewish faiths but seem embodied in Islam and Buddhism. Also of great interest was the ways in which Muslims and Buddhists deal with death.