Hw 54

I grew up with parents that have different religious backgrounds. Neither of my parents were very religious but they wanted to raise me Jewish, the religion of my mother. That decision didn’t really stick. I celebrated all the catholic holidays of my father religion and all of the Jewish holidays of my mother’s religion. I never though of religion as anything important because it was never taken seriously in my house hold. Now that I understand religion I made up my own beliefs that a line with Christianity, Judisum and Buddhism. I believe in a higher being and I want there to be an after life but in the back of my mind I know there’s no ways of knowing so why should I think there is one. Some people call this agnostic but I don’t think my beliefs a line them very well.

My beliefs of the after life our undecided because I cant figure out why we live this life if we one day we die and don’t know anything. Then with that there’s no point in living so there has to be something but this something has to apply to all creatures of the earth not just humans. But what if we were the insides of a creature and we were not part of a universe. You never know. I have never read the bible or the torah.

I have a big belief in karma as well. It is the acting force that completes the circle of right and wrong. Karma is a major part of Buddhism and to get more knowledge on it I talked to a lady down the hall from me named Florence who converted to Buddhism 40 years ago and study it in Japan for many years.

Florence first told me about how she became a Buddhist. It was 1970 and Florence was having many troubles in her life. She decided to leave the U.S and travel to Japan for week to get away from her problems. There she walked in to a Buddhist school and herd what the religion had to offer. She was told of three values to live by that would help with her stress and lead her to happiness. One: Life as we know it ultimately is or leads to suffering/uneasiness in one-way or another. Two: Suffering is caused by craving. Three: Suffering ends when craving ends. Florence understood and liked what she was told. She felt that it made life easier and she understood it more. Florence’s trip went from one week to two months; she studied with monks to learn everything there was about Buddhism.

My interview began. Florence how were you able to drop your life so quick and know that Buddhism was the right life choice?