I met Ravi Verma through Brian Baker, the Dean of Trinity Cathedral.\u00a0 Ravi is much more into IT than I and agreed to help me set up this blog.\u00a0 He also helped us do a major upgrade of our network. \u00a0 (For both, thank you, Ravi!)<\/p>\n
Ravi is a dedicated Buddhist.\u00a0 He leads several classes at Trinity and has his own group of disciples.\u00a0 After setting up this blog, he asked me about the catechumenate.\u00a0 We have both grown in appreciation of each others religious traditions.\u00a0 I have done considerable study in the history of religions and we have had numerous Buddhist related events at Trinity.\u00a0 So I compared the catechumenate journey to that which an apprentice to Buddhism takes in growing towards Enlightenment.<\/p>\n
Indeed, all of the major (and many of the “minor”) religious traditions\u00a0 strive towards the same thing:\u00a0 Enlightenment, Salvation, Nirvana.\u00a0 Ah, what about Islam, you ask.\u00a0 Keep asking while you read the Koran.\u00a0 Realize that there have been and are fanatics (zealots) in each and all traditions.\u00a0\u00a0 And note that I am speaking about religous<\/em> traditions as distinguished from religions<\/em>.\u00a0 The latter are human institutions that try to embody the former.\u00a0 They\/we often fail.\u00a0 But religions are necessary because, until we attain Enlightenment, Nirvana, the Reign of the Divine, our limited, physical, communal selves need religions.<\/p>\n Anyway, THANK YOU, RAVI, for your friendship, insights and wonderful discussions!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I met Ravi Verma through Brian Baker, the Dean of Trinity Cathedral.\u00a0 Ravi is much more into IT than I and agreed to help me set up this blog.\u00a0 He also helped us do a major upgrade of our network. … Continue reading