choose life
Feb. 27th, 2009 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darren_strangerOn the weekend i dropped in to the Buddhist centre in Box Hill to put our name down for a meditation class next month. It's on a Saturday afternoon (clashes with tkd, but i can miss a few classes) and was unusually affordable at $33 for the six week course. I was pleasantly surprised that Elaine wanted to do it too.
I also had some reservations about it - while i'm interested in Buddhism, i'm not sure it's the path i'm looking for in life, and becoming involved with a Buddhist group even on this level seems like taking a conscious step in that direction. I also don't know whether it will be anything more involved than what i've been learning from books and the internet and doing at home, or even what kind of meditation it will involve (could be Pureland Amituo chanting for all i know), Perhaps the main thing, if i think about it, is that it's a Chinese Buddhist centre and i don't know if everybody else is going to be Chinese and we'll feel out of place as the only gwailo newbies.
When i thought about it, though, i realised i was being silly. I'm always lamenting the lack of new experience in life, forever shuffling between work, taekwondo and home, not meeting new people and doing new things. If i want to meet and interact with different people (not to mention that romantic notion of trying to be of help to others as well), i have to be out there in the world to do it, not sitting at home reading books.
I really do think i need to make a conscious effort to put myself out there in the world, to choose to say 'yes' to doing different things when the opportunity presents, especially where it involves interacting with new people. Even if something does turn out awkward or disappointing, that's still living life, isn't it?
--
Another thought came to mind as well after that visit. After i'd dropped in to the centre to register for the classes, i walked back to Box Hill station to head off to taekwondo. In the mall, the local youth group was doing a lion dance, together with people from that same Buddhist centre collecting money for the bushfire victims. It was a nice sense of community spirit, and reflected something that i'd read in the book i bought from them on my first visit, to the effect of becoming part of a community leading to more ability to do good deeds. As i thought about it later, i realised how important a sense of community can be in lending a helping hand. Where i was feeling helpless in that first week after the bushfires, not knowing what to do other than send money, i know that a lot of the other people who were running around collecting goods and donations for the relief effort were doing so in co-operation with groups of friends. Looking back on it makes me realise just how important those sorts of social networks are for feeling empowered and useful. Perhaps that's the key - if you really want to make a difference, you can't do it on your own. Something else to think about anyway.
I also had some reservations about it - while i'm interested in Buddhism, i'm not sure it's the path i'm looking for in life, and becoming involved with a Buddhist group even on this level seems like taking a conscious step in that direction. I also don't know whether it will be anything more involved than what i've been learning from books and the internet and doing at home, or even what kind of meditation it will involve (could be Pureland Amituo chanting for all i know), Perhaps the main thing, if i think about it, is that it's a Chinese Buddhist centre and i don't know if everybody else is going to be Chinese and we'll feel out of place as the only gwailo newbies.
When i thought about it, though, i realised i was being silly. I'm always lamenting the lack of new experience in life, forever shuffling between work, taekwondo and home, not meeting new people and doing new things. If i want to meet and interact with different people (not to mention that romantic notion of trying to be of help to others as well), i have to be out there in the world to do it, not sitting at home reading books.
I really do think i need to make a conscious effort to put myself out there in the world, to choose to say 'yes' to doing different things when the opportunity presents, especially where it involves interacting with new people. Even if something does turn out awkward or disappointing, that's still living life, isn't it?
--
Another thought came to mind as well after that visit. After i'd dropped in to the centre to register for the classes, i walked back to Box Hill station to head off to taekwondo. In the mall, the local youth group was doing a lion dance, together with people from that same Buddhist centre collecting money for the bushfire victims. It was a nice sense of community spirit, and reflected something that i'd read in the book i bought from them on my first visit, to the effect of becoming part of a community leading to more ability to do good deeds. As i thought about it later, i realised how important a sense of community can be in lending a helping hand. Where i was feeling helpless in that first week after the bushfires, not knowing what to do other than send money, i know that a lot of the other people who were running around collecting goods and donations for the relief effort were doing so in co-operation with groups of friends. Looking back on it makes me realise just how important those sorts of social networks are for feeling empowered and useful. Perhaps that's the key - if you really want to make a difference, you can't do it on your own. Something else to think about anyway.
