The Mormon Buddhist

This week I started reading "Everyday Suchness" by Rev. Gyomay M. Kubose . Gyomay Kubose is the founder of Bright Dawn, the organization I'm taking my ministry course through. His goal was to help create a distinctly American Buddhism. He wanted Americans to hear Buddhism in a way that resonates with us. This goal is very much accomplished from what I've read so far. I know several classic Buddhist analogies, and can see how he's taken those concepts and modernized them. Its a breath of fresh air but still retains a classic Buddhist feel, which is something I feel Stephen Bachelor failed to do. The concept of happiness being highlighted by sadness is something I've loved for years. I first encountered it when reading the Book of Mormon. In 2nd Nephi 2:11 it says: For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor m

This week's reading was incredibly short since we just read the "Buddhism: The Path of Enlightenment" booklet and the "Buddhist Symbols" pamphlet. I very much enjoyed the booklet. It put things in such simple terms and I loved them. I especially liked the part where it says Buddhism emphasizes: TRUTH rather than GOD MEDITATION rather than PRAYER ENLIGHTENMENT rather than SALVATION UNIVERSAL LIFE rather than INDIVIDUAL SOUL I also love the Lotus analogy, and it has a more personal meaning for my family. My wife was hospitalized 2 times last year for mental health. The hospital's job isn't to help teach you coping skills, its simply to get you stabilized so you can get those coping skills in therapy and medication. After the first time, she thought medication would take care of it all. When the euphoric stage of getting on medication was over, she still didn't have those skills, which resulted in her needing to go back into the hospital. The 2nd tim

This week we read all of Gyomay Kubose's " American Buddhism: A New Direction ". It was touched on that it is essential for Buddhism to adapt to the culture that it is in. People have different perspectives, and instead of forcing them to change to their perspective, Buddhism morphs to fit theirs. Its almost like the jar and golf ball story . Buddhism fills in the empty spaces. Another thing that really struck me was the idea that Buddhism can help with mental health. Buddhism offers a way to learn how to deal with the harsh realities of life instead of ignore them. The 4 Noble Truths are commonly referred to a medical diagnosis. They looks at symptoms (there is suffering), find the causes (craving), proscribe a remedy, and give the medicine (8-Fold Path). This is something that has helped me enormously. I suffer from depression, and when I finally decided to start getting help, I felt like there were an infinite number of problems in my life, and I decided to list th