Religion and Ethnicity
Have this memory/dream fragment of being in temple with grandmother, air smokey with incense. Did that happen? I went hiking with my maternal grandad a lot, but I can't remember going anywhere with my paternal grandmother.
I'm agnostic, I don't worship, and I think I primarily identify as Canadian, but on the Chinese side, I can't help but think of Buddhist worship as being more faithful to the Chinese culture than converting to Christianity. The languages and customs, and it doesn't help that Christianity was brought by colonizers and that that many Christian customs / mindset contradict or outright violate traditional Chinese ones.
Growing up, Christianity was school, I think my Baptist aunt had a hand in it, but I used to go to a private Anglican school, but Buddhism was home and everything else, I knew little who were really devoted, monk level devoted, but how many Catholics handwave identify as 'lapsed'? Religion was just something in my life that we didn't even think about. Watching our steps at the supermarket so we don't step on the shrine to the dirt gods / fairies - just like how Christianity have adopted many pagan customs, Buddhism have many deities that I believe were minor religions of their own.
I haven't been inside a temple in ages, less frequently than I have voluntarily walked into a church, but that might have something do with the rarity of hipster free temples in Canada. Still, I feel that something is lost when more and more members of the Chinese community converts to Christianity and abandon the shrines.
gsyh.dreamwidth.org
I'm agnostic, I don't worship, and I think I primarily identify as Canadian, but on the Chinese side, I can't help but think of Buddhist worship as being more faithful to the Chinese culture than converting to Christianity. The languages and customs, and it doesn't help that Christianity was brought by colonizers and that that many Christian customs / mindset contradict or outright violate traditional Chinese ones.
Growing up, Christianity was school, I think my Baptist aunt had a hand in it, but I used to go to a private Anglican school, but Buddhism was home and everything else, I knew little who were really devoted, monk level devoted, but how many Catholics handwave identify as 'lapsed'? Religion was just something in my life that we didn't even think about. Watching our steps at the supermarket so we don't step on the shrine to the dirt gods / fairies - just like how Christianity have adopted many pagan customs, Buddhism have many deities that I believe were minor religions of their own.
I haven't been inside a temple in ages, less frequently than I have voluntarily walked into a church, but that might have something do with the rarity of hipster free temples in Canada. Still, I feel that something is lost when more and more members of the Chinese community converts to Christianity and abandon the shrines.
gsyh.dreamwidth.org