Temples in Bangkok
I was quite apprehensive the very first time I entered a Buddhist temple in Bangkok City, Thailand. For someone who was strictly raised a Christian, who had become, at different occasions, a devout member of different Christian denominations/organizations, entering a temple symbolized crossing the metaphorical “red line”. It would mean, to most Christians, venturing into the abode of other gods.
Of course, I should state that I knew better, having worshiped at different Christian organizations, with the church that considered watching TV to be completely ungodly to those which emphasized that speaking in “spiritual” tongues or fasting and praying on the mountaintops for three straight days are the most effective approaches for reaching God’s heart.
So, when a Thai friend, Som, suggested that we should visit some sightseeing places around Bangkok City, I had gladly accepted her offer. Som often had a very busy week as a traveling agency’s employee. Her only day off was usually on Sundays; so, we had settled on a Sunday to feed our eyes on some exciting places in the City.
After the Sunday services, which we both attended (I actually met Som at the local Thai Church I was attending), we hopped into a Tuk-Tuk (an auto rickshaw) and headed to wherever she thought would be great to visit. But my heart skipped a beat when she suddenly ordered the Tuk-Tuk driver to pull up in front of an imposing Buddhist Temple.
With a Bible clutched in my hand, and my guide having hers in her handbag, we nudged our way into the expansive interiors of the Temple, maintaining slow paces as hundreds of people or visitors (both local and foreign) milled around the gigantic edifice. My companion was too excited that she narrowly missed what I was doing: I had crossed myself three times and said a silent prayer, like saying, “God, I didn’t know she was bringing me here!”
But as I began to take in the beauty of the temple’s interior decorations, learning the history of the place in the visitor’s manual handed to everyone at the entrance of the Temple, my attention was drawn mainly to the architectural beauty of the place rather than its religious symbolism. The unwavering conviction that I wasn’t there to worship any other gods tranquilized my erstwhile confused mind, and that gave me the added pleasure to further explore the touristic value of the Temple.
Months and years later, when I was on vacations, I have visited several Buddhist temples in Thailand and other countries such as Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, and Vietnam. On several occasions, I have preached Jesus Christ to some junior, English-speaking Buddhist monks who, to my amazement, listened attentively and passionately to the Gospel. During my occasional visits to the temples to chat with those junior monks, giving each of them a Christian tract and encouraging them to read it, there was no time I had been warned against proselytizing them by their seniors. They even appeared happy seeing me, often looking forward to the next opportune time for us to meet. In fact, I remember I was invited on a couple of times to attend ordination ceremonies for some new monks.
Vince, one of my colleagues at a Thai secondary school, was a stubborn Mormon. Despite his dogmatic Christian perspectives, he was also a frequent visitor to the Buddhist temples. I never asked him how he managed to find a balance between his hard-line Mormon views and his frequent visits to Buddhist temples. Had he also realized that those temples were only places of sightseeing or tourism and had had no religious impacts on his faith or belief?
Religion itself, I think, is innocuous: It creates no room for violent offensiveness or defensiveness. In his days, Jesus Christ preached tolerance and temperance. He was even accused of eating and socializing with the ungodly; he was chastised for being empathetic with the gentiles.
Religions, whatever their tenets are, aren’t competing. The Christians are not advised in the Bible to attack and maim people of other religions. The Buddhists are only constantly searching for the common grounds with other religions, where peace and brotherly love are the main tenets. So, it is arrant misinformation or politicization of religions that make people go after each other in a dangerous manner.
This logic, I realized, would surely be a hard-sell to a newly converted African or Nigerian Christian whose first, self-imposed assignment would be to destroy his parents’ or family’s shrines or temples that were dedicated to other gods, things that would surely have no significant impacts on his/her new-found Christian religion.
An excerpt from a forthcoming collection of essays, tentatively titled “Not Divided by Religions”.
