Expert: Alex Wilding - 4/28/2009

Question
Hey Alex, I'm Aaron. As an assignment for religion, we have been told to research on a buddhist ritual, and how it has impacted on Australian worshippers. we have been told to interview an Australian Buddhist for this assignment, so i'd hugely appreciate it if you could answer a few questions.

1. Has buddhism, more specifically meditation changed your outlook on the universe? If so, how?

2.Are there any restrictions to meditation practice precisely because you live in Australia?

3. How has buddhism/meditation impacted on your daily life?

4. How effective is meditation in actually achieving it's purpose? What would life be like without this ritual?

5. How do the signs and symbols within meditation interact with the participants?

Thanks for all your help, i really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions

-Aaron (:


Answer
Hi Aaron,
Some quick answers, for what they may be worth:
1. Has buddhism, more specifically meditation changed your outlook on the universe? If so, how?
As I experienced it, meditation is an integral part of Buddhism, and it is hard to separate it out. My thinking about the universe has changed very gradually over the years - meditation and study have contributed to that.

2.Are there any restrictions to meditation practice precisely because you live in Australia?
Absolutely not. This country certainly has faults, but we have more freedom to do and think what we want here than most people in the world do.

3. How has buddhism/meditation impacted on your daily life?
I can only hope - but I do hope and believe - that it has made me kinder to other people, more tolerant and more relaxed about life's many problems. Kindness is more important than meditation, trance or theories about the universe.


4. How effective is meditation in actually achieving it's purpose? What would life be like without this ritual?
We do have a lot of rituals in Buddhism, but I wonder why you use the term particularly to refer to meditation? Meditation is such a natural part of my practice, I don't think I can easily imagine what things would be like without it: very busy, or very boring, and in any event relatively superficial. But we could talk for hours and not finish a topic like that.


5. How do the signs and symbols within meditation interact with the participants?
If I may say so, I think you need to formulate that question more specifically, at least before I could give much of an answer. What kind of meditation are you talking about? Which signs? Which symbols?

I hope that helps a bit.
All the best