"It was Christmas and the foreign monks had decided to celebrate it. They invited some
laypeople as well as
Ajahn Chah to join them. The laypeople were generally upset and skeptical. Why, they asked, were Buddhists celebrating Christmas? Ajahn Chah then gave a talk on religion in which he said, "As far as I understand,
Christianity teaches people to do good and avoid evil, just as
Buddhism does, so what is the problem? However, if people are upset by the idea of celebrating Christmas, that can be easily remedied. We won’t call it Christmas. Let’s call it
‘Christ-Buddhamas’. Anything that inspires us to see what is true and do what is good is proper practice. You may call it any name you like."
My husband Alistair and I were meant to fly out of Portland today, heading to his family's home in the
highlands of Scotland. Like thousands of other Holiday travelers we fell victim to the "Snow Storm of the Century" (which by the way is the second one this decade). So we spent the day dancing with the winter tyrant who, it seems, had much to offer once preferences were put to rest.
