Tiger Woods, Buddhism And Redemption
(originally on the Huffington Post 1/13/10)
The furor over recent comments by Brit Hume suggesting that Tiger Woods convert from Buddhism to Christianity is intriguing, don’t you think?
Having recently seen my son Ethan represent the Buddhist community on CNN, it occurred to me that many folks here in the West may not really know much about the Buddhist tradition and what it has to say about redemption, salvation, or anything else for that matter.
What an incredible opportunity for American Buddhists to step forward and share their tradition, experience and point of view. I think it’s safe to say that the general population has much greater awareness of Christianity than they do of Buddhism. I certainly didn’t notice anybody asking the presidential candidates if they took every word of the Prajnaparamita sutra to be the literal truth, word for word, as the basis for evaluating how they would govern!
Since Mr. Hume emphasized the idea of redemption as the best medicine for what he thinks is ailing Tiger Woods and implied that Christianity has a better redemption “package” than Buddhism (without really illuminating the basis on which he was making that determination), it seemed appropriate to have a look at what, if anything, Buddhism actually does have to say about the notion of redemption or salvation.
According to Buddhist history, right before his death the Buddha gave his last address to his followers: “Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation.”
My teacher, Trungpa Rinpoche, emphasized that Buddhism is a non-theistic discipline. By that he meant that we shouldn’t rely on the power of an external, even if “divine”, source for salvation or redemption. As he often said, “we have to hitch up our own chubas ” or putting it more in the American vernacular “we have to pick up our own socks.” Even more directly, “if you make a mess, then YOU have to clean it up”.
There are many ways within the Buddhist tradition to heal, recover, repair, repent, or refrain from harmful actions, but the essence of all of these methods is restoring and re-connecting to one’s own innate and indestructible goodness, not depending on salvation through the intervention of an external agent whether it be Buddha, Jesus or any other spiritual guide.
The concept of Original Sin is completely absent in the Buddhist teachings. In fact, Buddhism holds a very basic tenet that at the heart of every sentient being is a fundamental, indestructible, and already intact basic goodness called Buddha nature. Through our own actions we can obscure our connection to that Buddha nature. Through our own actions we can purify and restore that connection.
Maybe this conversation is, in essence, really about theism vs. non-theism. Since theism seems ultimately to require a leap of faith, and non-theism by definition has to be confirmed by one’s individual experience, it seems that there really might be a difference between these two approaches. As to which might be better for Tiger Woods, who can say? Maybe we should ask him …
In any case, using this blog format to explore all these matters further could be wonderful and enlightening. I invite everybody of any persuasion to throw their two cents into the pot below. My only request is that we stay within the framework that both Christ and Buddha would surely agree to: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”- let’s be kind, polite and respectful to each other in the exchange.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
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@David Ong As the Buddha found out that there has never been and there never willl be a person, let alone a persons healing process your point against Buddhism is very silly. As for Christianity it is a form of theism, and as most theists believe when they die they will never experience suffering again due to there big daddy looking after them. Due to this view of reality theists do what they want when they want, and hence are a rule onto themselves. Theists need to cognize that after they die (if there is a cognizer), they may experience more suffering then they have in this life. It would also be good if Buddhists could show more respect to suffering and tell beings that they may experience suffering after they die, and stop bowing down the the R.I.P movement.
Show more respect for suffering? I feel like thats all Buddhists talk about!
Plus how do you know that beings may experience suffering after they die? Nobody knows for sure what happens after we die so why pretend like we do…
Mike
@Micheal Conner,According to Buddhism there is never a knower let alone a reality to know about. Yes, Buddhists have a path out of suffering.
$45 million-dollar 1,200 acre home in Jupiter; $50 million-dollar 155-foot Christensen yacht with a free decompression chamber installed by Lloyd’s of London “just in case”; a “peace offering” $10 million-dollar “dingy” yacht (only 61-feet) for his wife to try to keep her on the reservation (“his and hers” yachts); … How much does it cost to feed 1 million Buddhist orphans for a year? Steven Siegal pays for two orphanages. You get the picture. Buddhism-lite.
Buddhism Lite maybe, but have to wait and see the long term outcome to understand
karma completely…. Asoka was a tyrant and became a great Buddhist monarch… you never know….. DN
I applaud Tiger woods for his courage to accept his mistakes and make an effort in the right direction. I can never think of bringing down people who make such effort. Besides a clap requires two hands and no one is saying a thing of the gals involved. Mr Humes may be right to suggest that Christianity will help Tiger Woods but to ask him to change his religion from Buddhism to Christianity shows how naive, narrow and ignorant Mr Hume is being. Tiger Woods has proclaimed he finds peace in Buddhism so who are we to decide for him. Let people chose any religion or no religion in being a better human being and lets respect their decision… No fumes Mr Humes…
Peace to all
Right on…. it is always up to the individual to follow a path that makes sense for them…. absolutely…
that kind of religious tolerance is very rare indeed…. best, DN
I liked this article and I agree with the statement above. I’ve been thinking about how Buddhists describe karma and about how Tiger Woods actions have effected his life. He’s made his bed and now he has to sleep in it.
Christians believe that if you sin ( as many must think that Mr Woods has) you can ask forgiveness from God through Jesus and all will be well. However, with Buddhism, You are directly responsible for your own actions. There is no God to save you. I know many people who are christians and don’t worry so much about the things they do as long as they don’t get really bad because, they think, all will be forgiven. I think that Buddhism places much more emphasis on personal responsabilty. Maybe Mr Woods would do better to embrace more personal responsibility considering what arole model he has become to the worlds youth.
Neither Christianity nor Buddhism have a monopoly over a person’s healing process. Your article though polite is nonetheless an invitation of exchange as what’s a better either Christianity or Buddhist way – disturb the soil of the grass that is growing – more expectation of a confrontation – your ending of asking for a polite exchange already in your mind forecast that the exchange is likely to be hot. If that’s your intention, or to provoke an exchange using a world popular figure – somehow reveal a lack of interest or non-interest of Buddhism which is not a mainstream activities in the west. Isn’t there somewhere a more simple of spreading the words of Buddha than invoking the name of a famous golfer?