Growing Wholesome Qualities | Ajahn Sujato | 01-03-2013 

Hello, I was Catholic and I practiced my religion in a profound way, I am grateful with that because it was my beginning in the spiritual life and now that I am a follower of the Buddha I appreciate that fact even more. In my country, Mexico, unfortunately the priests do not teach us the beauty of good behavior, morality and the commandments, we learn to obey them out of fear of divine punishments. I think this is given by the country and the idiosyncrasy to which we are accustomed. Do not follow Bhante Sujato if it makes you bad to listen to him, follow the Buddha through the suttas, that will improve your practice as a Catholic. Greetings!

First off, as Ajahn Sujato has pointed out at the beginning of the talk, even enlightened beings do not immediately know everything. Much less beings who are striving for enlightenment. On behalf of fellow Buddhists who have publically maligned Catholicism out of ignorance, I seek your forgiveness, and would be glad if you can find the patience to correct such misunderstandings instead of being turned off right away. It is possible that the Ajahns of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia have had a different experience of Catholicism than you have. After all, most Western Buddhists (including Australian Buddhists) today were likely not born into Buddhism. Rather, they were likely born Christian first and then chose to embrace Buddhism. Their opinion of Christianity (including, most importantly, the reasons why they chose to abandon it) would have been shaped by those experiences in their early life. And who's to say that the Catholic community of different places all have the same level of open-mindedness and discernment that you claim can be found in Catholicism? Hence, while the criticisms against Catholicism (or any religion for that matter) that you have heard may have been unskillful, please look upon them with understanding and equanimity. For my own spiritual tradition, I would not hesitate to admit that many "Buddhist" communities can think and act in very unwholesome ways even when it's clear that that's the opposite of what the Buddha taught. So Buddhism getting attacked for things that the Buddha did not actually teach, does not surprise or frustrate me. And on the flip side, there are beings who obviously don't identify as "Buddhist" but are clearly enlightened in the Buddhist sense (for example, the Paccekabuddhas of legend). So good news: you don't have to identify as "Buddhist" or approve of everything that "Buddhists" are doing to taste the same spiritual fruit as that offered by the Buddha. :) At the end of the day, let us put aside self-views, superficial actions and mistrust, and recognise and share the essence of our spirituality, for the benefit of all beings. :)