Ajahn Chah on Buddhist Christmas (cartoon)

The Simpsons; Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org) via Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Do good. Avoid bad. And purify the mind.

Theravada Buddhist monk and Thai Forest Tradition Meditation Master Ajahn Chah has always been a wonderful source of Dharma.

His way of putting complicated subjects into easy words that can’t be argued with inspires us. Every year we enjoy his words regarding Christmas, humanity, and how we divide ourselves:

Enlightened Ajahn Chah (azquotes.com)

It was Christmas, and the [Western] monks had decided to celebrate it. They invited some laypeople as well as Ajahn Chah to join them.

The laypeople, all native Buddhists, 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 harm, 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 anything you like.”

Is Buddhism any different?

• QUESTION: “Is Buddhism much different from other religions?”

I can be a Buddhist AND do family Christmas!

ANSWER: “It is the business of genuine religions, including Buddhism, to bring people to the happiness that comes from clearly and honestly seeing how things [truly] are. Whenever any religion or system or practice accomplishes this, you can call that Buddhism, if you like.

“In the Christian religion, for example, one of the most important holidays is Christmas. A group of the Western monks decided last year to make a special day of Christmas, with a ceremony of gift-giving and merit-making. Various other disciples of mine questioned this, saying:

“‘If they’re ordained as Buddhists, how can they celebrate Christmas? Isn’t that a Christian holiday?’

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“In my Dharma talk, I explained how all people in the world are fundamentally the same. Calling them Americans, Thais, or Europeans just indicates where they were born or the color of their hair, but they all have basically the same kind of minds and bodies. All of them belong to the same family of people being reborn, growing old, and dying.

“When you understand this, differences become unimportant. Similarly, if Christmas is an occasion where people make a particular effort to do what is good and kind and helpful to others in some way, that’s important and wonderful, no matter what system we use to describe it.

Ajahn Chah is famous for his clear sayings.

“So I told the villagers, ‘Today we’ll call this ChristBuddha-mas. As long as people are practicing properly, they’re practicing Christ-Buddhism, and things are fine.’

“I teach this way to enable people to let go of their attachments to various concepts and to see what is happening in a straightforward and natural way. Anything that inspires us to see what is true and do what is good is proper practice. You may call it anything you like.”