作者：斯蒂文·肯特 犹他州立大学
By STEVE KENT, USU Statesman, Nov 11, 2011

缓存山谷，犹他州(美国)——宗教和非宗教人士以同样的方式都能从佛教中获益，这是一位发言者周六在缓存山谷人类学博物馆举办的一个新的尊崇佛教的展览上所讲话。

照片：麦克· 斯欧达谈了关于佛教信仰和生活方式，且于星期六在人类学博物馆的冥想时间段里引导观众。他说一切有宗教信仰背景的人们都可以从这些方法上获利。丹尼·洛克摄

麦克·斯欧达是位英语副教授，他有在缓存山谷的佛教僧团里做教师的经历，说他过去曾和不同宗教背景的人打过交道，这些人都修习冥想和学习佛学。

具有如此大范围宗教倾向的人们能修习佛学，因为它的教法既不是背书也不是拒绝任何其他的信仰，斯欧达说。

“你可以有宗教信仰且同时修行佛法，”他说。“佛教不会和你的信仰矛盾， 但是它也不确信有关神的观点。”

丹·贾德和肖恩·波利斯参加了周六的演讲，这两个人都说他们参加了当地的僧团，或佛教团体。贾德说他是一个耶稣基督后期圣徒教会的一个成员，而波利斯说他无宗教信仰。

即使他们都不持有相同的宗教信仰，波利斯说，他们两个仍然分享某些相同的精神追求。

“在僧团里，为我们俩的修行之路加油的，是我们都对遭受痛苦这个问题感兴趣，且如何去结束我们生活中的这些痛苦，让这个世界充满希望。”福佑说。

参加洛根的唯一神教派宇宙神教徒会(神体一位普世派)僧团，已经帮助他与更多的宗教邻居有了联系，福佑说。

“我曾真正地挣扎过，在缓存山谷，当我还不是摩门教人时，”福佑说。“像丹和我们僧团的某些其他成员一样，逐渐认识人们，向摩门教的文化敞开了我的心扉，而摩门教的人们用了一种方法，而我不认为这种方法会成为可能。”

贾德说，自从20世纪70年代初，他自己就一直修习冥想。在医疗状况使冥想变得更困难后， 他开始去学习佛教。 贾德说，并非与他的摩门教信仰相冲突，而是佛教帮助他花费更多的时间在沉思中，正如他教堂的领导者们建议过的那样。

当缓存山谷的僧团从许多不同学校的佛教想法中汲取精华时，它也有其独一无二的一面，使它从它的东方之源分离出来，斯欧达说。

“我认为佛教已经在美国安顿下来了，他是更加民主的了，”斯欧达说。“在传统的佛教文化中，你有一个非常明确的等级制度。比如有某人作为领袖，其余所有的和尚都在他之下。”

在缓存山谷的僧团里，斯欧达说，他是十个老师当中的一名，他们按每周的计划日程，循环地分担不同的佛教方法。

除了每周一个老师的演讲之外，每个会议都为成员们谈论他们自己的精神经历和发展留了一部分时间，他说。僧团依靠成员的集体智慧，经常分组交换经验，这要比事先备课的意义更加深远。

在博物馆周六的演讲时，斯欧达都用一个短的冥想练习开始和结束，在此期间，他会要求观众闭上眼睛，把注意力集中到呼吸上。

“就让你自己享受现在的这一刻——此地、此时，”斯欧达说，“仅仅努力让你生活中的所有担心、顾虑和关心都放置一边，仅试着去放松。”

斯欧达简短地介绍了佛陀的历史和如何去获得觉悟的教法。 所有的人都能达到觉悟——即结束痛苦——通过伦理学、智慧和禅定结合的方法，斯欧达说。

当许多佛教教言涉及痛苦时，其观念关注在在克服痛苦的方法上面，斯欧达说。诸如缓存山谷僧团举办的正念会议一样，犹他州立大学正念俱乐部，可以提供多种减轻不同的起因的痛苦的方法，他补充说。

“它帮助你面对、处理和操作情感，”斯欧达说。“它帮助你从过去的痛苦、伤痛中痊愈，即使可能是你在孩童期或是在其他地方上经历过的。它帮助人们远离上瘾、沮丧和焦虑。”

尼克尔·菲戈汉姆，大学三年级研究小学教育，说听了演讲后，她愿意去参加校园中正念俱乐部的聚会。虽然通过她的家庭成员她接受了许多佛学，她并没有研究教法或自己亲自实践，她说，通过演讲，她学到了仪式，这可以帮助她学到更多。

Religious and non-religious people alike can benefit from Buddhism, according to a presenter Saturday at the Museum of Anthropology’s new exhibit honoring Buddhism in the Cache Valley.

In his experience as a teacher at the Cache Valley Buddhist Sangha, associate English Professor Michael Sowder said he has worked with people of all religious backgrounds who practice meditation and study Buddhist teachings.

People with such a wide range of religious inclination can practice Buddhism because its teachings neither endorse nor reject any particular beliefs, Sowder said.

You can have a religious belief and practice Buddhism at the same time, he said. Buddhism will not contradict your beliefs, but it doesn’t affirm something about God, either.

Dan Judd and Shawn Bliss attended Saturday’s presentation. Both men said they attend a local Sangha, or Buddhist group. Judd said he’s a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while Bliss said he’s not religious.

Even though they don’t hold the same religious beliefs, Bliss said the two still share some of the same spiritual pursuits. The thing that fuels both of our paths in the Sangha, is that we’re interested in the question of suffering and how to end suffering in our lives and then, hopefully, in the world, Bliss said.

Attending the Sangha at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Logan has helped him connect with his more religious neighbors, Bliss said. I was really struggling, not being an LDS person in Cache Valley, Bliss said. Getting to know people like Dan and some other members of our Sangha has opened up my heart to the LDS culture and the LDS people in a way that I didn’t think was ever going to be possible.

Judd said he has been practicing meditation on his own since the early 1970s. After a medical condition made meditation more difficult, he said he began to study Buddhism. Instead of contradicting his LDS beliefs, Judd said Buddhism helps him spend time in contemplation, as leaders of his church have advised.

While the Cache Valley Sangha draws from many different schools of Buddhist thought, it also has unique aspects that set it apart from its Eastern origins, Sowder said. I think as Buddhism has become established in the U.S., it’s much more democratic, Sowder said. In traditional Buddhist cultures you have a very hierarchical structure. You have somebody like the Dalai Llama, and then there are all the monks under him.

In the Cache Valley Sangha, Sowder said he is one of 10 teachers who share different approaches to Buddhism on a rotating, weekly schedule. In addition to the weekly presentation by a teacher, a portion of each meeting is reserved for members to talk about their own spiritual experiences and progress, he said. The Sangha relies on the collective wisdom of its members, he said, and therefore the group exchange of expriences can often be more profound than the prepared lessons. Sowder opened and closed the presentation at the museum Saturday with a short meditation practice, in which he asked audience members to close their eyes and focus on their breathing. Just let yourself be present — right here, right now, Sowder said. Just try to let all the other worries and cares and concerns of the rest of your life rest aside, and just try to relax.

Sowder gave a brief history of Buddha and his teachings on how to gain enlightenment. All people can attain enlightenment — the end of suffering — through a combination of ethics, wisdom and meditation, Sowder said.

While many Buddhist teachings involve suffering, the philosophy focuses on the way to overcome suffering, Sowder said. Meditation meetings such as the ones held by the Cache Valley Sangha and the USU Meditation Club can provide relief from many different causes of suffering, he added.

It helps you face and process and work through emotions, Sowder said. It helps you heal from past suffering, wounds that you might have experienced in childhood or in other places. It helps people with addictions. It helps people with depression. It helps people with anxiety.

Nicole Fulghum, a junior studying elementary education, said after attending the presentation she would like to attend the Meditation Club meetings on campus. Though she has had some exposure to Buddhism through family members, she hasn’t studied its teachings or tested its practices herself, she said, and the services she learned about through the presentation may help her learn more.