Don't Gotta Be Drunk to Say It

Sip 8: I'm Buddhist for Attention

Oh my goodness.

Okay. First of all, if you didn't know, I live in the South of America where pretty much all African American or blacks are automatically considered Baptist just because most black Americans in the South are Baptist. 

The thing is like, most of the people I've ever met in my entire life have been accepting of my religion. No, I didn't wake up and say, "Welp, I feel like being Buddhist today." I was a fortune baby. Which in my religion means you were born into it. My mom is a practicing member of Nichiren Buddhism, and so when I was born, guess what? I was raised in that religion. 

So anyway, unlike one of my BFFs who is also a Nichiren Buddhist, most of my peers have always been interested and accepting of the fact. There was only one instance where (until what I'm about to talk about) I was ever berated brazenly about my religion. 

It was like, 2nd grade and I was pretty confident about my religion. Well, my crush was too. He was a super Christian. I remember we were on the blacktop (a blacktop is tarmac pavement, like road but for playgrounds) for recess when for some reason us bunch of 2nd graders got on the topic of religion. To make a long story short, I defended my Buddhist beliefs and he basically told me I was going to hell for it.

Like. 

As a little kid I was serioiusly depressed about that for like, a week. I mean, what if your crush told you you were going to hell? Not only does it change your perception of the person you like (and make you re-evaluate why you like them) but lets be honest, it is a little hurtful.

Part of the reason why he was so dissmissive of my religion was because, me being a little girl, I didn't really explain it well LOL. My religion is a lot harder to explain (especially as a little kid), than Christianity would be. 

So like, the weekend before we got into that argument (God, I remember all the minute details because this really affected my life), I went to a religious meeting and all the little kids, called Elementary Division in my religion, we're separated from the adults meeting to have out own little thing. Kinda like Sunday School. This is the story we learned that day:

At one time Shakyamuni Buddha went to a village to beg for food. There he found two small boys named Virtue Victorious and Invincible innocently playing in the dirt. Since Shakyamuni possessed all the thirty-two outstanding physical features characteristic of a Buddha, he must have seemed awfully majestic and dignified. Seeing the Buddha approach, Virtue Victorious wanted to make him an offering. Hurriedly he made a mud pie and placed it in Shakyamuni’s begging bowl. Invincible looked on with his palms joined in reverence. As the result of making this offering, Virtue Victorious was later reborn as King Ashoka and Invincible as his wife. 

Then at school the following week, the week of The Argument with My Crush, he asked me something like, "Who do you worship and why do you worship him?" (again, is this not some deep ish for 2nd graders to be talking about?? O.o ) And I said, "We worship this guy because he was poor and lonely and he had to eat mudpies his whole life."

And then my crush literally did a snort/smirk/snigger type thing and was like, "You worship a guy because he had to eat mudpies? That's who you worship instead of the Lord? You're going to hell with Satan."

Bruh. Bruh. 

I died. 

That entire life experience really taught me why it's important to study your religious text thoroughly. In my religion there are three "pillar" type things. Faith, Study, and Practice (practice meaning put into action your faith by prayer and going to meetings and introducing people to the faith). And it's said that without a doubt Study is severely important because if you don't understand the work, how are you going to explain that to someone else and be taken seriously?

Now, years later in high school, I found out that one of my friends boyfriends didn't like me. I'm not a people pleaser. You either like me or don't. I'm not walking this Earth to satisfy your desires exclusively. Especially if the whole school (including teachers) thinks you're a douche bag. Why should I care about your opinion of me exactly? But I found out that he didn't like me because: "I always rubbed the fact that I was Buddhist in everyone's face and that I probably wasn't even Buddhist and was just using it for attention, just like my name (which is DJ, only because people have a hard time saying my real name, not for attention)."

For some reason that really grated on my nerves. He barely knew me. Here he was treating everyone around he like trash (trust me, I'm a witness), but he thinks he can just insult me? I decided though, instead of making it a big deal like he probably expected me to, I just took his opinion and learned from it. That's all there is to it.

When you see a hater, ask him why they hate. Then, take their opinion and evaluate it honestly. Maybe they do have a few points and you should look at yourself and what you should change, but if they have no points at all, just take their opinion and walk away. You don't have to do anything with it if you don't want.