Reflections on My Project
There are several aims that I wished to achieve through my auto-ethnography project. To begin with, I wished that I could understand my case study better, and in order to do that, I must also understand the relationship between spiritual practice and daily life to a deeper extent. In addition, I also want to focus on Emory's Buddhist community and, especially, their spiritual practice. Finally, through my whole project I want to inform people more about the benefits of spiritual practices.
I chose my three interviewees to be Andy, Sonam and Geshe Damdul. I believe that, although all belong to Emory's Buddhists community, these three people could individually represent three different small groups. Andy represents an American Buddhist who is just a beginner in meditation; Sonam represents a monk who has been practicing for longer period; and Geshe represents an very experienced Buddhism teacher. I was convinced that by interviewing these three people, I could get opinions from various perspectives, thus making my project more meaningful.
Indeed, I did get very different answers. Especially in regarding to the question of my case study, everyone of them responded in a different way. Andy, as an American, believes it is mainly because of the difference in attitudes. He suggests that American people only use meditation as a supplement to their daily life, so there won't be any conflict, and only who bases his or her whole life on Nirvana or ultimate goal will have this problem. In contrary, Sonam, based on his experience in a monastery, asserts that the problem can be solved since people can practice in a community as good as they do in a mountain, and he also adds that sometimes the vows of Buddhism will make people more difficult to reconcile their mundane and spiritual life. Last but not the least, Geshe Damdul explains the situation in a more general way based on his knowledge and experience. He explains that this pessimistic attitude is only one particular phase of our practice, and sometimes this attitude can be important in rooting spiritual practice in our life, but he also suggests that although this attitude is justified at a special level, practitioners cannot grow too obsessed with it and need to make progress, and gradually back to the community.
By synthesizing their viewpoints, I believe that I have known more about this situation, and I am confident to help anyone who has this difficulty in the future.
I chose my three interviewees to be Andy, Sonam and Geshe Damdul. I believe that, although all belong to Emory's Buddhists community, these three people could individually represent three different small groups. Andy represents an American Buddhist who is just a beginner in meditation; Sonam represents a monk who has been practicing for longer period; and Geshe represents an very experienced Buddhism teacher. I was convinced that by interviewing these three people, I could get opinions from various perspectives, thus making my project more meaningful.
Indeed, I did get very different answers. Especially in regarding to the question of my case study, everyone of them responded in a different way. Andy, as an American, believes it is mainly because of the difference in attitudes. He suggests that American people only use meditation as a supplement to their daily life, so there won't be any conflict, and only who bases his or her whole life on Nirvana or ultimate goal will have this problem. In contrary, Sonam, based on his experience in a monastery, asserts that the problem can be solved since people can practice in a community as good as they do in a mountain, and he also adds that sometimes the vows of Buddhism will make people more difficult to reconcile their mundane and spiritual life. Last but not the least, Geshe Damdul explains the situation in a more general way based on his knowledge and experience. He explains that this pessimistic attitude is only one particular phase of our practice, and sometimes this attitude can be important in rooting spiritual practice in our life, but he also suggests that although this attitude is justified at a special level, practitioners cannot grow too obsessed with it and need to make progress, and gradually back to the community.
By synthesizing their viewpoints, I believe that I have known more about this situation, and I am confident to help anyone who has this difficulty in the future.