VOA标准英语2009年-US Buddhists Join in Christmas Celebra

Photo: Suli Yi, VOA
Wilson Hurley has put up a Christmas tree in his house in front of an image of Buddha¹

 

It has long been true that Christmas is not just for Christians³ any more.  Many people, of many different religious persuasions⁵ or of no persuasion⁴ at all, celebrate the day and the season.  Followers⁶ of Buddhism⁷ in the Washington area are among the groups celebrating the tradition.

Like many people in the United States this time of year, Wilson Hurley has put up a Christmas tree in his house. But his Christmas tree sits in front of an image of Buddha. The front of his house has an ordinary Christmas wreath as well, but the Buddhist⁸ prayer flags in his back yard are a more unusual sight. "The tradition is that the flags are hung outside with the prayer and any beneficial aspiration⁹, and then get blown in the wind and to all beings," he said.

Hurley grew up in a traditional Christian² family, but as an adult chose Tibetan Buddhism as his religion. "Yes, you will not see this in most American households," he said.

Hurley has been a Buddhist for more than 30 years. Recently he has helped spread Buddhist ideas and practice by holding meditation¹⁰ classes. He believes Buddhists¹¹ can celebrate Christmas just like anyone else. "In my mind, the true celebration of Christmas is to go deeper into one's heart to try to root out pettiness and selfishness and anger and hatred¹² and intolerance and try to make a more loving heart, a more compassionate¹³ heart," he said.

A survey several years ago showed that Buddhism has become the fourth-largest religion in the United States, with 1.5 million adherents¹⁴.

"You wouldn't know it from our classes here. We have very small classes," Hurley said.

About 20 percent of American Buddhists are white.  The vast majority of the others are immigrants from Asia.  U Aye Than immigrated¹⁵ to the United States from Burma nearly 30 years ago.  He is a devout¹⁶ Buddhist - and also celebrates Christmas, at least some of the practices associated with it.  "We do celebrate Christmas. Not like going to church or anything, but we do celebrate. We bring friends and relatives to get together and give the gifts to the kids and everything," he said.

More than 80 percent of Burmese immigrants to the United States are Buddhist.  There are a sizeable number of Christians, too. Than believes there are many similarities between followers of Buddha and followers of Jesus.  He says he agrees with the vast majority of Christian doctrine¹⁷.

"Most of the teaching, about 75 to 80 percent, I agree with.  So the only difference is that we believe in cause and effect, nothing happens by itself. They believe that God creates everything.  We believe that nobody can do anything to us. We ourselves did good and bad things for ourselves," he said.

 

 
Photo: Suli Yi, VOA
Burmese-Americans singing Christmas songs

In this temple, located in a suburb of Washington, D.C., the majority of worshipers are from Burma or are related to a Burmese.  Aree Manosuthikit is from Thailand and is studying for her PhD. in linguistics¹⁸.  Her husband is Burmese, and both of them are Buddhists.

In addition to worshipping at the temple her husband frequents, Aree also goes to the local Thai temple.  Pramaha "Andrew" Puton is a monk¹⁹ at the temple.  He says the monks²⁰ have a very positive view of Christmas. "In this country they have holiday, right? If they are Buddhists, so they have holiday and also they could come to the temple on that day. So it is good to have holiday," He said.

Thailand's ambassador to the United States, Don Pramudwinai, is a Buddhist, but he and his family observe some Christmas traditions.  "We just have our simple dinner normally during Christmas time. Of course, we exchange gifts as well during the occasion with friends. And obviously we all send out Christmas cards and New Year's cards at the same time," he said.

These immigrants consider themselves a part of American society.  They say they want to integrate into the mainstream²¹ culture of the United States.  Interracial and inter-religious marriages are not unusual among them.  "As Buddhists, we are open-minded. We don't mind if you are Buddhist, Islam or Christian. If their husbands are Christians, and it's an important day for Christians, they should go to celebrate with them," he said.

While Buddhists may not celebrate all the Christmas rituals, they believe they can join with Christians and others in hoping for peace and joy to the world, at Christmas and all the year round.
 

1 Buddha   

n.佛；佛像；佛陀

参考例句：

• Several women knelt down before the statue of Buddha and prayed.几个妇女跪在佛像前祈祷。
• He has kept the figure of Buddha for luck.为了图吉利他一直保存着这尊佛像。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

4 persuasion   

n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派

参考例句：

• He decided to leave only after much persuasion.经过多方劝说，他才决定离开。
• After a lot of persuasion,she agreed to go.经过多次劝说后，她同意去了。

5 persuasions   

n.劝说，说服（力）( persuasion的名词复数 )；信仰

参考例句：

• To obtain more advertisting it needed readers of all political persuasions. 为获得更多的广告，它需要迎合各种政治见解的读者。 来自辞典例句
• She lingered, and resisted my persuasions to departure a tiresome while. 她踌躇不去，我好说歹说地劝她走，她就是不听。 来自辞典例句

6 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

7 Buddhism   

n.佛教（教义）

参考例句：

• Buddhism was introduced into China about 67 AD.佛教是在公元67年左右传入中国的。
• Many people willingly converted to Buddhism.很多人情愿皈依佛教。

8 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

9 aspiration   

n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出

参考例句：

• Man's aspiration should be as lofty as the stars.人的志气应当象天上的星星那么高。
• Young Addison had a strong aspiration to be an inventor.年幼的爱迪生渴望成为一名发明家。

10 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

11 Buddhists   

n.佛教徒( Buddhist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Jesuits in a phase of ascendancy, persecuted and insulted the Buddhists with great acrimony. 处于地位上升阶段的耶稣会修士迫害佛教徒，用尖刻的语言辱骂他们。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The return of Saivite rule to central Java had brought no antagonism between Buddhists and Hindus. 湿婆教在中爪哇恢复统治后，并没有导致佛教徒与印度教徒之间的对立。 来自辞典例句

12 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

13 compassionate   

adj.有同情心的，表示同情的

参考例句：

• She is a compassionate person.她是一个有同情心的人。
• The compassionate judge gave the young offender a light sentence.慈悲的法官从轻判处了那个年轻罪犯。

14 adherents   

n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙

参考例句：

• He is a leader with many adherents. 他是个有众多追随者的领袖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The proposal is gaining more and more adherents. 该建议得到越来越多的支持者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 immigrated   

v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民

参考例句：

• He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
• Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句

16 devout   

adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness)

参考例句：

• His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
• The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。

17 doctrine   

n.教义；主义；学说

参考例句：

• He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
• The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。

18 linguistics   

n.语言学

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。

19 monk   

n.和尚，僧侣，修道士

参考例句：

• The man was a monk from Emei Mountain.那人是峨眉山下来的和尚。
• Buddhist monk sat with folded palms.和尚合掌打坐。

20 monks   

n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The monks lived a very ascetic life. 僧侣过着很清苦的生活。
• He had been trained rigorously by the monks. 他接受过修道士的严格训练。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。