thought about the topic of how i got to know buddhism and decided to expand this topic a little bit cos my diving into buddhism is but a part of the overall journey i took to look for myself. and this journey included my experiences with other faiths.
i was born into a taoist family. rather, the religion that was practiced by my family was that kind taoist that is fused with some buddhistic practices... or well, you can also call it buddhist with strong taoist influence. whatever it is, it is neither full taoist nor buddhist. bottom-line is - it is very culturally influenced with no clear distinction to what is the philosophies or the practices behind either one of the faith. that, i supposed is the brand of toast/ buddhist that is common in this part of the world - southeast asia, more specifically, malaysia and singapore. so since young, i was involved in a lot of rituals, practices, etc. and i take it as part and parcel of my life. no questions asked. after all, at that young age back in those days, we existed at the level of action and not in logic. also, there was no distinction between religion, race and culture to me. they are just part and parcel of life, all bundled in one. and living in a kampong that was predominantly chinese and a few indians, my concept of religion, race and culture can be summarized as follows: chinese = buddhist/ taoist that all they practice was similar to what i was familiar with and taken to be a fact of life, and indians = priests with drawing of white stripes and patterns on their heads, indian gods that wielded powers of fire and weapons that can turn into cobras (that eat other cobras too). other than that, i was quite lost about christianity and islam...
my first exposure to christianity was when i was in primary school. my second sis would invite her friends over to my house for bible studies. and that usually would end up with my mum getting upset and arguments would ensue... "you don't talk about ya-sor or any hong kau seen (christian god) in my house, my tng lang seen (chinese gods) will be very upset!" my mum would argue. notably in her arguments, there was no distinction between race, culture and religion! and my sis, in all her teenage rebellious nature, would organize more of such sessions. ultimately, i supposed my mum relented cos, after all, her daughter would be married off... but as for her sons, she warned, you better not embrace christianity... i sometimes wonder if her restrictions were becos she was afraid no one would conduct the final rites for her and my dad when their time come. by the time i got into secondary school, i "became" a christian unknowingly! haha... it was a trend kinda thing. well, to be specific, not a trend to become a christian, but rather, the trend of joining youth groups. i didn't even know what these groups were except that on a regular basis, people from outside school would come to my school, call my friends to a quiet corner of my school and talk to them. their behavior was rather secretive. my curiosity led me to find out that they were there to save us and once saved, we would be part of a certain youth movement group. but we were warned that we cannot tell people about their presence and we were to keep their recruitment efforts undercover. and once we agree to let them save us, we would be put through a simple ritual to recite some sentences. as in all youths who yearns conformance to a certain trend, i agreed when i was asked and was quickly ushered to a quiet corner of the school. underneath a big shady tree, i was asked to clasp my palms together and recite a prayer... after that, i was welcomed formally into the faith and from then on, i was pressured to attend church... i didn't. that whole secretive process did not make sense to me. and to a secondary school science student, logic is important to me.
i learned more about the islamic faith when i moved into marine parade in 1974. my neighbor was a muslim family and i attended a malay secondary school from 1979-1982. i did not have any major cultural issues with malays due to my mum's peranakan roots. thus, interacting and assimilating into the malay culture was almost a second nature to me. in tandem with my increased interactions with my malay friends, i got to know of their daily practices and their religion eventually. i even learned how to read arabic! of cos, i must add that my experiences and understanding of the malay/ muslim community were laced with a lot of malay superstitions, urban legends and folklores such as the orang minyak, pontianak, and so on... it was until my post-secondary school days when i took the efforts to read up more about islam before i could appreciate islamic teachings better.
well, that was race, religion and culture to me in my early years. all bundled into one. and frankly, until i was introduced to christianity, that made religion a little bit of a hush hush thing, i had never questioned the distinction between race, religion and culture. all we know is that as a community, we all have different cultures and religions, and for us to live happily amongst each other, we need to respect each others space.
