Radical Friendship by Kate Johnson

Author:Kate Johnson [Johnson, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2021-08-24T00:00:00+00:00

THE ENDURANCE OF OUR ANCESTORS

One of the biggest differences between Western-convert Buddhism and heritage-Buddhist communities is that in the mainstream Western adaptation, there’s a marked absence of rituals to honor and connect with our ancestors. In the Buddha’s time, the presence of ancestors and the recognition of their role in society was a part of the cultural fabric of everyday life. But for the white Western students who traveled to Asia in the 1960s and 1970s to learn Buddhism, their own ancestries, family lineages, and cultural traditions were things they were trying to get away from. They didn’t feel like sources of power—they felt like sites of repression and shame. When they returned to the West and began teaching what they felt was the essence of Buddhist practices, many aspects of ritual culture—including those that honor ancestors—were left out of their transmission of the teachings.

For those of us whose ancestors were most deeply affected by the violence and domination of empire, lineage isn’t something we’re trying to get away from. It’s something we’re trying to get back to. Colonization taught us to fear witchcraft, ghosts, and juju. We were told that the spirit world wasn’t real, that relating to it was a sign of unenlightened superstition. We were warned that the unseen realms were full of evil, that to invite connection with beings who have passed on is to open the door to disaster. Fraying our connections to our ancestral homes and practices made it easier for the agents of empire to seize our land, our labor, and our bodies.

Fortunately, our ancestors have not gone. At the very least, they are present in every cell in our bodies, coded into our DNA. The air we breathe contains particles that at one time hovered in their lungs. The blood in our veins flows with droplets of water that once ran through theirs. We may have pictures, stories, or objects they once owned to remember them by. If we’re lucky, we may be able to connect with them through an insight, an intuition, or a gut feeling. In the decolonial view, our ancestors are not out to get us. Many of them want to help us, and some of them need our help too. They want to be in relationship with us, and to make friends with them is to make friends with a vital resource that extends beyond the material realm. To restore right relationships on this planet, our ancestors are a source of wisdom and power that we desperately need.

When I wanted to deepen my relationship with the ancestors as a part of my spiritual practice, I sought out a priest in an African diasporic tradition called Lucumí (which, incidentally, means “friend” in the Yoruba-based liturgical language of that tradition). The priest suggested I create an ancestor altar on a low table covered in white cloth and that I place a potted plant on the altar to represent life. He gave me the assignment of talking to the elders

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.