Author Topic: Pagan with a Bodhisattva spirit guide? (Read 1107 times)

ZealousTurtle · « **on:** August 05, 2016, 11:11:36 am »

I am still very new to paganism in general, my mom has been multiple branches of pagan since I was very young and while I've always had an interest in it, I only recently began practicing it myself.

For most of my life I have practiced Buddhist ideals, considering myself spiritual but not religious, and I went into this with the same mindset.

For the past few months, I have been having an exceptionally hard time and it has been having an effect on my mental and emotional health. About a month or so ago, I had a mental breakdown and prayed to any God or Goddess that would help me get through this point in my life. Of course I didn't believe that anything would come of it, I believe in that magic of the earth and human spirit, but I've always struggled to fully believe in any deity.

That night, I had a dream and in it, I was visited by a woman. She seemed very concerned, I feel like she said more but all I clearly remember is that she said that "You Let fear consume you".

I just kind of brushed it aside though, because I was in severe emotional distress at the time and figured it was just from that. Since then, however, I've been having the same dream. There are always small differences, but it's always the same setting and the same woman (I never fully see her face, but I always get the same familiar feeling from her).

Since the dream started to reoccur, I decided to look into it (Even if I do still feel crazy for it, I've always been very skeptical with this kind of thing). I've considered many of them as a possibility, but I never got the same feeling that I did with her.

Then one of my moms friends (My mom was the only one who I talked to about this, and she enlisted a friend to try and help me), sent me information on Bodhisattva's. As soon as I saw GuanYins name, it immediately felt like I was in my dream again. From what I understand, Bodhisattva's are the spirits of people who have reached near Nirvana (Or in GuanYins case, reached Nirvana but refused to enter), and act as spirit guides to those who need them.

I'm still studying Pagan religions (as well as practicing a bit), but I don't know what I should do at this point. When I look online, I noticed that it's a very split poll when it comes to whether or not someone could consider themselves a pagan Buddhist.

I apologize for the obnoxiously long post (and i'm not sure if this is the right board), but I just wanted to get other's opinions on the matter. I somehow feel like it's wrong to practice one religion while following the spirit guide of a completely different religion, but I feel drawn to both paths.

missgraceless · « **Reply #1 on:** August 05, 2016, 12:06:25 pm »

Quote from: ZealousTurtle;194732

I am still very new to paganism in general, my mom has been multiple branches of pagan since I was very young and while I've always had an interest in it, I only recently began practicing it myself.

For most of my life I have practiced Buddhist ideals, considering myself spiritual but not religious, and I went into this with the same mindset.

For the past few months, I have been having an exceptionally hard time and it has been having an effect on my mental and emotional health. About a month or so ago, I had a mental breakdown and prayed to any God or Goddess that would help me get through this point in my life. Of course I didn't believe that anything would come of it, I believe in that magic of the earth and human spirit, but I've always struggled to fully believe in any deity.

That night, I had a dream and in it, I was visited by a woman. She seemed very concerned, I feel like she said more but all I clearly remember is that she said that "You Let fear consume you".

I just kind of brushed it aside though, because I was in severe emotional distress at the time and figured it was just from that. Since then, however, I've been having the same dream. There are always small differences, but it's always the same setting and the same woman (I never fully see her face, but I always get the same familiar feeling from her).

Since the dream started to reoccur, I decided to look into it (Even if I do still feel crazy for it, I've always been very skeptical with this kind of thing). I've considered many of them as a possibility, but I never got the same feeling that I did with her.

Then one of my moms friends (My mom was the only one who I talked to about this, and she enlisted a friend to try and help me), sent me information on Bodhisattva's. As soon as I saw GuanYins name, it immediately felt like I was in my dream again. From what I understand, Bodhisattva's are the spirits of people who have reached near Nirvana (Or in GuanYins case, reached Nirvana but refused to enter), and act as spirit guides to those who need them.

I'm still studying Pagan religions (as well as practicing a bit), but I don't know what I should do at this point. When I look online, I noticed that it's a very split poll when it comes to whether or not someone could consider themselves a pagan Buddhist.

I apologize for the obnoxiously long post (and i'm not sure if this is the right board), but I just wanted to get other's opinions on the matter. I somehow feel like it's wrong to practice one religion while following the spirit guide of a completely different religion, but I feel drawn to both paths.

Welcome! Don't feel like you should only stick to one religion. I found Quan Yin (there are different spellings, and She seems to like that one for me) about 5 years ago from an Alanis Morissette song that my iPod decided to play in the middle of my meditation music. I'd downloaded the entire album but never listened to that one song (Citizen of the Planet) so I'd never heard the name before.

My own religion is some strange mix of Buddhism, Taoism and neopaganism with Quan Yin in the middle of it all. The wonderful thing about Quan Yin is that She Herself doesn't belong to just one religion, but rather is a universal truth, so to speak. The need for compassion and total understanding is a part of every religion in every corner of the world.

The definition for paganism here on TC is "follower of any non-Abrahamic religion that also considers themselves pagan." So pagan Buddhists most definitely do exist, and there's absolutely no problem with believing in both.