Religious Syncretism: Up Close

Kaitlyn Cheyanne Tan

“Thou shalt not worship other gods before Me.”

A CHILD SOME YEARS AGO WAS RATIONALIZING HOW PRACTICING

TWO RELIGIONS AND ‘WORSHIPING’ TWO HIGHER BEINGS WEREN’T

ACTUALLY VIOLATING THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. That child was me, an

especially conservative one, there’s no question why we wouldn’t be carrying on

culture spanning three generations, here, in the Philippines. Born and raised Catholic

but with faith in Buddhism, there are things I didn’t understand no matter how many

times I got the same answer from my grandfather—the one who introduced

Buddhism to me. He said, “There’s no conflict between Buddhism and Catholicism

as much as no religion teaches evil or bad things.” And so for a few years, I

supposed our practices were completely normal. We went to church on Sunday

morning and then to the temple in the afternoon. I didn’t mind, nor did I tell people

about my Chinese side of religion. The thought was basically unthought of as years

passed and so was my faith in both religions but not for long. Something I’ve

realized only now is the devotion of my family to temple visiting every place we go

where there is at least one Chinese temple. Whether it’s in the Philippines, Palawan,

for example, the last thing you would have thought of is a temple visit. Ironic, I know.

Be that as it may, realization didn’t come too late.

Last Christmas, I was looking through books in National Bookstore just

overwhelmed by the prices; I wasn’t really expecting to pick up any interest. Ten
minutes doubled fast, and then suddenly something caught my eye—a book, of

course.

“Chinese Buddhism in Catholic Philippines: Syncretism as Identity”

It was paperback, sealed, new, and the author is a Jesuit priest. At that instant,

I finally knew the term I didn’t know even existed—syncretism. I was relieved to know

that I’m not actually polytheistic. Without hesitation, I looked at the back of the

cover to read whatever was written there, then I placed it back because it was time

to leave and I hadn’t brought money that day. My curiosity only kept growing,

especially because there weren’t any unsealed copies to skim through. I thought

through the night of purchasing it because I was dying for answers to things I hadn’t

understood my whole life. The price didn’t matter; I knew I just had to have it. As

promised, I came back for it the next day.

The moment I tore the plastic off the book, I knew it had what I always wanted to

know. Answers to questions my religious studies teachers couldn’t tell me and

basically confirmation to things I wasn’t certain about, just everything! All these

chapters contained the list of Buddhist temples and schools with their history,

information, and address in the Philippines and even more. Have a look at the

chapters.

Chapter One: Being Chinese in the Philippines: A Preliminary Discussion of

History and Culture
Chapter Two: Chinese Buddhism in the Philippines
Chapter Three: Buddhism as a Chinese Religion
Chapter Four: Scriptures and Devotions: The Religious Dimensions of Chinese
Buddhism in the Philippines
 Chapter Five: Planting Good Roots, Creating Affinities, and Practicing
Compassion: Sociocultural Dimensions
Chapter Six: Chinese Buddhist Culture and Chinese Identity

For the first time, there was something I could relate to in the context of multiple

religious belonging. The author, Fr. Ari C. Dy, SJ, wrote about his personal

experiences with Chinese religion, Buddhism and the Catholic faith, and Chinese

identity. I was pleased that the content didn’t have the slightest hint of bias to any

side, considering that it was written by a Catholic priest. I wanted to understand

Buddhism as much as I do for Catholicism since I hadn’t any Buddhist education.

Frankly, it got me me wishing if I could have studied in a Buddhist school like my

cousins did at Samantabadra Institute in Cebu where they had weekly class in

religion, which in their case is Buddhism. Through the book, I learned that our family

practices ‘popular Buddhism’, which is characterized by having an altar at home for

Buddhist icons, temple visits, praying with incenses, adding oil to lamps,

consecrating water, attending feasts, burning spirit money, and chanting in a Dharma

assembly. As old as it gets, we also do folk practices such as using the Guanyin

(Goddess of Mercy) oracle sticks and the crescent moon-shaped divination tablets

for answers to questions asked to specific deities. However, such practices are

discouraged because they are not properly Buddhist but are still tolerated because

devotees need them in desperate times. All these knowledge came from the book,

which I understood without doubt. Another thing I would not forget to mention is

how the book also touched the topic on the past, present, and future of Buddhism in

the Philippines. The dearest to me among the three has got to be the future because

the number of religious devotees are declining in number, add to the fact that

Chinese Buddhism seems to have an unwritten rule of being exclusive to only the

Chinese, even if it is taking steps to reach out to the Filipinos through Sunday
classes, camps, and offering university scholarships to Filipinos in exchange for

attendance of whole-day sessions at the temple twice a month, which helps

propagate and preserve Buddhist teachings to the local population. These in turn

open doors for new forms of Buddhism just like how Indian Buddhism became

Chinese and was brought elsewhere. Because the Chinese community in the

Philippines uses the Chinese language as a primary medium in its religion/s, it has

evidently established an identity for the Chinese community.

In the end, that child finally understood that syncretism or the fusion of beliefs

depends only on how one sees to uphold simultaneous religious practices. And just

like some people, our family worships the “same” God in both traditions because

again, we see no conflict between the two religions. The reality of syncretism leaves

us with the choice between living a syncretic manner of practicing religion or

focusing on one faith. Multiple religious belonging is not something to hide, for it is a

marker of our Chinese identity. Buddhist or Catholic—why choose when you can be

both?