Oh Ye Of Two Faiths

I get into more religious debates than I'd like but every once in a while I have to explain how being Christian doesn't have to be mutually exclusive with certain. Buddhist practices.

“My typical Sunday consists of church in the morning and the Buddhist center in the afternoon,” said Betty Levy, a practicing Catholic and a resident of Whitehouse Station near the Pennsylvania border.

Unlike an earlier generation of aspiring Buddhists, Levy didn’t discover the center while on a spiritual trek. Instead, she met Diana Cutler while both women were waiting for their cars to be repaired at a local auto dealership.

And after three years of classes, Levy said Buddhism is making her a better Christian.

“In the Gospels, Christ is teaching how to live,” Levy said. “And Buddhism helps give me the tools to live like we should — to put others first, to control anger and to be compassionate.”

The Cutlers, now in their late 50s, still embrace a quiet, austere lifestyle that they learned from their mentor, a Tibetan monk named Geshe Ngawang Wangyal.

But they also said the new wave of students is an encouraging sign that Buddhism is gaining mainstream acceptance.

“It’s gotten to the point where people stop me in the supermarket and ask me about the Dalai Lama,” Diana Cutler said. “They want to know how he’s doing and when he’s coming back.”