Hello, if one is committed to the Theravada tradition but only has the possibility to join Mahayana, Vajrayana meditation centers in the area, should he or she continue practicing along the Theravada lines of practice or join the center nevertheless?
I don't think that it's an either or.
Of course you can continue practicing Theravada and still attend a Buddhist center in a different tradition if it's in your area.
I know this question comes up a lot because
Theravada Buddhist centers aren't as prevalent as those from Tibet or Zen or however.
But you'd be surprised how often you find a sympathetic ear at some of these places.
So first of all, you might find a teacher who is versed in the practice that you've
You've done, Aaron in fact and I were attending a meditation group in the Tibetan tradition, but the head Lama was teaching from the Visuddhimagga.
Now that may be a little bit rare.
but he was quite amenable to our practice and actually came and did a meditation, the head, Lama, came and did a meditation course with me and was looking to learn to teach the meditation practice in this tradition.
But even that not being the case,
I think it's quite possible for you to attend these centers or at least ask permission to use these centers.
And I know some places, it depends on the place, some can probably be quite xenophobic or controlling and will maybe even forbid you from practicing other meditations in their center.
But if you're just sitting quietly alone, I know
And at least in the Theravada tradition, people are generally quite amenable to have you use their center as a place to practice your own teachings.
So you can go along with it and join in on the group chanting or whatever and keep up your own practice.
I mean I guess it's obviously not a replacement for a teacher in the tradition that you're following but there's certainly no harm in it and often you'll meet people of like mind and you find that other people who attend these centers may have experience in the practice that you do and are in a similar situation where they're just looking for a center but they actually practice something else and so
You'll often find a sympathetic ear and community, which is important.
You'll find something there.
So definitely I recommend people go to these centers, check them out, and you'll find that they vary in quality.
Some of them might be quite authentic, and some might be simply commercial ventures and so on.
So check it out, and for sure I would recommend that sort of thing.