Pat Rafter turns to Buddhism and Hinduism | NEWS.com.au Entertainment

Yesterday I blogged about the attraction Buddhism has for westerners, and in this article we see an example of that: Pat Rafter turns to Buddhism and Hinduism | NEWS.com.au Entertainment. But it also points out the disincentive to following:

"Rafter said he hadn't fully embraced the Buddhist life because it was a big commitment and hard work. One of his brothers, in the US, practised 10 hours a day. 'I'm sort of scared to make the step. It's pretty big. You can do it half-arsed and I've done that for a long time.'"

I have to say that for me one of the least appealing aspects of the Buddhist account of the universe is the eons of suffering and the long, long, long, long, long, long, long ... hard road it holds out in prospect of working out a bundle of karma. Though, of course, in an a-personal account of things, it's hard to know what value to place on that suffering. But even within this one life it's a tough prospect to be serious. This is where the Christian doctrines of grace and of God actively taking suffering on board and releasing into reality the means to redeem and transfigure suffering can become very attractive. Yes, it can be hard, but we don't struggle alone or with little hope.