Buddhism - my faith
Peter Westwood is a freelance personal development coach who works with a number of high-profile businesses. Newly settled in Tower Hamlets, Peter’s work brings him into close contact with some of the country’s most influential management figures. Here, he gives an insight into the spiritual beliefs that he brings to his professional work.
What is the best thing about your faith?
Buddhism gives me a positive way to deal with the challenges of everyday life. It has a real emphasis on ‘what works’ – if what I’m doing is not helping me, then I just drop it!
The aim of Buddhism is to cultivate the core human values of love, compassion and wisdom. Buddhism clearly describes why it is important to develop these and gives pragmatic and powerful methods of doing it.
It’s great – I love it!
How close are you to other members of the Buddhist community where you live?
I am quite new to Tower Hamlets, so I have not yet met many Buddhists here. However, I am looking forward to joining the London Buddhist Centre, which has become the focus of an entire Buddhist village around Roman Road.
I still have links with the strong community based around my current Buddhist centre, which is called Jamyang (www.jamyang.co.uk). I usually see people from there every week and find it invaluable to share things with them and also offer them support where I can.
Jamyang also offers a great two-year distance learning course called the Foundation of Buddhist Thought (www.buddhistthought.org). I am a tutor on this course and talking with the students about what they’re studying is really helpful for my own learning.
How do friends and colleagues react when you talk to them about your faith?
It varies. Some are bemused, some are amused and some are inspired. Most don’t know what Buddhism is and, often, they don’t want to know! Some people think it’s a hippy thing, not relevant to the west, which I think is completely wrong.
When people ask me what Buddhism’s about, I try to make them realise that it’s very down to earth and pragmatic. It offers so many useful ways of solving everyday problems. I also try and emphasise the core values of wisdom and compassion.
What is the biggest misunderstanding you have heard about your faith?
People are sometimes worried that Buddhists will try and convert them, shave their heads and make them wear orange! However, ‘preaching’ is totally alien to Buddhism, which teaches that respect for others and their ways of thinking, and the value of all religions.
Another misunderstanding I come across is that Buddhism is nihilistic. A surprising number of people think it is all about emptiness and somehow lacks a human dimension. Not at all! As a Buddhist, I am very much concerned with the here and now. I concentrate on living life with as much compassion and wisdom as I possibly can while recognising that our physical world is in a constant state of change.
Which Buddhist you’ve met has had the biggest influence on your life?
I find it very inspiring to listen to the current generation of Buddhist masters, such as Lama Zopa, Geshe Tashi (the teacher at Jamyang Buddhist Centre) and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is universally respected by Buddhists.
All of them seem to me to exemplify the good qualities that Buddhists aim to develop, such as kindness, patience and generosity. Meeting them shows me that all of us have the capacity to develop ourselves to become really outstanding human beings.
Of course, every Buddhist tradition has its great teachers. Many people draw inspiration from those such as Tich Nhat Hahn from Vietnam and Ajahn Chah from the Forest tradition. People also admire Western teachers such as Pema Chodron, Sharon Salzberg and Urgyen Sangharakshita, who was instrumental in bringing Buddhism to this country.
What do you use when you’re looking for inspiration?
I read some uplifting words from a Buddhist book, such as The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life by the Indian Buddhist master Shantideva. These three verses are an excerpt:
With a wish to free all beings
I shall always go for refuge
To the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha,
Until I reach full enlightenment
Enthused by wisdom and compassion,
today in the Buddhas’ presence
I generate the Mind for Full Awakening
For the benefit of all sentient beings
As long as space remains,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain
And dispel the miseries of the world
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