Don’t assume, get curious, ask “Why WOULD they do that?”

   Several Tibetan Budhist Nuns visited NIC this week to teach their messages of curiosity, compassion and empathy in two different sessions with students and members of the community.

  Nuns from Sravasti Abbey, a Budhist monastery in Newport, Washington made another trip this year to spread their teachings at the request of Professor Laura Templeman, a philosophy teacher at NIC. 

   Venerables Dekui (meaning “joyful,”) Puntsok (meaning “gathering of good things,”) and Dechen (meaning “great bliss,”) spoke about being curious instead of making assumptions and being willing to put ourselves in each other’s shoes. They said that it’s important not only to look closer at why other people do things, but what’s behind our own motivations as sometimes it’s not always clear or easy.

   “My biggest take-away,” said Lyla Kinman, an NIC nursing student who attended, “was how understanding the motive of yourself and others can lead to better connections. It can lead to happiness.”

   The group was asked to participate in activities to demonstrate how each individual had been on either side of making assumptions, then encouraged the participants to be curious enough to see if they were right, and courageous enough to actually find out. 

   They discussed the current Cardinal Common Read “I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times” by Monica Guzman. The book is a guide on how to open up and talk to people with opposing views from a place of curiosity instead of hostility. It’s focused on the division of our country in regard to politics but can easily translate into other areas of life. 

   “The reason people do things is to not suffer. We all work hard all day to be happy,” said Venerable Pontsok, “When we ask, ‘why would they do that?’ we can know that they’re also just trying to be happy, and we can relate.”

    If you’re interested in reading “I Never Thought of It That Way” you can find a copy of it at the Molstead Library.