Not everyone must be Buddhist

I was just going to tweet the following sentiment. But then it became a short rant. It may not be long enough for a bona fide blog post. But I can’t think of where else to get this off my chest. More substantive posts are forthcoming. I promise.

I cannot tell you how sad it makes me that any time anyone dies, a certain Buddhist magazine tries to connect them to Buddhism, however tenuously. It is not just the opportunistic attempt to generate hits that bothers me (but it does). It’s the sense that for this person’s life to have meaning, they must have some connection to Buddhism. If nothing else, this is simply dishonest. Rather than appreciating this person — who can no longer gift us with their art, music, writing, wisdom, compassion, whatever — on their own terms for who they were, we must find some way to appreciate them because of a connection to Buddhism. The world has been populated with amazing beautiful human beings long before Buddhism was a thing and will be populated by amazing beautiful human beings long after. We need not force them into this tiny (Buddhist) box to appreciate that beauty. Be grateful for what we received from them, as it was, Buddhist or not, fully and honestly.