{"id":2078,"date":"2024-07-27T15:55:42","date_gmt":"2024-07-27T21:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/?p=2078"},"modified":"2024-08-04T21:34:04","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T03:34:04","slug":"celebrating-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/?p=2078","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Diversity – a personal bi(multi)cultural story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I grew up surrounded by a mosaic of cultures and beliefs, rooted in a Southern Black Baptist and Muslim family. My family’s cultural and religious diversity laid a rich foundation for my own journey, though I stand apart as the only Buddhist among them. As the son of a Muslim father and Christian mother, I began my spiritual journey early, eventually becoming a deacon in the Christian church before finding my calling as a Buddhist monk. I’ve always been a seeker of “Truth,” or perhaps a more fitting term would be “More”\u2014more understanding, more depth, more connection. From a young age, I felt that there was something greater to life than what could be captured in words or confined to a single path. When I discovered Buddhism at 16, it was a turning point that forever changed my perspective and direction in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Jarrelle Barton<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time of my discovery, I was grappling with a diagnosis of Marfan Syndrome, a rare genetic condition that left me feeling vulnerable and self-conscious. The stares and whispers about my tall, slender frame often made me want to disappear, to hide from a world that seemed to focus more on my appearance than my essence. During these challenging times, my godmother, a wise and kind woman from Beijing, introduced me to Buddhism. She taught me about compassion, inner stillness, and tranquility, offering me a new way to see myself and the world around me. Her guidance provided a sense of belonging and peace that I had been searching for, a healthy escape where I could find solace amid the storms of life. Even as I spent many days in hospitals, which the doctors joked had become my second home, Buddhism became a sanctuary where I could retreat and renew my soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through this lens of compassion and acceptance, I began to celebrate diversity in all its forms. My great-grandmother\u2019s tales of her parents’ journey from slavery, my own experiences as a Black kid exploring Zen, and the friendships I\u2019ve formed within the AAPI communities have all shaped the way I see the world. These diverse experiences have taught me that celebrating diversity is about living authentically\u2014embracing your heart, dreams, and true self while encouraging others to do the same. As a person of color, I believe in the power of unity and shared experiences, and I hope that by coming together on our common grounds, we can build a stronger, more inclusive future for generations to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bao Jieao ( Jarrelle ) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up surrounded by a mosaic of cultures and beliefs, rooted in a Southern Black Baptist and Muslim family. My family’s cultural and religious diversity laid a rich foundation for my own journey, though I stand apart as the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":2079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,554,10,1],"tags":[116,515,57,17,69,19],"class_list":["post-2078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aapi-communities","category-asian-cultures","category-healthy-youth-development","category-post","tag-awareness","tag-ball","tag-community","tag-facts","tag-lifestyle","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2078"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2093,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions\/2093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}