one woman

One woman I talked to at Dharma Drum is a coffee roaster with a husband and a son who enjoys traveling the world. She converted from Taoism to Buddhism two years ago. Taoism she refers to as "more fake." I asked her why she made the change, and she searched for the word for a while until Google Translate spit out "rational" - because Buddhism is rational. She liked, she said, that it made sense. I asked what made sense to her, and she responded "Master Sheng Yen says to clean your mind and the environment and I like that." The woman was not vegetarian but ate with me in the dining hall which of course is vegetarian and has no onions/garlic/leeks/scallions/chives (the five pungent spices). I asked her if she liked the food, and she shook her head no and said not really. Too bland!, she said.