Similarity between Druidry (Druidism) and Buddhism

There must be a huge research needed to reveal the similarities between Druidry and Buddhism.

However, in my insight, there must be a lot of sharing points between the two.

Druidry, the Druids, or Druidism was the ancient magical religious faith found to be operating in Gaul and later England and Ireland from the Iron Age and possibly earlier as the Romans pushed northward that has been revived as a twentieth-century Neo-Pagan religion.

On the other hand, Buddhism was originated in India where Hinduism and other native Indian religions were founded, who has kept stronger traditions of mysticism, shamanism, and polytheism compared other mono-theistic traditions. Since Buddhism was revolutionary and theorized against the native Hinduism, they negated the existence of gods or deities; thus Buddhism was very focused on the attainment of insight toward emptiness or non-selfness.

Similarly, Druidism emphasizes the return to the nature as well as the renunciation of ourselves as was revealed in the following poem, written by a Druid.

Please appreciate the following poem.

“You ought to see there is
No certainty,
Nothing absolute,
Nature continues,
regardless,
no matter what.
It can be exhilarating,
Sheer joy, ecstasy,
Magic moments,
Unexpected inspiration, 

But then it can be unjust,
so badly unfair,
beyond understanding,
but who am I to judge?
Nature continues regardless.
The pain of my fears leads to
the comfort of my acceptance,

to let go,
relinquish control,
unattached, free,
flowing with the tides of life,
for then true peace comes from within,
My determination and courage,
winning through

And so I surrender,
working with the force,
embracing it, gaining strength,
for I know in darkness,
inner peace can grow,
I see that now
nature continues in its own way,
not mine.”

Acceptance by Druid Poet, “Star”, December 2003, (http://druidnetwork.org/bardic/a-b.html#acceptance, retrieved March, 2013.) as was quoted in the Chapter 7 in INTELLIGENCE CODE.

 

I agree if you point out my over-generalization of the similarities between Druidry and Buddhism just based on the poem in the above.

However, as a Buddhist, I have a strong intuition for the similarities between the attitudes of the completely different two religious traditions, emphasizing intuitions toward ’emptiness’.

Let me deal with it for more next time.

Thanks.

[photo: A group of Druids at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England ]