Note: The uh sound in this name is used to indicate, according to Dictionary.com: “hesitation, doubt, or a pause.” All three of these are encountered before crossing the bridge (the hyphen in the name), which leads to Christine (which literally means “follower of Christ”).
BuddhAllah-Christine popped into my mind when I saw this sign in my local bookstore:
“Megan ________ will soon give birth to a baby girl. What names do you suggest?”
So I picked up the magic marker, and thought for a moment while quickly glancing at the names listed by other customers: Alice, Julie, Amber, Melissa…etc. I thought: “My God, can’t anyone be a bit more original than that?”
That’s when BuddhAllah-Christine occurred to me, and that’s what I wrote on the sign as my suggestion.
All of this happened very quickly, much in the manner of lightning-induced inspiration. And that was a few days ago, but I kept thinking over and over since then: “Why exactly did that particular name come to mind?”
While trying to answer that question, I came up with:
· BuddhAllah-Christine is one of those names like “Henrietta.” It’s too long to use in casual conversation and sounds too unusual – which invites nicknames (which of course is okay).
· So what would her parents or friends call her for short? Boo? I like “Boo” since this name implies some scary things (more on that in a bit, though what I mean is “scarier to some than to others”). On the more positive side, “Boo” is also used as a “term of affection or endearment for any close friend or family member”[http://onlineslangdictionary.com/definition+of/boo ]
· “BC” as a nickname should be agreeable to those of the Judaic persuasion. Buddha lived “BC” (Before Christ). Most Jews I’ve known would have no problem with Buddha, since they feel a resonance with the Buddhists they have come to know and love. Or at least they wouldn’t feel threatened when hearing “BC” called out. What Jews do have problems with are certain personalities and movements which came after BC.
· It’s a stretch, but even this nickname might work: “B-Christine.” Since Christine means “follower of Christ,” when called out, we would hear “be Christine” (that is, “be a follower of Christ”). I have no problem with that, since I consider Christ (and Allah, for that matter) to be followers of Buddha. So it’s easy for me to think of the truest Christine (the truest “follower of Christ”) to be a follower of a Follower (that is, to be a follower of Christ who, in turn, is a Follower of Buddha).
Contemplations on the meaning of BuddhAllah
If you say it: To the ear, it sounds like “Boo-doll-ah.” Joining that, hyphenetically, to Christine, the name could be one way of considering Megan’s daughter as a “Boo Doll… ah*, (who is a) follower of Christ.” [* ah is, among other things, “an exclamation of joy,” according to Dictionary.com]
Of course, much depends on the meaning of “Boo Doll.” In developing this meaning, I favor these particular definitions of doll from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/doll : “an attractive person; a helpful or obliging person.” Therefore, a Boo Doll is a “helpful, attractive person [that is, a person who attracts others to the truth] by means of the twin meanings of boo: to be endearing and (when the occasion calls for it) to startle or frighten someone into realizing a truth which can be scary at first.”
If you look at it: Look at this name carefully: BuddhAllah. Now, let’s split the letters and associate some meanings:
Splitting:
Bud: the first 3 letters of this name
d: The 4th letter of this name, to which I assign a special significance when considered as part of a sequence including the 5th and 6th letters.
h: the h is silent, which (as you’ll see) is important.
a: the lower case a, which doesn’t appear in this name, but which is part of the title Buddha and which I designate as the 6th (though invisible) letter mentioned above.
A: this is the 7th letter of this name - the upper-case A, which is the first letter in the name Allah, which is formed by the 7th thru 11th letters of this name.
Associating meanings:
Bud refers to the flowering of the seed of Buddhahood, which is in all of us.
d, h, and the invisible lower-case a, which comprise the 4th, 5th, and 6th letters, have a special meaning when their contextual implications are considered:
The 4th letter represents redundancy or repetition, since the 4th letter is the same as (or a repetition of) the 3rd letter. In the Buddhist teachings, there are many instances of repetitious teachings which are meant to reinforce key doctrines, and redundancies which (upon more careful reflection) aren’t really redundant at all but serve as gateways to more subtle truths.
The 5th letter – h – is silent, which represents the void as well as silent meditation.
The 6th letter – the invisible letter a. It’s there but you can’t see it – kind of like the protuberance on the top of the Buddha’s head which is a symbol of his wisdom but which is invisible to the common mortal.
Some concerns and resolutions:
The 7th thru the 11th letters (A-l-l-a-h) allow for two interpretations, Allah (worshipped by the Muslims) being the first I’ll consider:
I was at first a bit concerned about incorporating the personal name of God as part of a broader concept. In the Islamic world, you will encounter many men named Mohammed, just as you will encounter many Christians named Jesus. But you will never encounter anyone named Allah (I can guarantee that).
And I can doubly assure you that you will never find any female named Allah.
I am taking advantage of the fact that, in English, the letters A-l-l-a-h can be grouped as “All ah,” which I claim to be my intended meaning. The fact that it also happens to spell Allah I consider to be beneficial (and is not meant to be blasphemous), though not as important as the philosophy behind All ah.
About this second possible interpretation:
The 7th thru the 11th letters (A-l-l-a-h) allow for a second interpretation, when arranged as: All ah.
Some people think of all as being equivalent to “the universe” – that is, “all” equals “everything.” What I’m doing here is capitalizing the A in All, in order to refer to a god concept. If BuddhAllah-Christine were my daughter, I would use her name to teach her a great deal. For instance:
A Lesson for my Daughter
In the name of humoring the Abrahamic worldview, before the (alleged) Creation, the only Thing that existed was God. Not only was God All-Powerful, All-Knowing, All-Encompassing, God was All there was! That’s why I designate the pre-Creation God as All.
However, after the Creation, God no longer was All. There was something other than God, and (frankly) I think that frightened Him. Mankind sensed this fear/insecurity, so man worshipped God as a way of reassuring Him that even though God was no longer All there was, He had nothing to fear from the beings He’d created. God especially appreciated efforts made by a wide-variety of humans (in a wide variety of ways) to get “close” to God. That closeness was important so that God would not anxiously dwell on the fact that He was no longer All there is.
The ah of All ah is a bold assertion on our part, as in “ah, what a relief is this thing called Enlightenment, which comes after contemplating the All of which we are a part. And which comes after we realize we never had anything to fear from any kind of All which was misidentified as a Creational God.”
The meaning of BuddhAllah-Christine
The literal meaning: “The bud that flowers, by means of repetition and redundancy and the silent contemplation of things not visible [as represented by that invisible lower-case letter a] which lead to an understanding of All, who sighs ah in appreciation, after being connected by a bridge [the hyphen in the name is a bridge] to a follower of Christ.”
Christ, in this context, I choose to mean “the anointed” in a broad sense rather than meaning Jesus Christ in particular. The anointed One or Ones are the spiritual teachers or forces this daughter encounters in her lifetime, after being introduced by “followers” (lesser teachers).
This name’s audio dynamic flow goes like this:
Start with Bud. Even with an emphasizing capital B, Bud sounds flat and dull (like dud).
Then it fades progressively from redundant (lulling?) sound to silence and then to invisibility, utilizing the meanings assigned (above) to the next three letters (d, h, and the invisible lower-case a).
Then it grandly and emphatically proceeds from nothingness to everything as pronounced by the next three letters: A-l-l, which spells the word All.
And ends in a sigh: ah.
Then it crosses a bridge (the hyphen), which leads to a means to an end, though itself is non-judgmental.
That “means to an end” is Christine, the sound of which produces a smile:)
Another lesson for this daughter
It bothered me somewhat to offer this name to a girl. I mean, Buddha and Allah are names of male figures and the sound “doll” in that name could be seen as derogatory to females (as in male society’s view of females as objects or playthings).
However, this name can be used by a skillful parent to help move this girl past certain stereotypes. While young, she might appreciate being called a “doll” or nicknamed boo. As she gets older, though, she could be weaned away from doll (in particular) by being told, “Yes, the sound of doll is in your name, but that’s the least important consideration and shouldn’t be a major focus. I mean, when you think of fireman, do you think of a man made out of fire?”
As for boo: “Yes, it’s a term of affection, but there’s a scary meaning – actually, several scary meanings. Someone can say boo like Casper
As for Buddha and Allah being “male” figures:
Buddha was not always male (in prior incarnations) and even in his earthly life, he “stopped” being male in the usual sense after he left his wife (who also “stopped” being female in the usual sense after she became a Homeless Sister). And Allah is very far from being considered a man in the usual sense.
The common theme here is, usual sense. I like expanding that to indicate that none of us has to be (merely) human in the usual sense.
As for Allah
I think Islam is going to be around for a very long time. Indeed, I believe Islam will undergo a Reformation (with a capital R). Now that’s a bit ironic since the Prophet Mohammed is held by Muslims to be the last prophet in an historic succession of prophets. So it will be interesting to see how a unifying, global Islamic Reformation comes into being – especially if espoused by one particular individual. Especially if that individual happens to be female.
I duly noted this bit of info from http://www.allah.org/ : “Allah is the personal name of the One true God. Nothing else can be called Allah. The term has no plural or gender.” However, this very same webpage refers to Allah as “God Himself.” Last time I checked, the word “himself” was male. And yet, as claimed above, “The term has no … gender.”
As for “nothing else can be called Allah,” that may well be so, but I don’t see why those five letters can’t appear in the context of a name chock full of meanings. I suppose, though, that someone somewhere will offer to explain why they can’t.
As for Allah as “the Being Who comprises all the attributes of perfection” that is, the Being Who is perfect in every way,” according to http://www.muslim.org/islam/allah.htm :
What a wonderful ideal to try to emulate!
Steven Searle for US President in 2012
Founder of The Independent Contractors’ Party
“So what’s in a name, BuddhAllah-Christine? After all is said and done, the only things in a name are the things we decide to put there” - Steve
Contact me: bpa_cinc@yahoo.com
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