《179》耶诞节到了，西方僧侣们于是决定要庆祝一番。他们邀请了阿姜 查和一些在家信徒来共襄盛举。这些在家信徒都非常生气，而且难以置信。他们问，为何佛教徒在庆祝耶诞节呢？阿姜 查于是给了一篇关于宗教的开示，他说：「只要我们了解基督教教导人们去为善、弃恶，跟佛教一样，那问题在哪里呢？不过，有人因为庆祝耶诞节的主意而不快乐，我们可以改善呀！我们不叫它耶诞节，而称它做「耶佛节」。任何启发我们，使我们看到真相，并教我们为善，就是正确的修行。只要你满意，给它什么名字都可以。」

It was Christmas and the foreign monks had decided to celebrate it. They invited some laypeople as well as Ajahn Chah to join them. The laypeople were generally upset and skeptical. Why, they asked, were Buddhists celebrating Christmas? Ajahn Chah then gave a talk on religion in which he said, "As far as I understand, Christianity teaches people to do good and avoid evil, just as Buddhism does, so what is the problem? However, if people are upset by the idea of celebrating Christmas, that can be easily remedied. We won’t call it Christmas. Let’s call it ‘Christ-Buddhamas’. Anything that inspires us to see what is true and do what is good is proper practice. You may call it any name you like."