Steve Jobs Was a Dharma Teacher Also

Steve Job's death yesterday came as a shock. We all knew he was dying, but were hoping that he would be a part of this world for a little while longer. As a tribute to him, I would like to share this video of him giving the Commencement Speech for the Stanford class of 2005.

I especially appreciated his story about death:

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

And I thought of the wisdom of another man, not famous like Steve, but just as wise . . . 

This is the truth.

 

Original Posted at:  http://minddeep.blogspot.com

American Buddhism facing generational shift

Norman Fischer, Jack Kornfield and Sylvia Wetzel at the Garrison Institute 

Buddhism's growth in the West has spurred a rich cross-fertilization among the great traditions. In this spirit, Buddhist teachers have met in support of one another on past occasions in the US, Dharamsala and Europe. During the 2011 Buddhist Teachers Council held at the Garrison Institute in June, 2011, Jack Kornfield, Sylvia Wetzel and Norman Fischer sat down to discuss the state of Buddhism in the West today. They spoke with Robert Gabriele, Chief Operating Officer at the Garrison Institute.

American Buddhism facing generational shift

By Rachel Zell, Associated Press, July 17, 2011

GARRISON, N.Y. (USA) -- Crosses still adorn one wall of this former Roman Catholic monastery, but a 6-foot golden Buddha now anchors the main room. The meditation hall, also used as a meeting space, is where the luminaries of Buddhism in the West recently gathered to debate.

<< Buddhist teachers meeting at Garrison, NY, June 2011

The issue they were facing had been percolating for years on blogs, in Buddhist magazines and on the sidelines of spiritual retreats. It often played out as a clash of elders versus young people, the preservers of spiritual depth versus the alleged purveyors of "Buddhism-lite." Organizers of the gathering wanted the finger-pointing to end. The future of American Buddhism was at stake, they said.

So on a sweltering day at the Garrison Institute, a Buddhist retreat overlooking the Hudson River, the baby boomers who had popularized the tradition in the West met with younger leaders to tackle their differences.

"How can those of us who were pioneers in the '60s and '70s, support them without getting in their way and let them know that they have our blessings and support?" said Jack Kornfield, a prominent Buddhist teacher who helped introduce mindfulness, or insight, meditation to the U.S. four decades ago.


Buddhism in America is at a crossroads. The best-known Buddhist leaders, mostly white converts who emerged from the counterculture and protest movements of the Vietnam era, are nearing retirement or dying. Charlotte Joko Beck, a pioneer of Zen practice in America, passed away in June.


The next generation of teachers is pushing in new directions, shaped by the do-it-yourself ethos of the Internet age and a desire to make Buddhism more accessible. Informal study groups are in; organizing around a single teacher is out. Unsettled elders worry that the changes could go too far and lose touch with tradition.

"It seems to be one of the facts of life right now, not only in Buddhism, but in religion in general: it's about mixing and matching," said Zoketsu Norman Fischer, a longtime Zen priest, scholar and poet affiliated with the San Francisco Zen Center. "The freedom people feel that they have to experiment — how do you prevent that from becoming consumerist or completely superficial or dangerous?"

It is a complex problem for a spiritual path with no ultimate worldwide authority such as a pope.

Within the United States, Buddhism is even more decentralized. Practices and beliefs that had developed in isolation from each other for centuries around Asia are side-by-side in North America, leading to sampling from different traditions. In Asia, monastics generally lead Buddhism in roles shaped partly by their monarchical societies; in the U.S., the teachers are mostly lay people. Beyond the Dalai Lama, Buddhism is best known in the United States not for any particular clergyman, ritual or liturgy, but through mindfulness-based stress reduction, which adapts strategies from vipassana, or insight medi tation.

Yet, a vein of conservatism runs through American Buddhist communities.

Many American Buddhist pioneers spent a decade or more studying with masters in Thailand, India, Burma and Nepal before returning home to take on students. On their websites, U.S. teachers post photos of themselves as young women in saris, or young men draped in robes, their heads cleanly shaven, on the steps of overseas monasteries. They are handing over leadership to the first convert Buddhist generation that was trained almost entirely in the West.

"The prior generation was modeled after the monastic model, where the old guy was the abbot," said the Rev. Jay Rinsen Weik, a recently ordained Zen priest, who leads the Toledo Zen Center in Ohio with his wife, Karen, who is also a Zen priest. "The last generation suffered from not being able to distinguish the personality of the guy and his dharma (teachings)."

At Weik's center in Toledo, he said, "people would never make that mistake," because they aren't conditioned to defer to one revered teacher.

For younger Americans, spending several years cloistered abroad, absorbing the cultural traditions of another country, seems not only unnecessary but counterproductive for reaching Westerners. Spring Washam, 37, a founding teacher of the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, which has brought Buddhism to poorer, more diverse neighborhoods, said the attendees at her center want support, connection and friendship.

"These people want to be happy in their lives," Washam said. "They're not going to be monastics."

One of the most startling developments for elders has been the formation of the Dharma Punx, who participated in the conference. The relatively new, popular movement mixes punk rock-inspired rebellion and Buddhism, seeing both as seeking freedom from suffering. Amid the grey hair and muted clothes of the attendees, the Dharma Punx stood out, with their tattoo-covered arms and T-shirts the color of traffic cones. The movement emerged from the work of Noah Levine, the son of American Buddhist author Stephen Levine. The younger Levine rediscovered Buddhism after a troubled youth; he and his colleagues have built a reputation for successfully bringing Buddhist practices into juvenile detention centers — a sign of the social activism that young Buddhists tie to their meditation practice.

"I'm all about adaptability," said Vinny Ferraro, a Dharma Punx teacher, who said it would make no sense for him to "go off to a cave" and meditate for years.

"What attracts people is relevance," he said. "Youth is suffering. These are prime suffering years, but I need it in my language."

Whatever the elders think of these new approaches, they know they need the energy young innovators are bringing to the communities.

In the 1980s and early '90s, few twenty- and thirtysomethings took up Buddhism. Leaders attributed the problem to a 1980s' backlash against spiritual seeking and society's focus in that era on accumulating wealth. (One Western convert at the Garrison Institute, who became a Tibetan monk, said that when he wore his robes in North America in the 1980s, he was treated like "a nut case.") Interest among young adults slowly grew in the last decade or so, but a still common complaint is that American Buddhists, outside of immigrant Asian communities, have been overwhelmingly older, wealthy and white.

Weik said he doesn't want Buddhist parents to feel they must leave their family behind when they practice. He and his wife started a Sunday dharma school for children as young as 4 years old, and they are trying to develop rites-of-passage for young adults so they feel included. Study groups are meeting online and newcomers are learning about mindfulness meditation through yoga.

Weik said he understood the concerns about the future of Buddhism, but he said the teachings have always had multiple expressions in different cultures.

"That's what's going on here," Weik said. "Our job collectively is to do what's always been done. To authentically make this up as we go."

Buddha, Buddha, who is "the Buddha"?

Bhikkhu Bodhi was born in New York in 1944. He received a B.A. from Brooklyn College and a Ph.D. in philosophy after moving to California to attend the Claremont Graduate School as he prepared to become a Theravada monk. He moved to the Washington Buddhist Vihara, a Sri Lankan temple. Eventually he moved to the island of Sri Lanka where he studied under an eminent and accomplished monk Ven. Ananda Maitreya.

Bhikkhu Bodhi learned Pali and continued his scholarship under the guidance of the German monks who had arrived a generation earlier. Ven. Nyanatiloka, who created the Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of terms and Doctrines, was the teacher of the German monk Ven. Nyanaponika. Ven. Nyanaponika founded and was editor of the prolific Buddhist Publication Society, before transferring that honor to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the greatest living translator of Buddhist texts.

While living in Washington, Bhikkhu Bodhi was often asked to teach, which impacted his practice. So he created a solution -- a mail order way to learn Buddhism. This was a ten tape series of lectures and accompanying material called The Buddha's Teaching: As It Is. "The Buddha" was the first tape in the series. More in the series may be found here (sobhana.net). After 25 years in Sri Lanka, he returned to the US and currently lives in Upstate New York, at a Buddhist temple called Chaung Yen Monastery, where he teaches and is able to continue his scholarship and English translations.

Original posted at:  Wisdom Quarterly

Seven Days in (Buddhist) Los Angeles

The City of Angels has far too much for Buddhists to do. May means Buddhist X-mas: The Buddha's birthday, great enlightenment (maha-bodhi), and final nirvana are all celebrated on the full-moon day in May.

With a growing number of Buddhist temples and communities, it is being celebrated in various cultural traditions throughout the month. (The Mahayana school celebrates the days over the year, but the older Theravada follows references in the sutras that point out the coincidence).

From May Day to Mother's Day to Labor Day, May is already busy on the American calendar. Add Asian American celebrations from Bangladeshi, Burmese, Cambodian, Indian, Indonesian, Laotian, Sri Lankan, and Thai communities (Theravada) to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese (Mahayana/Zen) communities to Bhutanese, Nepalese, and Tibetan (Vajrayana) communities, Los Angeles is awash in saffron, yellow, red, white, and, blue.

Then there are the ordinary spiritual events that fill the week, protests, concerts, and pretty soon there's hardly time for work, family, and TV. The last Saturday in May marks the last two Vesak/2600th Buddha Festival celebrations in the Los Angeles area.

• The California Bodhi Vihara (Indian Theravada from Chittagong, Bangladesh) is holding its opening ceremony in Long Beach with monks from many traditions, a Bodhi tree planting, exotic Thai and Cambodian dancers, and food galore.
• Orange County's Sri Lankan community will close out the month with a 1,000 person strong showing at 6:30 pm in the relatively new Anaheim temple.

Original posted at:  Wisdom Quarterly

Some Temporary ordinations.

In Burma and in Thailand it is very common for a man, especially a young man, to ordain as a monk temporarily, often for just a few days. This constitutes a completely valid ordination, going through all the steps, including shaving the head and beginning to wear the robes. But in this case the intention is not to remain a monk for long. Almost all Burmese men are ordained temporarily at some point, and of course many permanently. I don’t think there is temporary ordination for women, since ordination for nuns is a different kind of thing (that is quickly changing in the West, and in Sri Lanka). 

Last weekend I participated in a temporary ordination, and next weekend I will participate in another. Next weekend will involve three novices (under 20 years old) and five full monks (bhikkhus), and apparently they will live here at the Vihara for about a week. Interestingly I will be the senior monk from July 26 on, and so I will be responsible for offering them some training, scheduling meditation, etc.  An ordination is an Sangha Action, that is it is actually offered by a group of ordained monks, a sangha, who thereby accept new members.  So when I say I participated, it was as an existing member of a sangha.

I learned a couple of interesting new customs at last week’s ordination ceremony, which I would like to describe here. One is boat ordination, and the other is maidens offering the use of their hair.

A complicated aspect of ordination is that it, as an Act of a Sangha, has to take place within a clearly marked territory, called a sima. This is necessary because all monks within the sima are asked to participate, and monks outside of the sima are presumed to belong to other sanghas. It is all very legalistic. A sima can be a given monastery, it can also be something like the City of Maplewood, with its established boundaries. An ordination requires at least five fully ordained monks, so we generally need to assemble the sangha from more than one monastery, at least in the USA. One way to easily define a sima is simply to have the ordination on a boat, and declare the boat the sima. The acting sangha then consists of any monks who are on the boat. That is what we did last weekend for the temporary ordination ceremony.

We filled a power boat on one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes with monks, pushed away from shore and conducted the ordination in the boat. There is actually a part of an ordination ceremony  in which the ordainees and their teacher need to separate themselves from the existing sangha. This was accomplished by using a second boat, which is technically outside the sima of the first boat, but can be steered close enough for monks to hop from one boat to the other and back. Of course the whole scene was quite a curiosity for the other totally uninvolved people who had brought their boats to the lake to fish: a boat crowded with bald, burgundy-robed, chanting monks was more than they expected.

The second custom was enacted after the ordination, on shore. A lot of Burmese came to make offerings to the old and new monks. This takes the form of an alms round, with a long line of people offering various things like toothpaste, snacks, soap, flowers, finally culminating in a lunch lunch offered at a picnic table. The custom I had never seen before was enacted at the beginning of the alms round.

Three young women with long hair knelt, and leaning forward, their foreheads touching the grass, and their hair spread forward across the path the monks were about to walk on. The monks then began the alms round by walking on their hair!  I had to ask what this was about after the event.

Buddhist practice often involves many forms of ritual symbolic offerings. This is as true from my experience in Japanese Zen as in Burmese Theravada. A prime example is a food offering made to a Buddha statue. Such enactments in Buddhism, though symbolic, have a quite practical purpose: they bring forth positive states of mind which are reinforced through the mindfulness of ritual. So, for instance, although there is no Buddha actually there as a recipient to receive a food offering, the enactment of the donation creates merit for the donor. This means it actually helps the donors character develop karmically in a positive direction. This is the logic of symbolic offerings.

The maidens offering their hair in this way is apparently a reenactment of a Sir Walter Raleigh-like story of someone who did this with hair rather than with cloak, presumably for the Buddha so that he wouldn’t soil or dampen his feet. For the maidens it produces merit, as in a food offering. However in this case the offering is symbolic not because there are no recipients for the donation (we monks were the recipients), but rather because nothing was actually offered (our feet were in no real danger of becoming soiled for want of hair). Mostly the whole thing was fun. 

By Bhikkhucintita

Buddha & Eckhart: On Purity & Emptiness

"I never ask God to give himself to me; I beg him to purify, to empty me. If I am empty, God of his very nature is obliged to give himself to fill me." (All Eckhartian quotations taken from 'Meister Eckhart, From Whom God Hid Nothing,' edited by David O'Neal, pp.8 & 9)

When reading Eckhart from a Buddhist point of view, it's always worth reviewing what the word 'God' signifies in his writings. It does not mean some bearded anthropomorphic deity sat on a throne, nor does it indicate a kind of spiritual essence in any kind of airy-fairy way. For Eckhart, 'God' represents the personification of those positive qualities that are often merged in the word 'love.'  (Echoing St. John's statement, "God is love.") The flip-side of love is wisdom, and God can indicate this, as well. Moreover, the word 'God,' at least in Eckhart's eyes, personifies the absolute, or what the Buddha called the unconditioned, nirvana. This indefinable emptiness is, in many forms of Buddhism, also encapsulated in the form of a Buddha such as Amitabha. So, when we read the word 'God' in the passages below, it is profitable to beer in mind the above, otherwise we may well get caught up in doctrinal dichotomies which neither the Buddha nor Eckhart wished us to.

Now, with the above caution in mind, on to our reflections on Meister Eckhart's teachings; he writes that he never requests of God to give himself to Eckhart, but Eckhart be emptied of himself, so that God may then 'fill' him. This means being filled with those qualities that the word 'God' signifies: love and wisdom. Eckhart states that prior to being 'filled' with God, he must be purified, or, as he then puts it, empty. According to Eckhart, if we are emptied of our own (egoistic) selves, we are filled with God; that is to say, love and wisdom fill this void, and are thereafter its expression into the world. We become selfless, wise, and loving. How wonderful!  The Buddha also taught that to be emptied of any sense of self then results in both love and wisdom to arise. Usually Buddhists don't say the love, for this is associated with sexual or romantic forms of the emotion, but it can also signify compassion and kindness, both of which are lauded by the Buddha and his followers.

"How to be pure? By steadfast longing for the one good, God. How to acquire this longing? By self-denial and dislike of creatures. Self-knowledge is the way, for creatures are all nothing, they come to nothing with lamentation and bitterness. God being in himself pure good can dwell nowhere except in the pure soul. He overflows into her. Whole, he flows into her."

Buddhaghosa, the famous fifth-century commentator on the Buddha's teachings, wrote a book called the Visuddhimagga, which in English is normally rendered 'The Path of Purification.' This monumental work (and I have a translation of it, it is monumental in several definitions of that word, believe me!) describes the step-by-step progression towards enlightenment, which is derived from the teachings of the Buddha. Such detailed methodology is not found in Eckhart's work, for he came from a very different culture and tradition than Buddhaghosa, but there are parallels to be noted nonetheless. Eckhart believes that by having an intense longing for God - the personification of love, wisdom, and ultimately, 'nirvana' - we can be emptied of self and then be filled with God. This purification is done through self-denial and 'dislike of creatures.' Self-denial is a certainly found in Buddhism; it is not the free-for-all libertinism that some westerners have taken it to be in recent decades. There is a strong thread of morality and self-denial in the Buddhist Path of Purification, summed up in the five basic precepts of not killing, not stealing, not committing sexual misconduct, not lying, and not taking intoxicants. Buddhaghosa explores Buddhist morality in the Visuddhimagga, making it clear that this is the foundation of the Buddhist Way.

As to the 'dislike of creatures,' it is clear from this passage and others that Eckhart was not denying the Christian's duties towards his fellow humans (remember 'love thy neighbor'), but was specifically referring to the spiritual journey towards God. In this meditative state, the mind should not be focused on people and animals - or angels and demons, for that matter), but on God alone. This single-mindedness is capable of leading towards that emptiness that is then filled with God, probably akin to the mystical traditions found not only within the Christian tradition, but also in Sufism, Hinduism, Pure Land Buddhism, and Kabbalistic Judaism, to name but a few more. Indeed, in the two Sukhavativyuha Sutras, the Buddha instructs his disciples on how to be reborn in Amitabha Buddha's Pure land through devoted recitation of the latter Buddha's name. God, Allah, Jahweh, Krishna, Amitabha, etc. will flow into the empty mind of the devotee, and, according to Eckhart, it is all of the 'divine' that does so, not a part. This is the bliss of salvation/enlightenment.

"What does emptiness mean? It means attuning from creatures: the heart uplifted to the perfect good so that creatures are no comfort, nor is there any need of them except in that God, the perfect good, is to be grasped in them. The clear eye tolerates the mote no more than does the pure soul anything that clouds, that comes between. Creatures, as she enjoys them, are all pure, for she enjoys creatures in God and God in creatures. She is so clear she sees through herself; nor is God far to seek: she finds him in herself when in her natural purity she flows into the supernatural pure Godhead, where she is in God and God in her, and what she does, she does in God and God does it in her."

In this segment of text, Eckhart expands on what being empty means, He reiterates that no lasting comfort is to found in creatures, but adds that they do have value in that they too can be seen to be pure and full of God - unfortunately, most of them don't know it themselves, yet! This is akin to the Buddha saying that we do not gain anything through Buddhist practice, but rather empty ourselves of the fetters that prevent us from seeing our innate enlightened state: we are already enlightened, but we have yet to wake up to the fact! The purified soul 'sees through herself' and finds God within herself. Again, this is like the Buddhist that sees through his ego, discovers emptiness at his heart, and then realizes enlightenment/Buddha-nature. In this last part of the text, Eckhart uses a word that we nay not be so familiar with: Godhead. This aspect of God is without form or any particulars whatsoever. it is not the personification of love, wisdom, or anything else, however laudable. It is the emptiness that lies beyond every sense of individuality, including God's. In the experience of Godhead - we may easily use the word Buddhahead also - 'she is in God and God in her.' And whatever is done by her is done by God and vice versa. This is the unity of true salvation/enlightenment, and reveals the essential union between the teachings of the Buddha and Eckhart.

Source: Buddha Space

31 Planes of Existence (charts)

Susan Elbaum Jootla (Buddhist Publication Society, Wheel 414/416)

Tibetan mandala Kalachakra cosmogony (buddismnews.blogspot.com)

The Buddhist universe consists of thirty-one planes of existence (see chart). Every being lives on one or another of these planes. After death all beings, except arahants, will be reborn in a realm and under circumstances that accords with their karma — their volitional actions of body, speech, and mind willed and accumulated in that or any previous existence.

The lowest area (Planes 1-11) is called the Sensuous Sphere; sense experience predominates. Next comes the Fine-material Sphere (12-27) attained by practicing the fine-material absorptions (rupa-jhanas). Above that is the Immaterial Sphere (28-31) attained by practicing the immaterial absorptions (arupa-jhanas).

Although humans appear to be rather low on the scale, many intelligent deities long for rebirth on this plane. Why? The human world provides the best opportunity to practice the Dharma and attain liberation: On the lower four planes, little progress can be made because suffering is gross and unrelenting and the opportunity to perform deeds of merit is rarely gained. The very bliss of the higher planes beclouds the universal characteristics of all phenomena (impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and the lack of any lasting, controlling self). And without fully comprehending these principles, there is no motivation to develop the detachment from the Round of Rebirth that is essential to liberation.

Sources: Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: http://wisdomquarterly.blogspot.com/2009/10/31-planes-of-existence-chart.html

Scouting in the Buddhist Community

Background

• In 2008, Buddhism was the third-largest religion in the United States behind Christianity and Judaism.
  (Source: 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, Pew Forum)
• Approximately 2.1 million people practice Buddhism in the United States. Of those, 75-80% are of
  Asian descent and inherited Buddhism as a family tradition, 20-25% are non-Asians.
• 2009 Boy Scout of America Buddhist membership included:
• 748 Cub Scouts from 24 packs
• 807 Boy Scouts from 29 troops
• 60 Venturers from 8 crews

Religious Principles and Key Terms

• Goal: Enlightenment through understanding of the reasons and causes of suffering.
• Essential elements: Awareness of impermanence and of oneself and compassion toward others.
• Fundamental doctrine of Buddhism is the Four Noble Truths, which are:
• Noble Truth of Suffering
• Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering
• Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering
• Noble Truth of the Path that leads to the Cessation of Suffering
• The last of the Four Noble Truths is also referred to as the Noble Eightfold Path, and includes the
  practice of:
• Right Views
• Right Thoughts
• Right Speech
• Right Conduct
• Right Livelihood
• Right Effort
• Right Mindfulness
• Right Meditation

Role of Scouting in Buddhism

• Founded in 1899, Buddhist Churches of America is an incorporated religious organization.
• It administers the religious emblems program for all Buddhist denominations in America.
• It is affiliated with Jodo Shinshu Hogwanjiha in Kyoto, Japan.
• Buddhist Churches of America is governed by Americans of the Shin Buddhist faith through a Board of Directors comprised of the:
• Bishop
• Board President
• Ministerial Association Chairperson
• District-level board members
• Board members-at-large
• Representatives from the recognized Buddhist Churches of America affiliated organization
• Buddhist Churches of America National Committee on Scouting works with the community Buddhist religious leaders to develop the Buddhist religious program.

Scouting Youth and Adult Recognitions

• According to P.R.A.Y., in 2007, the Buddhist youth and adult recognitions were used by:
• 50 Cub Scouts
• 7 Boy Scouts
• Any registered Scout or Scout leader who has fulfilled all of the requirements can receive the following recognitions.

Youth Emblems

	Metta Emblem
	Purpose Nurtures boys to relate to all things with loving kindness and goodwill
	Eligibility Buddhist Cub Scouts or non-Buddhist Cub Scouts with parental permission who have been involved in Cub Scouts at least three months
	Requirements Completion of 12 hours of instruction, normally meeting once a week for an hour over three months

	Sangha Emblem
	Purpose Stresses the importance of both harmonious relationships and the universal brotherhood of all living beings
	Eligibility Buddhist Boy Scouts or Venturers who are either at least a First Class Scout or have been involved in Venturing at least one year
	Requirements Completion of 72 hours of instruction, normally meeting once a week for an hour over two years

Adult Emblem

	Bodhi Emblem
	Purpose Recognizes adults who have demonstrated the highest level of dedication, commitment, and self-sacrifice of the spiritual development of Buddhist members of the Boy Scouts of America
	Eligibility Adult ministers, Buddhist/non-Buddhist laypersons, and adult leaders in Scouting who have: At least five or more years of outstanding service Rendered noteworthy service to youth Promoted the Religious Awards programs for Buddhist boys and girls, and encouraged non- Buddhists to participate in the Religious Award programs of their own faith Given notable service in promoting Buddhist activities and service projects for the Temple/church and shown willingness to serve on affiliated committees Participated in activities which contribute to the spiritual development of Buddhist members Fostered a good relationship with the Boy Scouts and proven capable of interpreting Buddhist programs to council members Given notable service in initiating Boy Scout programs under Buddhist sponsorship Through Buddhist and other communication media, helped ministers and lay persons have a better understanding of the goals and ideals of the Boy Scout program
	Requirements Nomination application and letter supporting the nominee from the Temple/church Board of Directors President must be submitted to the Buddhist Churches of America National Scouting Committee

Organizational Information

• For more information, contact your local Buddhist temple or:
• Write the National Buddhist Committee on Scouting, Buddhist Churches of America, 701 East Thrift Ave., Kingsland, GA 31548-5222; phone: 912-729-6323; fax: 912-729-1699.
• Web page: http://bcascout.webs.com/index.html
• Hawaii office: Hompa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, 1727 Pali Highway, Honolulu, HI 96813; phone: 808-522-9200

Source: Boy Scouts of America

Why I’m a Buddhist

JIM BARCUS/The Kansas City Star
Faith Walk portrait of Marc Robinson. JIM BARCUS/The Kansas City Star

Some years ago, I bumped into a classmate I hadn’t seen in a long time. He had a lot to say, so mostly I listened, but his personal stories were only the lead-in. Soon he switched to his faith and spent hours trying to bring me to Jesus.

This was not the first such lecture I’ve endured. The worst was the day my wife and I were married, and the minister spent the morning evangelizing us. Those hours were among the most uncomfortable of my life, and I got through them only because I had to in order to be joined to the woman I wanted to spend my life with.

My aversion to being recruited goes back a long way. My mother was Catholic. My father was an atheist. I attended both parochial and secular schools, and they taught conflicting histories. The result was that I started asking questions, and none of the answers was satisfactory. More to the point, I discovered that I wasn’t capable of posing meaningful questions about “God” and other matters infinitely larger than my limited brain.

If I couldn’t ask such questions properly, then I couldn’t answer them, either. I concluded that questions about God are unproductive.

I am now neither believer, nor atheist, nor agnostic. I grant that saying “I can’t know, so I won’t bother” is choosing the path of least resistance; it only rationalizes my failure. But billions of people, including atheists, claim to have the truth, and they can’t agree with each other even when they share a creed. Sunnis kill Shiites, and Catholics see Protestants as dissenters from the true dogma. Mormons claim to be Christian, but Christians don’t agree.

So whom should I believe? Like an Italian in the voting booth, I have too many parties from which to choose.

I became a Buddhist because Buddhism maintains silence on the subject of God, and because it matches my experience more closely than any other religion. I’m unorthodox, though. You might call me the Buddhist equivalent of a cafeteria Catholic. My beliefs are so varied and uncertain that it’s difficult to explain them. Even if I wanted to convert someone, I couldn’t — and I don’t want to. I only ask that others extend me the same consideration.

Source: Kansas City

From Thought to Destiny: the eBook

By bhikkhucintita

Traditional and Modern Understandings of Kamma

click to download PDF

Monasticism in Upstate New York

Living the monastic life in upstate New York
(The Daily Star) It was only in the last century that Eastern Orthodox, and even Roman Catholic, parents considered it a great blessing to have at least one child become a monastic and dedicate him or her to spirituality. However, in today's society most people would not consider joining a monastic order have their children become a monastic. Most people do not understand monasticism, finding it foreign and weird. When I was Roman Catholic and in my teens, I considered monasticism. I started to take the idea really seriously after I read Fyodor Dostoyevsky's book The Brothers Karamazov and was introduced to the character of the Elder Father Zosima.

Chinese soldiers in Tibet given monk's robes with orders to incite rioting

The Buddhist Association of the United States

There is a massive Buddhist abbey near Carmel, New York. It combines the best elements of Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism. It is a nunnery, monastery, teaching place for scholars (like Bhikkhu Bodhi), a meditation retreat center, a visitor's center, world-class library, as well as a place that serves the cultural needs of Chinese/Taiwanese Buddhists on the East Coast. BAUS also houses perhaps the largest Buddha statue in the Western hemisphere. Moreover, its volunteers do the extremely important work of distributing books (including rare classic titles) from all Buddhist schools. This service is free. And the books are free. That is, they are paid for by magnanimous donors interested in Dharma dana, making a gift of the Dharma that the Buddha emphasized "excels all other kinds of gifts."

 

Source:  Wisdom Quarterly

Boomer Buddhism (Then and Now)

Stephen Prothero (Salon.com, 2001)

American converts are taking a 2,600-year-old faith and making it over in their own image -- self-absorbed.

As anyone who hasn't spent the last few years meditating in a cave in Asia knows, American Buddhism is booming. The 1990s saw three Buddhist movies and a gaggle of celebrity Buddhist pitchmen, including Beastie Boy Adam Yauch and actor Richard Gere. 

The United States is now home to at least a million not-so-famous Buddhists as well, most of them new immigrants from Asia. But Buddhism is also popular among hip Americans who have never attended a Zen center or visualized a Tibetan mandala.

Typically these sympathizers get their Buddhism, as beat author Jack Kerouac did, from books. Buddhist bestsellers used to come along once a decade: Kerouac's Dharma Bums in the '50s, Philip Kapleau's Three Pillars of Zen in the '60s, and Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind in the '70s.

American Buddhism is far more practical (meditative) and cerebral (study) than Asia's devotional and ceremonial customs. But even Asia has seen a great upsurge in lay meditation practice (Wisdom Quarterly).

 

Today they materialize monthly, along with more evanescent titles like Zen and the Art of Screenwriting (really). Demand for Buddhist books has turned many teachers into stand-alone brands with remarkable marketing muscle. 

 

The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh are the Coke and Pepsi of this Buddhist generation. But homegrown brands such as Jack Kornfield and Lama Surya Das can also move 100,000 tomes without getting off their zafus.

James William Coleman is not a major brand, and his The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition is not destined for the bestseller list. It does shed light, however, on today's oddly bookish Buddhist vogue. 

 

Coleman is a sociologist and a Buddhist, so it's not surprising that he supports his sympathy for American Buddhism with a survey. His book focuses on a small minority of American-born converts and sympathizers rather than the immigrants and their children who make up three-quarters of American Buddhists.

These "new Buddhists," as he calls them, patronize four types of Buddhist groups:

1. Zen centers [Japanese Mahayana]
2. Tibetan Buddhist centers [Vajrayana]
3. Vipassana ("insight meditation") centers [Theravada]
4. unaffiliated, nonsectarian centers

Most are baby boomers, almost all are white, and all practice meditation, which sets them apart from the members of Sokka Gakkai International-USA (a group that prefers chanting [Nam-myoho-renge-kyo] to meditation), the largest Buddhist organization in the United States and the only Buddhist group that attracts significant numbers of blacks and Hispanics. More>>

Boomer Buddhism Now
Dhr. Seven (Wisdom Quarterly, 2011)
A decade later, Buddhism in America continues to grow. Even if many Western practitioners are reluctant to label themselves "Buddhist" (or much of anything else), they have adopted the Dharma and tried to make the Buddha's teachings their own. 

Meditation is on everyone's mind (although not necessarily on everyone's Day Planner). Brain research, yoga regimens, breathing lessons, workshops, CDs, and the "Zen" of everything motivates us to undertake The Quest in earnest.

What do we hope to achieve in our quest? Enlightenment, of course! But not so fast. The largest Buddhist movements are Mahayana (devotional Chinese, stripped down Japanese, ceremonial Tibetan). And their messianic message, awaiting the Maitreya, often discourage enlightenment and stress salvation -- saving others that is. We have socially engaged Buddhism, the cultivation of perfections

This is most poignantly seen in the Heart Sutra ("Perfection of Wisdom") and its continuing popularity. Next to no one studies the profound Doctrine of Anatta and the Five Aggregates to understand the meaning of the words most regard as just a mantra to chant).

That is not the self-sufficiency the historical Buddha emphasized (being a lamp unto oneself and seeking guidance not from teachers but from the Dharma directly). Even these oldest existing Buddhist school, Theravada, does little to promote lay meditation, presumably reserving it for monastics and retreatants. 

Enormous lay-practitioner movements (Goenka and U Ba Khin in Burma and India, Dhammakaya and Buddhadasa in Thailand, and Ayya Khema and Bhikkhu Bodhi in Sri Lanka, etc.) have pushed meditation out of the abbeys and into people's living rooms and centers. 

America's greatest contribution to the Dharma has not only been to continue the pioneering work of Western translators and publishers (like the Pali Text Society, Buddhist Publication Society, Wisdom Publications, and Pariyatti Press) but to restore women to their rightful position within the tradition. The Buddha included women early on and stated that his Dispensation would not be complete until women were ordained and practicing on par with men.

"This Week in God" (classic American spirituality videos)

 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
This Week in God - Faith Off
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
This Week In God - Scientology
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

Source: Wisdom Quarterly

Famous people include American President praise Buddhism

(wikipedia)

Philip Kotler (1931- ) "My approach is influenced by Zen. Zen emphasizes learning by means of meditation and direct, intuitive insights. The thoughts in this book are a result of my meditations on these fundamental marketing concepts and principles." (Marketing Insights from A to Z)

(wikipedia)

Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004) "One thing that Buddhism teaches you is that every moment is an opportunity to change. "

(wikipedia)

Stephan R Covey (1932- ) About 6th habit (it is conclusion of this book) "Buddhism calls this "the middle way." Middle in this sense does not mean compromise; it means higher, like the apex of the triangle." (Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pepole)

(wikipedia)

Uma Thurman (1970-) "Buddhism has had a major effect on who I am and how I think about the world."

Scientists praise Buddhism

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) "If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism."

(wikipedia)

Niels. Bohr (1885-1962) "For a parallel to the lesson of atomic theory . . . [we must turn to those kinds of epistemological problems with which already thinkers like the Buddha and Lao Tzu have been confronted, when trying to harmonize our position as spectators and actors in the great drama of existence." (Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge)

(wikipedia)

Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) "The great scientific contribution in theoretical physics that has come from Japan since the last war may be an indication of a certain relationship between philosophical ideas in the tradition of the Far East and the philosophicalSchrodinge" (Physics and Philosophy)

(wikipedia)

Julius Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) "The general notions about human understanding... which are illustrated by discoveries in atomic physics are not in the nature of things wholly unfamiliar, wholly unheard of, or new. Even in our own culture they have a history, and in Buddhist and Hindu thought a more considerable and central place. What we shall find is an exemplification, an encouragement, and a refinement of old wisdom.'" (Science and the Common Understanding)

Psychologists praise Buddhism

Paul Ekman (1934-) "Buddhist conceptions and practices that deal with emotional life make three very distinct contributions to psychology. Conceptually, they raise issues that have been ignored by many psychologists, calling on the field to make more finely nuanced distinctions in thinking about emotional experience. Methodologically, they offer practices that could help individuals report on their own internal experiences, and such practices might thereby provide crucial data that is much more detailed and comprehensive than that gathered by the techniques psychologists now use to study subjective emotional experience. Finally, Buddhist practices themselves offer a therapy, not just for the disturbed, but for all who seek to improve the quality of their lives. We hope what we have reported will serve to spark the interest of psychologists to learn more about this tradition." (Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being)

John R. O'neil He is president of the California School of Professional Psychology and a member of the boards of the Social Venture Network and California Leadership. He advises major corporations and CEOs on planning, leadership, and organizational health. "Perhaps more important was the fact that "real men" who had sneered at meditation found out that their hard-as-nails Japanese competitors used it regularly. So more and more persons in mainstream careers began to study Buddhism and other Eastern teachings and to practice meditation, and weekend retreats incorporationg meditation gew in popularity." (Paradox of Success)

Jeffrey M. Schwartz He is a professor of the UCLA. "We talked, too, about how both quantum physics and classical Buddhism give volition and choice a central role in the workings of the cosmos....According to the Buddha's timeless law of Dependent Origination, it is because of volition that consciousness keeps arising throughout endless world cycles. And it is certainly true that in Buddhist philosophy one's choice is not determined by anything in the physical, material world.... So in both quantum physics and Buddhist philosophy, volition plays a special, unique role." (The Mind and the Brain)

Philosophers praise Buddhism

(wikipedia)

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) "The history of the world travels from East to West, for Europe is absolutely the end of history, Asia is the beginning." (The Philosophy of History)

(wikipedia)

James Allen (1864-1912) "Buddha beheld the vision of a spiritual world of stainless. beauty and perfect peace, and he entered into it." (As a man thinkth)

Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) "In Buddha and Buddhism there flows a source which we Westerners have not tapped, and consequently there is a limit to our understanding. We must first of all acknowledgh that Buddhism is far removed from us and renounce all quick, easy ways of coming closer to it. To participate in the essence of Buddha's truth, we should have to cease to be what we are." "The fact that Buddha's life was possible and that Buddhist life has been a reality in various parts of Asia down to our own dsay -- this is a great and important fact." "It points to the questionable essence of man." (THE GREAT PHILOSOPHERS)

(wikipedia)

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) "Buddhism is a hundred times as realistic as Christianity. Buddhism is the only genuinely positive religion to be encountered in history." (THE ANTICHRIST)

Writers praise Buddhism

Daniel Pink "Science and Buddhism are bery similar,"... "because they are exploring the nature of reality, and both have the goal to lessen the suffering of mankind." (A WHOLE NEW MIND)

Alan Wilson Watts (1915-1973) "The Buddha was a very skillful psychologist, and he is in a way the first psychotherapist in history, a man of tremendous understanding of the wiles and the deviousness of the human mind." (The Philosophies of Asia)

(wikipedia)

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) "fragrant myth of Gotama, the Buddha, the wise man of the family of Sakya. He possessed, so the believers said, the highest enlightenment, he remembered his previous lives, he had reached the nirvana and never returned into the cycle, was never again submerged in the murky river of physical forms. Many wonderful and unbelievable things were reported of him, he had performed miracles, had overcome the devil, had spoken to the gods. But his enemies and disbelievers said, this Gotama was a vain seducer, he would spent his days in luxury, scorned the offerings, was without learning, and knew neither exercises nor self-castigation." (Siddhartha)

Leo Nikolayevitch Tolstoy (1828-1910) "To life in the consciousness of the inevitability of suffering, of becoming enfeebled, of old age and of death, is impossible - we must free ourselves from life, from all possible life," says Buddha. And what these strong minds said has been said and thought and felt by millions upon millions of people like them. And I have thought it and felt it. (A CONFESSION)

(wikipedia)

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (1917-) "Of the faiths that had existed before the coming of the Overlords, only a forn~ of purified Buddhism-perhaps the most austere of all religions-still survived." (Childhood's End) Buddhism will spread to the West.

(wikipedia)

Arnold J Toynbee (1889-1975) "The coming of Buddhism to the West may well prove to be the most important event of the Twentieth Century."

Copyright (c) '08-'10 The Meaning of Life in Buddhism all rights reserved.|

Cher a Buddhist ‘who should always be in after-school detention’

By Robin Leach, June 9, 2010

Las Vegas, USA -- Superstar entertainer Cher has said she is now a Buddhist, but added with characteristic self-deprecation, “who should always be in after-school detention.”
In an interview with Architectural Digest, the record-breaking Caesars Palace headliner shows off her spectacular 4,000 square-foot, two-floor “apartment” perched high above L.A. The magazine describes it as an irrepressible mix of spirituality and spunk.

“My houses,” Cher muses, “are passions.” They also are decorative barometers of the state of her never-boring, ever-expanding consciousness.

“I’ve played around with Buddhism for years,” continues the actress, a devotee of the American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron. “The soul of the universe, everything that I need, I can find in its practice.” Cher turned to friend and interior designer Martyn Lawrence-Bullard to help her conjure “something ethnic, spicy and romantic” in creams, ivories, whites and buttery beiges.

“Though I loved collecting Gothic and can spend hours drawing with every shade of Pantone pen, I prefer a neutral palette, especially in my bedrooms, because the colors are so easy to live with.”

Source: The Buddhist Channel

Angelina Jolie on Religion & the Meaning of Life

Angelina Jolie (b. 1975) is an American actress known for her exotic beauty, wild-child image, award-winning acting, and more recently, her globe-trotting humanitarian work with refugees, her growing international family, and her high-profile relationship with Brad Pitt.  Angelina Jolie was born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975 in Los Angeles, California.

Angelina Jolie does not identify herself with any single religion, nor has she declared herself an atheist (contrary to the claims of some atheist websites {5}). The subject of religion has not often come up in her interviews, so her beliefs about such things as God and the afterlife are not well documented. 

The most direct statement Jolie is known to have made on the subject was reported by the website A.V. Club (associated with the online magazine The Onion), which asked a number of celebrities the question, "Is there a God?" and published the answers from 52 of them in a September 2000 feature story. Angelina Jolie gave the following answer:

Hmm... For some people. I hope so, for them. For the people who believe in it, I hope so. There doesn't need to be a God for me. There's something in people that's spiritual, that's godlike. I don't feel like doing things just because people say things, but I also don't really know if it's better to just not believe in anything, either. {6}

So at least in 2000, Angelina Jolie had no specific religious beliefs, didn't personally feel the need for a God and disliked authority-based religion, but was not willing to go so far as atheism and expressed hope that there might be a God for the sake of those who dedicate their lives to religious belief.

Angelina Jolie regards Buddhism as an important part of her son's Cambodian heritage and considers him a Buddhist. She has said, "We spend a lot of time [at our house in Cambodia]. And I’m learning about Buddhism and I’m teaching him what I can. He spent a lot of time in temples with monks and he's learning." {7}
 
Shortly after adopting Maddox, Angelina tattooed a prayer for protection for him on her upper back in Khmer script (left). She said, "I asked for it to be done in Buddhist Sanskrit, which is part of (Maddox's) history." {8}

Jolie with earthquake survivors in Pakistan, November 2005.

Some have speculated that Angelina Jolie is now a Buddhist (rumor also has it that Angelina and Brad had a Buddhist marriage ceremony), but she has not indicated a commitment to Buddhism more than any other faith. In fact, she seems to take a United-Nations inspired approach to her family, and perhaps, to her religion. She is reported as saying,

"I have a Buddhist son and I'd like a Christian and a Muslim child, too." {9}

Aside from any particular religion, Angelina Jolie has given a great deal of thought to the meaning of life, something she has been searching for with great intensity since childhood, as well as considerations of morality.

Having first found happiness in acting, and then in her marriage to Billy Bob, Angelina Jolie now finds meaning and contentment in her children and her ongoing work with refugees.

Question: Have you learned any important lessons since you became an ambassador, and if so what are they?
Angelina: I've become a better human being. I've learned the strength of the human spirit. I see different aid workers in camps helping each other from everywhere - people who have come together from all over the world to help people in Africa. It's changed my view of what is important. I'm not so concerned with things I used to be so concerned with. I care now that my son is healthy. I feel that I'm of some use to other people in the world. {10}


I've been traveling for the last three years and the last two I've been goodwill ambassador. I initially set out because I wanted to learn about what’s going on in the world and wanted to become a better person and simply educate myself. When I found I could be useful in communicating what I had learned and maybe inspire other people to educate themselves and do some good, it made me so happy and gave me a sense of purpose.

Angelina Jolie in a refugees camp in Tanzania on behalf of the UNHCR.

I’ve learned more about life from refugees and people that are the survivors from around the world than anywhere else. I admire them. I’ve learned about family and just respect them so much and have seen so many horrible things and seen so much survival and so much beauty in these people. So they’ve changed my life and I hope to keep working with them and do what I can to raise awareness. {12}

I want to fill my mind with valid issues in the world. I'd like there to be less refugees. I'd like all girls to go to school. That's what we need to be thinking about, and working on making our own families good and strong and our own kids happy. Not to cloud our minds with things that don't matter." {13}

"I've been crazy in my life, and I've been wild in my life, I've never been a bad person. I've never intentionally hurt other people just to hurt them. And I'm trying to do a lot of good things with my life." {14}

I love films, but I'm more aware of being a parent now and I'm more aware of the world now. I spend as much time as I can in a day trying to educate myself and travel whenever I possibly can. I'm grateful to be able to live in both. It's increasingly harder to come back into a world that is focused on material possessions...when you've just spent time doing something you feel is much more important. {15}

 To read full article, please go to this link: http://www.religionfacts.com/celebrities/angelina_jolie.htm

Buddhist Stars: Eastern Thought Popular Among Many Of Hollywood's Brightest

By Anna Argasinski

Buddhist monk turned professor, Robert Thurman, doesn't find the trend of celebrities becoming Buddhist all that out of the ordinary. Celebrities have fewer illusions than the rest of us, who still imagine that worldly success is going to solve all of our problems. Thurman, who was ordained in 1964 by Terin Gyatso, the current Dalai-Lama, is now a professor of Indo-Tibetan studies at Columbia University where he is chairman of the department of religion. Thurman claims he didn't make much progress as a monk. "(In America) I learned to deal with the nitty-gritty. It's comparatively easy to be a monk in a quiet monastery, but much harder to engage in Buddhism with all the noise of the world."

Celebrity Buddhists, Thurman contends, are in a very interesting position to practice Buddhism. They've already achieved great fame, success and wealth, and they've realized that those things alone can't bring happiness, that, in fact, they can be a real pain. Many of these stars have looked to Buddhism because it urges and helps them to look inside themselves for treasures and pleasures, rather than depending on some sort of external success for gratification.

Buddhism is a relatively modern term. The body of spiritual doctrine and practice to which it refers has generally been known on its own ground in countries across Asia as the Buddha Dharma, which is best translated as "way of the Buddha." This teaching came from one young man who woke up from life's melodrama and was thereafter called the Buddha, the awakened one.

Tibetan Buddhism may be alluring to celebrities because it confronts egotism. Stars see Buddhism as a critique of the conventional notion of a rigid, unchangeable identity. Furthermore, Tibetan Buddhism is firmly bound in disciplines of the imagination. Because celebrities tend to be "artsy" types who are interested in exploring their creativity, Buddhism often appeals to them over more traditionalized Western forms of religion. Also, potential devotees aren't required to undergo a religious conversion to benefit from the teachings.

In Asian countries, where Buddhism is much more prevalent, the philosophy is not so much a religion of the masses. It is kept alive by a monastic elite, who spread their influence by teaching and example. So, too, in America, with the difference that the equivalent class here consists of movie stars and rock musicians, who can spread their message through movies and television.

Richard Gere is one such celebrity. Richard Gere makes his admiration for the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader in exile, well known. Gere periodically retreats to Tibet to brush up on his Buddhism. While there, the actor enjoys a very different existence than he does in Hollywood. According to Gere, he has a simple room and has to share a bathroom. There is a limited supply of water and no television, air conditioning or newspapers. Self-prescribed torture? For Gere, as he explains it, this is his time to relax, to meditate, to release.

For Adam Yauch, front-man for the rap group the Beastie Boys, Buddhism become a way to combine traditional religion with an eastern way of thought. The 27-year-old Jewish-born rapper wants to maintain his Jewish traditions and calls the conversion spiritual, rather than religious. Yauch, who was formerly known more for his sneering sarcasm than his religious preferences, returned from a 1993 trip to the Himalayas with an interest in Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. The two other members of the Beastie Boys, Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz, have accepted his conversion.

The Beastie Boys have even donated proceeds from two songs on Ill Communication to a Tibetan relief organization established by the group. Their latest project is the Bodhisattva Vow, a rap tribute to the austere virtues of the Buddha Way.

Despite his reputation as an angry, self-described provocateur, director Oliver Stone also claims he has now attained a degree of spiritual tranquillity. Some signs of Stone's newly found mellowness can be found in his approach to the criticism surrounding his January 1996 film, "Nixon". Before its opening, the late president's daughters condemned the movie as a piece of character assassination.

Since then, almost every official who served in the Nixon administration and a number of historians and neutral observers have made similar attacks. Although Stone has not shrunk from defending his work, his responses have been far more measured than in the past. Stone has even suggested that a symposium be held on the late president's image. Stone's transformation can undoubtedly be linked to his relationship with Korean immigrant, Chong Son Chon, with whom he's raising a 3-year-old daughter, Tara, in the Buddhist tradition.

But perhaps the most successful example of Buddhist philosophy at work can be found in the story of Chicago Bulls Coach Phil Jackson. Jackson, who has led the Bulls to numerous NBA titles and recently became the first coach to lead his team to 70 wins in one season, will surely be named as one of the most successful coaches in history. The Bulls most prominent players Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen and Dennis Rodman, as well as an odd assortment of projects and castoffs, are managed through Jackson's new age philosophy. Using a mixture of American Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism, Coach Phil Jackson has managed to keep the disparate elements of the team playing in harmony.

His approach emphasizes awareness, compassion and selfless team play to achieve victory. Jackson believes that the essence of teamwork is interconnectedness and selflessness in action. One of the most important characteristics of a leader, he concedes, is to listen without making judgments. In order to create a true team and build an acceptable level of trust, one must have intimacy and an open forum where every member can fully express his thoughts and feelings. Jackson uses this concept of mindfulness to assist his players in paying exact attention to what is happening on the court moment by moment. Jackson encourages his players to practice Buddhist philosophy off the court as well. He teaches players meditation so they can relax more fully. Meditation allows his players to make the correct decisions during extremely tense and chaotic times on the basketball court, Jackson contends.

Despite all of these famous adherents to the Buddhism, the actual number of Buddhist practitioners in America remains small. CNYU professor Seymour Lachman, co-author of "One Nation Under God," counted only 800,000 last year, although some Buddhist scholars think there may be four or five times that number, considering recent immigrants from Southeast Asia and the high incident of new converts.

Buddhism, though, may turn out to be a hard sell, especially compared with the religions Americans are more familiar with. Christianity is a faith whose first, and in some cases, only requirement is belief and acceptance of salvation through Christ; Buddhism is a lifelong process of seeking enlightenment. It is a religion without a god, or an afterlife, or a concept of the soul. Buddhism is the search for the nature of the self, which ends in the realization there is no self, that all the beings and objects of the world are manifestations of the same reality. Getting 12 professional basketball players to understand they're no different from anyone else surely was one of the more daunting challenges in the history of religion.

Still, people come. In America no spiritual quest need go unfulfilled for very long. Eastern religions long ago lost their association with rebellious youth and now seems to attract, besides celebrities, mostly educated people in their 30s and 40s. Many of them are Hyphenated Buddhists, clinging to the comfort of their original faiths while adapting elements of the Buddhism they find attractive. They find much to attract them: color, spectacle, incense and harmonious chants, as well as the wisdom and serenity that is readily applicable in everyday life.

Perhaps induced by the tidal wave of celebrity Buddhists, a new and distinctly American Buddhism is taking shape around the country: egalitarian (women, who are generally subservient in Asian tradition, are allowed to rise in the hierarchy in American temples), technologically advanced (American Buddhism has arrived complete with web pages and CD-ROMs on meditation) and sophisticated about the modes of power in American life (many temples work together with environmental and charity organizations). It remains to be seen whether Buddhism in the Western tradition is merely a passing fad or a powerful new tradition. But its influence on individuals, especially those in the limelight, cannot be overstated. Just ask Phil Jackson and the Chicago Bulls. 

Source:  http://unbound.intrasun.tcnj.edu/archives/lifestyle/old/buddha.html