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Meditation |
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Meditation: What do the numbers tell us?
Kudos to Jeff Wilson, whose blog post at the end of December continues to inspire lively discussion. It’s a good bit of information to keep in mind that most Buddhists do not meditate; just like many of our Asian counterparts, we are often ignorant of other forms of Buddhist practice. Tibetans never referred to their dharma as “Tibetan dharma”; nor did Sri Lankans consider their dharma anything but dhamma. It is Western historical scholarship that began the study of comparative religion, and it is in the West where we find most forms of Buddhism thriving side by side. So it’s an excellent point Jeff makes: The forms of Buddhism most common among Western converts make up only a very thin slice of the global Buddhist pie. But do numbers matter? More » -
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What makes a Buddhist?
By view or practice Over the last decade, there has been a fascinating discussion about Buddhism for the West -- whether the Buddha's teachings should be adapted or imported with all the cultural trappings, whether we should all dressed up as Tibetans, Burmese monks and Zen masters, or whether it is our duty to create a new brand such as "American Buddhism." Since I'm supposed to be a spokesperson here for the Tibetan tradition, it brings up an interesting point: was there really a "Tibetan Buddhism"? I wonder. That branding sounds a bit like it was made by early explorers and travelers who simply described what they saw -- from the outside. You probably heard names like Lamaism, the Yellow and Red Hat Sect. Over three decades of spending time with Tibetan Buddhist teachers, I've never heard then use those names even once, except to make fun. More »
