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Western Buddhism
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    Star Wars, Virtual Capitalism, and Western Buddhism Paid Member

    Posted by Alex Caring-Lobel on 05 Nov 2010
    What is Western Buddhism and why is it so damn popular—and important?  Pop culture critical theorist Slavoj Žižek offers some possible answers in his article "Revenge of Global Finance" in In These Times.  The article was published in 2005, but the bank failures of '08 and the following recession have imbued the insights presented in the article with a palpable potency.  Filtering both the Star Wars and global capitalist universes through Buddhist thought, Žižek explores how Western Buddhism might serve as the perfect ideological supplement to our current, distinctly Western predicament—for better or worse. More »
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    David Nichtern on the Future of Buddhism in the West Paid Member

    Posted by Monty McKeever on 18 Aug 2010
    VIA the Huffington Post, The essence of Buddhism, I think most Buddhists would agree, is to cultivate awareness and compassion and to explore our existence in an open and unbiased way. In some sense Buddhism has always been what we Westerners would consider a fusion of religion and science. There are no articles of faith, there is no dogma, nothing to believe without verification. Buddhism is considered a non-theistic tradition, and from that point of view it should mix well with scientific, technological and rationalist thought. Over the past 50 years or so, the Buddhist teachings have taken root (to a certain extent) in our Western culture. Many great teachers have worked hard to translate these teachings and practices into English and European languages and into forms that are accessible to Western students. More »
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    Diagramming Western Buddhism Paid Member

    Posted by Rachel on 13 Jul 2010
    Can a Venn diagram represent the relationship between Buddhism, the West, and Western Buddhism? The Buddha is My DJ recently posted an alternative from the traditional two-circle diagram. From DJ Buddha: a diagram [would] take into account the diversity of sub-cultures within the West (or America) and how those sub-cultures interact with and adapt a diversity of Buddhist traditions in dozens of complex ways. More »