Home › Magazine › Summer 2001 › Who's Zoomin' Who? The Commodification of Buddhism in the American Marketplace

Who's Zoomin' Who? The Commodification of Buddhism in the American Marketplace

Is consumerism the new American religion? Is the market itself determining not only the students, but the teachers of Buddhism?David Patt

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© A. TrayneAfter the Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, he walked the dusty roads to the Deer Park in Sarnath, where he delivered his first sermon, The Sutra of the Turning of the Wheel of Dharma. Here for the first time he described life’s conditions in terms of the Four Noble Truths, declaring desire, craving, “thirst” as the driving force that keeps us stuck in the mire of suffering called samsara.

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