Western Buddhism

“Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity” — Albert Einstein

The December 2005 issue of National Geographic caught my attention – There is an article about Buddhism in the West, titled Buddha Rising: Out of monastery, into the living room. I was rather surprised by the spread of Buddhism a year ago when I took a course, i.e. ASIAN 230 by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. The fact that there are temples and monasteries established in the States, especially in the West Coast really amazed me. (Recently, I got the chance to meditate with a master in a Zen temple at Ann Arbor). It’s interesting to see how Buddhism assimilates with American culture, providing alternative to other religions. Perry Garfinkel, the author of this article, writes how Buddhism gains Western followers to meditate and practice Buddhism in their daily life. Garfinkel did a great job in producing such an informative piece of writing. However, James Robson, who is a Buddhalogist, begs to differ. He claims that the writer is rather opinionated in some aspects of Buddhism.

By the way, I found an interesting flash that summarizes this article in the National Geographic website. I guess you need flash plug-in in order to watch this animation.