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BOB ABERNETHY: Now, the second part of
our series on the Buddhist phenomenon in America. Maureen Bunyan has
been following the story. Maureen.
MAUREEN BUNYAN: Bob, we ask a couple of
questions, including how is Buddhism being practiced in this country,
and is there a uniquely American brand of Buddhism taking place? Some
of the pre-eminent voices on the subject help us understand American
Buddhism today.
HELEN TWORKOV (Editor, TRICYCLE
Magazine): There's a great deal of Buddhist activity in America, but I
think it's far too soon to talk about American Buddhism.
Prof. ROBERT THURMAN (Professor of Buddhist Studies, Columbia
University): I don't think there will be any quintessentially American
Buddhism. In fact, I wonder if there was anything quintessentially
American, period. Or maybe that's what's quintessentially American,
that we're pluralistic and we're multifaceted.
BUNYAN: In its 2,500-year history,
Buddhism has spread to many lands. Today, it is the fourth largest
religion in the world. In each nation it touched, from India, then
throughout Asia, Buddhism adapted itself to the local culture. In the
past century, Buddhism has taken root here in the West, and as it
encounters western cultural traditions, the practice of Buddhism is
being transformed in uniquely American ways.
NORMAN FISCHER (Co-Abbot, San Francisco
Zen Center): Certainly the flavor of Green Gulch, if you show up here,
you feel very American, and not only American, very California.
BUNYAN: Green Gulch is a Zen Buddhist
center nestled in the hills of Northern California near San Francisco.
Forty to 50 residents practice meditation and farm the land. Another
500 people a year come to stay for retreats and classes. And Green
Gulch is open on Sundays to anyone who wants to meditate in the zendo,
or meditation hall.
Mr. FISCHER: A temple like this is really unusual, because in
Asia, there is either monasteries, which are more or less closed to the
public, or neighborhood temples, which are more or less about social
functions and not so much about meditation practice. But here, we're
actually offering the meditation practice far and wide.
BUNYAN: American Buddhism breaks with
its Asian heritage in a number of ways. Here, there are few monasteries
where ancient traditions can be preserved. There are less formal
relationships between teachers and students, and women are welcome.
NATALIE COMPAGNI PORTIS: I think it
reminds me to be a human being instead of a human doing. It doesn't
seem like a religion, it just seems like a way to be in the world.
MICHAEL STONE: You know, I work in the
corporate world as a consultant and a trader, which moves very fast,
and to find balance in my life, I find that Buddhism is a place to
return me to myself.
BUNYAN: American Buddhists are sometimes
called "new Buddhists," to differentiate them from Asian-American
Buddhists, many of them immigrants who brought their faith with them.
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Mr. FISCHER:
Because Buddhism is a cultural novelty for us, it's completely free of
any kind of cultural baggage. For us, it's all about us realizing
ourselves, all about meditation practice. We have no history with it.
Asian Americans -- they have a lot of cultural history. For them,
Buddhism is more like, say, Protestantism is for us. It has all the
history and the family stuff and all that.
BUNYAN: Ironically, some Asian-American
Buddhist groups who have been in this country for generations have
adopted western trappings. Worshippers at the Buddhist Church of
Oakland sit in pews and listen to the organ, while the new Buddhists
prefer zendos with cushions. Ken Tanaka is a Buddhist minister in
California who was born in Japan.
KEN TANAKA: I think the Asian-American
Buddhists look at this new phenomenon with mixed emotions. On one hand,
they question whether the new Buddhists are authentic. On the other
hand, there is certain amount of surprise and pride in the fact that
their own religion is taking off in this country.
BUNYAN: American Buddhists run the
gambit from those who are serious students to those who use it as a
method of stress reduction. Many are weekend Buddhists.
JACK KORNFIELD (Co-Founder, Spirit Rock
Meditation Center): So are there weekend Buddhists? I would ask, are
there weekend Christians? Are there weekend Jews? Unfortunately, there
are many, maybe millions of them. And the same -- the Dalai Lama [was]
recently teaching in Los Angeles, and someone raised their hand at one
point and said, "What's the fastest, quickest way to awakening?" As if
you can drive through and have a sort of McMeditation or something like
that.
Ms. TWORKOV: What I would call -- what other people would call
"Buddhism lite" -- there's no problem with it, unless you present it as
the "end all and be all" of Buddhism.
BUNYAN: It's too soon to know what shape
American Buddhism will finally take. Some see this country as the
refuge for an endangered religion whose numbers have declined worldwide
because of religious persecution. Back in the eighth century, the
Tibetan Buddhist master Padmasambhava made an eerie prophecy.
Unidentified Man: "When the iron bird
flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered
like ants across the world and the dharma will come to the land of the
red man."
Prof. THURMAN: I agree with the greatest Buddhist master from
Asia that I know, who says that it is -- America is the one place that
Buddhism on the worldwide scale might begin a real renaissance in our
era.
THICH NHAT HANH (Vietnamese Buddhist
Monk): America should have their own Buddhism. You cannot imitate the
Vietnamese, you cannot imitate the Tibetans, you have to manufacture
your Buddhism with elements of your own culture, and I think American
Buddhism is taking shape.
BUNYAN: So what kind of Buddhism will
emerge here as its ancient teachings come up against our modern,
high-tech culture? It took 300 years for Chinese Buddhism to develop.
It may not take as long in our culture, and perhaps what will finally
emerge will be, in Robert Thurman's words, "Quintessentially American,
pluralistic and multifaceted." Bob.
ABERNETHY: Maureen, many thanks.
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