Buddhism in the West
Encyclopedia
Buddhism
in the West broadly encompasses the knowledge and practice of Buddhism outside of Asia
. Occasional intersections between Western civilization and the Buddhist world have been occurring for thousands of years, but it was not until the era of European colonization of Buddhist countries in Asia during the 19th century that detailed knowledge of Buddhism became available to large numbers of people in the West as a result of accompanying scholarly endeavours.
The case of Schopenhauer shows that Western intellectuals developed an interest in Buddhism already in the 18th century and had many sources from a wide range of Asian countries at their disposal. In the latter half of that century, Buddhism
came to the attention of a wider Western public. The first English translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead was published in 1927, the book is said to have attracted many westerners to Tibetan Buddhism.
The first Buddhists to arrive in the United States
were Chinese and Japanese immigrants who established many temples mainly for their own purposes of worship. Immigrant monks soon began teaching to western audiences, as well. The broader New Age
spirituality of the hippie
movement proved very receptive to Buddhist themes. In 1959 Suzuki Roshi (a Japanese teacher) arrived in San Francisco. At the time of Suzuki's arrival, Zen
had become a hot topic amongst some groups in the United States, especially beatniks. In 1965, monks from Sri Lanka
established the Washington Buddhist Vihara in Washington, D.C.
, the first Theravada monastic community in the United States. Vietnamese
Zen
monk Thich Nhat Hanh became well known in France
and the United States
. In the 1970s, interest in Tibetan Buddhism
grew dramatically.
Today, Buddhism is practiced by large numbers of people in the Americas
, Europe
and Oceania
. Buddhism has become the fastest-growing religion, or better religious philosophy, in Australia
and some other Western nations. Many Hollywood movies with Buddhist themes, such as Kundun
, Little Buddha
and Seven Years in Tibet
, have had considerable commercial success.
The Hellenistic influence in the area, furthered by Seleucids and the successive Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms, interacted with Buddhism, as exemplified by the emergence of Greco-Buddhist art
.
Greco-Buddhism is the cultural merging between the culture
s of Hellenism
and Buddhism
, which developed over a period of close to eight centuries in Central Asia
between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE.
and the Roman Empire
are documented by Classical
and early Christian
writers. Roman historical accounts describe an embassy sent by the India
n king Pandion (Pandya?), also named Porus, to Augustus around 13 CE. The embassy was travelling with a diplomatic letter in Greek
, and one of its members was an Indian religious man (sramana) who burned himself alive in Athens
to demonstrate his faith. The event created a sensation and was described by Nicolaus of Damascus
, who met the embassy at Antioch
, and related by Strabo
(XV,1,73 and Dio Cassius
. A tomb was made for the sramana, still visible in the time of Plutarch
, which bore the following inscription, "ΖΑΡΜΑΝΟΧΗΓΑΣ ΙΝΔΟΣ ΑΠΟ ΒΑΡΓΟΣΗΣ" ("The sramana master from Barygaza
in India
").
These accounts at least indicate that Indian religious men (Sramanas, to which the Buddhists belonged, as opposed to Hindu
Brahmanas
) were visiting Mediterranean countries. However, the term sramana is a general term for Indian religious man in Jainism, Buddhism, and Ājīvika. It is not clear which religious tradition the man belongs to in this case.
, who first read about Buddhism and other Asian religions at an early stage before he devised his philosophical system. The American
philosopher Henry David Thoreau
translated a Buddhist sutra from French into English.
There are frequent comparisons between Buddhism and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
, who praised Buddhism in his 1895 work The Anti-Christ
, calling it "a hundred times more realistic than Christianity
". Robert Morrison believes that there is "a deep resonance between them" as "both emphasise the centrality of humans in a godless cosmos and neither looks to any external being or power for their respective solutions to the problem of existence".
The late nineteenth century also saw the first western conversions to Buddhism, including leading Theosophists Henry Steel Olcott
and Helena Blavatsky in 1880, "beachcombers" such as the Irish ex-hobo U Dhammaloka
around 1884 and intellectuals such as Bhikkhu Asoka (H. Gordon Douglas), Ananda Metteyya
and Nyanatiloka at the turn of the century.
The first English translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead was published in 1927 and the reprint of 1935 carried a commentary from none other than C.G. Jung
. The book is said to have attracted many westerners to Tibetan Buddhism.
Western spiritual seekers were attracted to what they saw as the exotic and mystical tone of the Asian traditions, and created esoteric societies such as the Theosophical Society
of H.P. Blavatsky. The Buddhist Society, London
was founded by Theosophist Christmas Humphreys
in 1924. At first Western Buddhology was hampered by poor translations (often translations of translations), but soon Western scholars such as Max Müller
began to learn Asian languages and translate Asian texts. During the 20th century the German writer Hermann Hesse
showed great interest in Eastern religions, writing a book entitled Siddhartha
.
American beat generation
writer Jack Kerouac
became a well-known literary Buddhist, for his roman-a-clef The Dharma Bums
and other works. Also influential was Alan Watts
, who wrote several books on Zen and Buddhism. The cultural re-evaluations of the hippie
generation in the late 1960s and early 1970s led to a re-discovery of Buddhism, which seemed to promise a more methodical path to happiness than Christianity and a way out of the perceived spiritual bankruptcy and complexity of Western life.
The first Buddhists to arrive in the United States
were Chinese. Hired as cheap labor for the railroads
and other expanding industries, they established temples in their settlements along the rail lines. At about the same time, immigrants from Japan began to arrive as laborers on Hawaiian plantations and central-California farms. In 1899, they established the Buddhist Missions of North America, later renamed the Buddhist Churches of America
.
In 1959 a Japanese teacher, Shunryu Suzuki
, arrived in San Francisco. At the time of Suzuki's arrival, Zen
had become a hot topic amongst some groups in the United States, especially beatniks. Suzuki-roshi's classes were filled with those wanting to learn more about Buddhism, and the presence of a Zen master inspired the students.
In 1965 Philip Kapleau
traveled to Rochester, NY with the permission of his teacher, Haku'un Yasutani
to form the Rochester Zen Center. At this time there were few if any American citizens that had trained in Japan
with ordained Buddhist teachers. Kapleau had spent 13 years (1952–1965) and over 20 sesshin
before being allowed to come back and open his own center. During his time in Japan
after World War II
, Kapleau wrote his seminal work; The Three Pillars of Zen.
In 1965, monks from Sri Lanka established the Washington Buddhist Vihara in Washington, D.C.
, the first Theravada monastic community in the United States. The Vihara was quite accessible to English-speakers, and Vipassana
meditation was part of its activities. However, the direct influence of the Vipassana movement would not reach the U.S. until a group of Americans returned there in the early 1970s after studying with Vipassana masters in Asia.
In the 1970s, interest in Tibetan Buddhism grew dramatically. This was fuelled in part by the 'shangri-la' view of this country and also because Western media agencies are largely sympathetic with the 'Tibetan Cause'. All four of the main Tibetan Buddhist schools became well known. Tibetan lamas such as the Karmapa
(Rangjung Rigpe Dorje
), Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
, Geshe Wangyal
, Geshe Lhundub Sopa
, Dezhung Rinpoche
, Sermey Khensur Lobsang Tharchin
, Tarthang Tulku
, Lama Yeshe and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
all established teaching centers in the West from the 1970s. In 1976, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
was invited by Lama Thubten Yeshe
via their spiritual guide, Trijang Rinpoche
, to become the resident teacher at the main FPMT center in England
.
Perhaps the most widely visible Buddhist teacher in the west is the much-travelled Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama
, who first visited the United States
in 1979. As the exiled political leader of Tibet
, he is now a popular cause célèbre
in the west. His early life was depicted in glowing terms in Hollywood films such as Kundun
and Seven Years in Tibet
. He has attracted celebrity religious followers such as Richard Gere
and Adam Yauch
.
In addition to this a number of Americans who had served in the Korean
or Vietnam War
s stayed out in Asia for a period, seeking to understand both the horror they had witnessed and its context. A few of these were eventually ordained as monks in both the Mahayana and Theravadan tradition, and upon returning home became influential meditation teachers establishing such centres as the Insight Meditation Society
in America, such as Bill Porter
. Another contributing factor in the flowering of Buddhist thought in the West was the popularity of Zen amongst the counter-culture poets and activists of the 60's, due to the writings of Alan Watts
, D.T. Suzuki
and Philip Kapleau
.
Historically, Buddhism has absorbed elements of the culture of the countries in which it is practiced. This can be seen in the artistic style of Buddha statues; a Chinese statue looks different from a Thai, which differs from a Sri Lankan, and similarly across most Asian countries. Different local customs are included also, and may influence the form of rituals and ceremonies.
There is a general distinction between Buddhism brought to the West by Asian immigrants, which may be Mahayana
or a traditional East Asian mix, and Buddhism as practiced by converts, which is often Zen
, Pure Land
, Indian Vipassana
or Tibetan Buddhism
. Some Western Buddhists are actually non-denominational and accept teachings from a variety of different sects, which is far less frequent in Asia.
The largest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere is the Nan Tien Temple
(translated as "Southern Paradise Temple"), situated at Wollongong, Australia, while the largest Buddhist temple in the Western Hemisphere is the Hsi Lai Temple
(translated as "Coming West Temple"), in California, USA. Both are operated by the Fo Guang Shan
Order, founded in Taiwan, and around 2003 the Grand Master, Venerable Hsing Yun
, asked for Nan Tien Temple and Buddhist practice there to be operated by native Australians citizens within about thirty years.
is practiced by increasing numbers of people in the Americas, Europe and Oceania
. Buddhism has become the fastest growing philosophical religion in Australia and some other Western nations.
Tibetan Buddhism in the West has remained largely traditional, keeping all the doctrine, ritual, faith, devotion, etc. An example of a large Buddhist group established in the West is the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) is a network of Buddhist centers focusing on what it claims to be traditional Tibetan Buddhism. Founded in 1975 by Lamas Thubten Yeshe
and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, who began teaching Buddhism to Western students in Nepal, the FPMT has grown to encompass more than 142 teaching centers in 32 countries. Like many Tibetan Buddhist groups, the FPMT does not have "members" per se, or elections, but is managed by a self-perpetuating board of trustees chosen by its "spiritual director" (head lama).
Another example is the New Kadampa Tradition
which was established in 1991 by Geshe
Kelsang Gyatso
following a three-year retreat in Tharpaland, Dumfried. Today it has over 1100 centers in 40 countries and maintains the International Temples Project which aims to build a Kadampa Buddhist Temple
in every major city in the world.
A feature of Buddhism in the West today is the emergence of other groups which, even though they draw on traditional Buddhism, are in fact an attempt at creating a new style of Buddhist practice. Controversial lama Chögyam Trungpa
, the founder of the Shambhala
meditation movement, claimed in his teachings that his intention was to strip the ethnic baggage away from traditional methods of working with the mind and to deliver the essence of those teachings to his western students. Chögyam Trungpa
also founded Naropa University
in Boulder, Colorado in 1974. Trungpa's movement has also found particular success in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Shambhala International being based out of Halifax. An associated monastery Gampo Abbey
was also built near the community of Pleasant Bay
.
Another example is Juniper Foundation
, founded in 2003. To benefit from the methods of a Buddhist lineage, Juniper Foundation holds that they must become integrated into modern culture just as they were in other cultures. Juniper Foundation calls its approach "Buddhist training for modern life" and it emphasizes meditation, balancing emotions, cultivating compassion and developing insight as four building blocks of Buddhist training.
Another example of schools evolving new idioms for the transmission of the dharma are the Triratna Buddhist Community (formerly the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order), founded by Sangharakshita
in 1967, and the Diamond Way Organisation founded by Ole Nydahl
, who has founded more than 600 buddhist centers across the world.
A number of groups and individuals have been implicated in sex scandals. Lama Ole Nydahl has been implicated in having sex with his students and lacking authentic lama training. Sandra Bell has analysed the scandals at Vajradhatu
and the San Francisco Zen Center and concluded that these kinds of scandals are "most likely to occur in organisations that are in transition between the pure forms of charismatic authority that brought them into being and more rational, corporate forms of organization" but also warns that "relations between individual meditation teachers and their students continue to retain inherent, and potentially disruptive, charismatic qualities". Sogyal Rinpoche, the founder and head of Rigpa, has also been implicated in multiple sex scandals by Vision TV in a program aired on May 23, 2011 entitled "In the Name of Enlightenment." Several former female students appeared in this program accusing Sogyal of inappropriate sexual advances, including his claim that by having sex with him they would be furthering their own spiritual development. Rigpa denies any wrongdoing.
, Little Buddha
and Seven Years in Tibet
have had considerable commercial success.
Buddhist practitioners in the West are catered for by a minor industry providing such items as charm boxes, meditation cushions, and ritual implements. This is akin to the various industries providing ritual items and publishing scripture historically, however T. Shakya has criticized this industry as the publication of Buddhist books uproots small forests and consequently kills thousands of insects.
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
in the West broadly encompasses the knowledge and practice of Buddhism outside of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. Occasional intersections between Western civilization and the Buddhist world have been occurring for thousands of years, but it was not until the era of European colonization of Buddhist countries in Asia during the 19th century that detailed knowledge of Buddhism became available to large numbers of people in the West as a result of accompanying scholarly endeavours.
The case of Schopenhauer shows that Western intellectuals developed an interest in Buddhism already in the 18th century and had many sources from a wide range of Asian countries at their disposal. In the latter half of that century, Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
came to the attention of a wider Western public. The first English translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead was published in 1927, the book is said to have attracted many westerners to Tibetan Buddhism.
The first Buddhists to arrive in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
were Chinese and Japanese immigrants who established many temples mainly for their own purposes of worship. Immigrant monks soon began teaching to western audiences, as well. The broader New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
spirituality of the hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
movement proved very receptive to Buddhist themes. In 1959 Suzuki Roshi (a Japanese teacher) arrived in San Francisco. At the time of Suzuki's arrival, Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
had become a hot topic amongst some groups in the United States, especially beatniks. In 1965, monks from Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
established the Washington Buddhist Vihara in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, the first Theravada monastic community in the United States. Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
monk Thich Nhat Hanh became well known in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In the 1970s, interest in Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
grew dramatically.
Today, Buddhism is practiced by large numbers of people in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
. Buddhism has become the fastest-growing religion, or better religious philosophy, in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and some other Western nations. Many Hollywood movies with Buddhist themes, such as Kundun
Kundun
Kundun is a 1997 epic biographical film written by Melissa Mathison and directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the life and writings of the 14th Dalai Lama, the exiled political and spiritual leader of Tibet...
, Little Buddha
Little Buddha
Little Buddha is a 1994 feature film by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, starring Bridget Fonda and Keanu Reeves. Made by Bertolucci's regular partner, British producer Jeremy Thomas, it marked the team's return to the East after The Last Emperor....
and Seven Years in Tibet
Seven Years in Tibet
Seven Years in Tibet is an autobiographical travel book written by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer based on his real life experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951 during the Second World War and the interim period before the Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet in...
, have had considerable commercial success.
Greco-Buddhism
Greco-Buddhist art
Greco-Buddhist art is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between the Classical Greek culture and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 1000 years in Central Asia, between the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE, and the Islamic...
.
Greco-Buddhism is the cultural merging between the culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
s of Hellenism
Hellenistic civilization
Hellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE...
and Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, which developed over a period of close to eight centuries in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE.
Buddhism and the Roman world
Several instances of interaction between BuddhismBuddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
are documented by Classical
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and early Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
writers. Roman historical accounts describe an embassy sent by the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n king Pandion (Pandya?), also named Porus, to Augustus around 13 CE. The embassy was travelling with a diplomatic letter in Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, and one of its members was an Indian religious man (sramana) who burned himself alive in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
to demonstrate his faith. The event created a sensation and was described by Nicolaus of Damascus
Nicolaus of Damascus
Nicolaus of Damascus was a Greek historian and philosopher who lived during the Augustan age of the Roman Empire. His name is derived from that of his birthplace, Damascus. He was born around 64 BC....
, who met the embassy at Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
, and related by Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
(XV,1,73 and Dio Cassius
Dio Cassius
Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus , known in English as Cassius Dio, Dio Cassius, or Dio was a Roman consul and a noted historian writing in Greek...
. A tomb was made for the sramana, still visible in the time of Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
, which bore the following inscription, "ΖΑΡΜΑΝΟΧΗΓΑΣ ΙΝΔΟΣ ΑΠΟ ΒΑΡΓΟΣΗΣ" ("The sramana master from Barygaza
Bharuch
Bharuch , also known as Broach, is the oldest city in Gujarat, situated at the mouth of the holy river Narmada. Bharuch is the administrative headquarters of Bharuch District and a municipality of more than 1,50,000 inhabitants. As Bharuch is a major seaport city, a number of trade activities have...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
").
These accounts at least indicate that Indian religious men (Sramanas, to which the Buddhists belonged, as opposed to Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
Brahmanas
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
) were visiting Mediterranean countries. However, the term sramana is a general term for Indian religious man in Jainism, Buddhism, and Ājīvika. It is not clear which religious tradition the man belongs to in this case.
Buddhism and Western Intellectuals
During the 19th century, Buddhism (along with many other religions and philosophies) came to the attention of Western intellectuals. These included the German philosopher SchopenhauerArthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher known for his pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the four separate manifestations of reason in the phenomenal...
, who first read about Buddhism and other Asian religions at an early stage before he devised his philosophical system. The American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
philosopher Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
translated a Buddhist sutra from French into English.
There are frequent comparisons between Buddhism and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
, who praised Buddhism in his 1895 work The Anti-Christ
The Antichrist (book)
The Antichrist is a book by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, originally published in 1895. Although it was written in 1888, its controversial content made Franz Overbeck and Heinrich Köselitz delay its publication, along with Ecce Homo...
, calling it "a hundred times more realistic than Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
". Robert Morrison believes that there is "a deep resonance between them" as "both emphasise the centrality of humans in a godless cosmos and neither looks to any external being or power for their respective solutions to the problem of existence".
The late nineteenth century also saw the first western conversions to Buddhism, including leading Theosophists Henry Steel Olcott
Henry Steel Olcott
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott was an American military officer, journalist, lawyer and the co-founder and first President of the Theosophical Society....
and Helena Blavatsky in 1880, "beachcombers" such as the Irish ex-hobo U Dhammaloka
U Dhammaloka
U Dhammaloka was an Irish-born hobo turned Buddhist monk, atheist critic of Christian missionaries, and temperance campaigner who took an active role in the Asian Buddhist revival around the turn of the twentieth century....
around 1884 and intellectuals such as Bhikkhu Asoka (H. Gordon Douglas), Ananda Metteyya
Charles Henry Allan Bennett
Charles Henry Allan Bennett was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. He was a friend, mentor and associate of author and occultist Aleister Crowley, though the association ended early on in their careers....
and Nyanatiloka at the turn of the century.
The first English translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead was published in 1927 and the reprint of 1935 carried a commentary from none other than C.G. Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
. The book is said to have attracted many westerners to Tibetan Buddhism.
Western spiritual seekers were attracted to what they saw as the exotic and mystical tone of the Asian traditions, and created esoteric societies such as the Theosophical Society
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in 1875 to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments has several successors...
of H.P. Blavatsky. The Buddhist Society, London
Buddhist Society, London
The Buddhist Society is a UK registered charity with the stated aim to:The Buddhist Society is an inter-denominational and non-sectarian lay organization. It offers talks and classes on the teachings of all the different major mainstream Buddhist schools and traditions, as well as a structured...
was founded by Theosophist Christmas Humphreys
Christmas Humphreys
Travers Christmas Humphreys, QC was a British barrister who prosecuted several controversial cases in the 1940s and 1950s, and later became a judge at the Old Bailey. He was an enthusiastic Shakespeare scholar and proponent of the Oxfordian theory...
in 1924. At first Western Buddhology was hampered by poor translations (often translations of translations), but soon Western scholars such as Max Müller
Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller , more regularly known as Max Müller, was a German philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion...
began to learn Asian languages and translate Asian texts. During the 20th century the German writer Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
showed great interest in Eastern religions, writing a book entitled Siddhartha
Siddhartha (novel)
Siddhartha is a novel by Hermann Hesse that deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian man named Siddhartha during the time of the Buddha.The book, Hesse's ninth novel , was written in German, in a simple, powerful, and lyrical style. It was published in the U.S. in 1951 and became influential...
.
American beat generation
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
writer Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
became a well-known literary Buddhist, for his roman-a-clef The Dharma Bums
The Dharma Bums
The Dharma Bums is a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. The semi-fictional accounts in the novel are based upon events that occurred years after the events of On the Road...
and other works. Also influential was Alan Watts
Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York...
, who wrote several books on Zen and Buddhism. The cultural re-evaluations of the hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
generation in the late 1960s and early 1970s led to a re-discovery of Buddhism, which seemed to promise a more methodical path to happiness than Christianity and a way out of the perceived spiritual bankruptcy and complexity of Western life.
Buddhists Arrive in the West
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
were Chinese. Hired as cheap labor for the railroads
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
and other expanding industries, they established temples in their settlements along the rail lines. At about the same time, immigrants from Japan began to arrive as laborers on Hawaiian plantations and central-California farms. In 1899, they established the Buddhist Missions of North America, later renamed the Buddhist Churches of America
Buddhist Churches of America
The is the United States branch of the Honpa Hongan-ji sub-sect of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism. Jodo Shinshu is also popularly known as Shin Buddhism. The B.C.A. is one of several overseas kyodan belonging to the Nishi Hongwan-ji...
.
In 1959 a Japanese teacher, Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu Suzuki was a Sōtō Zen roshi who popularized Zen Buddhism in the United States, particularly around San Francisco. Born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan, Suzuki was occasionally mistaken for the Zen scholar D.T...
, arrived in San Francisco. At the time of Suzuki's arrival, Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
had become a hot topic amongst some groups in the United States, especially beatniks. Suzuki-roshi's classes were filled with those wanting to learn more about Buddhism, and the presence of a Zen master inspired the students.
In 1965 Philip Kapleau
Philip Kapleau
Philip Kapleau was a teacher of Zen Buddhism in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition, a blending of Japanese Sōtō and Rinzai schools.-Early life:...
traveled to Rochester, NY with the permission of his teacher, Haku'un Yasutani
Haku'un Yasutani
was a Sōtō Rōshi and the founder of the Sanbo Kyodan Zen Buddhist organization.-Biography:Ryōkō Yasutani was born in Japan in Shizuoka Prefecture....
to form the Rochester Zen Center. At this time there were few if any American citizens that had trained in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
with ordained Buddhist teachers. Kapleau had spent 13 years (1952–1965) and over 20 sesshin
Sesshin
A sesshin , literally "touching the heart-mind" , is a period of intensive meditation in a Zen monastery....
before being allowed to come back and open his own center. During his time in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Kapleau wrote his seminal work; The Three Pillars of Zen.
In 1965, monks from Sri Lanka established the Washington Buddhist Vihara in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, the first Theravada monastic community in the United States. The Vihara was quite accessible to English-speakers, and Vipassana
Vipassana
Vipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...
meditation was part of its activities. However, the direct influence of the Vipassana movement would not reach the U.S. until a group of Americans returned there in the early 1970s after studying with Vipassana masters in Asia.
In the 1970s, interest in Tibetan Buddhism grew dramatically. This was fuelled in part by the 'shangri-la' view of this country and also because Western media agencies are largely sympathetic with the 'Tibetan Cause'. All four of the main Tibetan Buddhist schools became well known. Tibetan lamas such as the Karmapa
Karmapa
The Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of the Kagyupa , itself one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism....
(Rangjung Rigpe Dorje
Rangjung Rigpe Dorje
The sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje was spiritual leader of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism...
), Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was a Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the eleventh Trungpa tülku, a tertön, supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and originator of a radical re-presentation of Shambhala vision.Recognized...
, Geshe Wangyal
Geshe Wangyal
Ngawang Wangyal , popularly known as "Geshe Wangyal," was a Buddhist priest and scholar of Kalmyk origin who was born in the Astrakhan province in southeast Russia sometime in 1901....
, Geshe Lhundub Sopa
Lhundub Sopa
Not to be confused with Lama Thubten Zöpa Rinpoche, Geshe Tenzin Zopa, Lama Zopa Tharchin , and Geshe Lobsang Zopa Lhundub Sopa is a Tibetan monk....
, Dezhung Rinpoche
Dezhung Rinpoche
Dezhung Rinpoche, born Ngawang Zangpo, was a Tibetan lama of the Sakya school, one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . In 1960 he came to the Seattle, Washington in the United States of America, one of the first Tibetan Lamas to settle and teach in the United States.-External links:*...
, Sermey Khensur Lobsang Tharchin
Sermey Khensur Lobsang Tharchin
Sermey Khensur Lobsang Tharchin Rinpoche , was a scholar of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.-References:*...
, Tarthang Tulku
Tarthang Tulku
Tarthang Tulku is a Tibetan teacher in the Nyingma tradition who lives in America, where he works to preserve the art and culture of Tibet. He oversees various projects including Dharma Publishing, Yeshe-De, Tibetan Aid Project, and the construction of the Odiyan Copper Mountain Mandala...
, Lama Yeshe and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
Not to be confused with Geshe Lhundub Sopa Rinpoche, Geshe Tenzin Zopa, Lama Zopa Tharchin , and Geshe Lobsang Zopa ...
all established teaching centers in the West from the 1970s. In 1976, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
Kelsang Gyatso
Kelsang Gyatso is a Buddhist monk, "meditation master, scholar, and author" of 22 books based on the teachings of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism...
was invited by Lama Thubten Yeshe
Thubten Yeshe
Thubten Yeshe was a Tibetan lama who, while exiled in Nepal, co-founded Kopan Monastery and the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition...
via their spiritual guide, Trijang Rinpoche
Trijang Rinpoche
Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche was a Gelug Lama and a direct disciple of Je Pabongka. He was the junior tutor and spiritual guide of the 14th Dalai Lama for forty years. He is also the root lama of many Gelug Lamas who teach in the West including Zong Rinpoche, Geshe Rabten, Lama Yeshe, Lama Gangchen...
, to become the resident teacher at the main FPMT center in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Perhaps the most widely visible Buddhist teacher in the west is the much-travelled Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
, who first visited the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1979. As the exiled political leader of Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, he is now a popular cause célèbre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
in the west. His early life was depicted in glowing terms in Hollywood films such as Kundun
Kundun
Kundun is a 1997 epic biographical film written by Melissa Mathison and directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the life and writings of the 14th Dalai Lama, the exiled political and spiritual leader of Tibet...
and Seven Years in Tibet
Seven Years in Tibet (1997 film)
Seven Years in Tibet is a 1997 film based on the book of the same name written by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer on his experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951 during the Second World War, the interim period, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army's invasion of Tibet in 1950. The film...
. He has attracted celebrity religious followers such as Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
and Adam Yauch
Adam Yauch
Adam Nathaniel Yauch , , is a founding member of hip hop trio the Beastie Boys. He is frequently known by his stage name, MCA, and other pseudonyms such as Nathanial Hörnblowér.-Early life:...
.
In addition to this a number of Americans who had served in the Korean
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
or Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
s stayed out in Asia for a period, seeking to understand both the horror they had witnessed and its context. A few of these were eventually ordained as monks in both the Mahayana and Theravadan tradition, and upon returning home became influential meditation teachers establishing such centres as the Insight Meditation Society
Insight Meditation Society
The Insight Meditation Society is a non-profit organization for study of Buddhism located in Barre, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1975, by Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, and Joseph Goldstein, and is rooted in the Theravada tradition. IMS meditation practices are based on the teachings of the...
in America, such as Bill Porter
Bill Porter
Bill Porter may refer to:* Bill Porter , American author who writes under the name Red Pine* Bill Porter , American salesman with cerebral palsy* Bill Porter , American sound engineer and famous music pioneer...
. Another contributing factor in the flowering of Buddhist thought in the West was the popularity of Zen amongst the counter-culture poets and activists of the 60's, due to the writings of Alan Watts
Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York...
, D.T. Suzuki
Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki
Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a Japanese author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in spreading interest in both Zen and Shin to the West. Suzuki was also a prolific translator of Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit literature...
and Philip Kapleau
Philip Kapleau
Philip Kapleau was a teacher of Zen Buddhism in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition, a blending of Japanese Sōtō and Rinzai schools.-Early life:...
.
Historically, Buddhism has absorbed elements of the culture of the countries in which it is practiced. This can be seen in the artistic style of Buddha statues; a Chinese statue looks different from a Thai, which differs from a Sri Lankan, and similarly across most Asian countries. Different local customs are included also, and may influence the form of rituals and ceremonies.
There is a general distinction between Buddhism brought to the West by Asian immigrants, which may be Mahayana
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
or a traditional East Asian mix, and Buddhism as practiced by converts, which is often Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
, Pure Land
Pure land
A pure land, in Mahayana Buddhism, is the celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The various traditions that focus on Pure Lands have been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism. Pure lands are also evident in the literature and traditions of Taoism and Bön.The notion of 'pure...
, Indian Vipassana
Vipassana
Vipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...
or Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
. Some Western Buddhists are actually non-denominational and accept teachings from a variety of different sects, which is far less frequent in Asia.
The largest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere is the Nan Tien Temple
Nan Tien Temple
Nan Tien Temple is a Buddhist temple complex located in the industrial suburb of Berkeley, on the southern outskirts of the Australian city of Wollongong, approximately 80 km south of Sydney...
(translated as "Southern Paradise Temple"), situated at Wollongong, Australia, while the largest Buddhist temple in the Western Hemisphere is the Hsi Lai Temple
Hsi Lai Temple
Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple is a traditional Chinese Buddhist mountain monastery in the United States. It is located on the foothill region of Hacienda Heights, California, USA, a suburb of Los Angeles County...
(translated as "Coming West Temple"), in California, USA. Both are operated by the Fo Guang Shan
Fo Guang Shan
Fo Guang Shan is an international Chinese Mahayana Buddhist monastic order based in the Republic of China , and one of the largest Buddhist organizations. The headquarters of Fo Guang Shan, located in Kaohsiung, is the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. The organization itself is also one of...
Order, founded in Taiwan, and around 2003 the Grand Master, Venerable Hsing Yun
Hsing Yun
Hsing Yun is a well-known Buddhist monk, as well as an important figure in modern reformation of Mahayana Buddhism in Taiwan and China. Hsing Yun is the founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order and the affiliated Buddha's Light International Association, one of the largest international...
, asked for Nan Tien Temple and Buddhist practice there to be operated by native Australians citizens within about thirty years.
Western Buddhism Today
Today, BuddhismBuddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
is practiced by increasing numbers of people in the Americas, Europe and Oceania
Buddhism in Australia
In Australia, Buddhism is a small but growing religion. According to the 2006 census, 2.1 percent of the total population of Australia, or 418,749 people, identified as Buddhist. It was also the fastest-growing religion by percentage, having increased its number of adherents by 79 percent between...
. Buddhism has become the fastest growing philosophical religion in Australia and some other Western nations.
Tibetan Buddhism in the West has remained largely traditional, keeping all the doctrine, ritual, faith, devotion, etc. An example of a large Buddhist group established in the West is the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) is a network of Buddhist centers focusing on what it claims to be traditional Tibetan Buddhism. Founded in 1975 by Lamas Thubten Yeshe
Thubten Yeshe
Thubten Yeshe was a Tibetan lama who, while exiled in Nepal, co-founded Kopan Monastery and the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition...
and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, who began teaching Buddhism to Western students in Nepal, the FPMT has grown to encompass more than 142 teaching centers in 32 countries. Like many Tibetan Buddhist groups, the FPMT does not have "members" per se, or elections, but is managed by a self-perpetuating board of trustees chosen by its "spiritual director" (head lama).
Another example is the New Kadampa Tradition
New Kadampa Tradition
The New Kadampa Tradition ~ International Kadampa Buddhist Union is a global Buddhist organisation founded by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in England in 1991. In 2003 the words "International Kadampa Buddhist Union" were added to the original name "New Kadampa Tradition"...
which was established in 1991 by Geshe
Geshe
Geshe is a Tibetan Buddhist academic degree for monks...
Kelsang Gyatso
Kelsang Gyatso
Kelsang Gyatso is a Buddhist monk, "meditation master, scholar, and author" of 22 books based on the teachings of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism...
following a three-year retreat in Tharpaland, Dumfried. Today it has over 1100 centers in 40 countries and maintains the International Temples Project which aims to build a Kadampa Buddhist Temple
Kadampa Buddhist Temple
The Kadampa World Peace Temple is located at Conishead Priory on the outskirts of Ulverston, Cumbria, England. It was consecrated in July 1997 and functions as the main meditation hall at Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre...
in every major city in the world.
A feature of Buddhism in the West today is the emergence of other groups which, even though they draw on traditional Buddhism, are in fact an attempt at creating a new style of Buddhist practice. Controversial lama Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was a Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the eleventh Trungpa tülku, a tertön, supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and originator of a radical re-presentation of Shambhala vision.Recognized...
, the founder of the Shambhala
Shambhala Buddhism
The term Shambhala Buddhism was introduced by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in the year 2000 to describe his presentation of the Shambhala teachings, originally conceived by Chögyam Trungpa as secular practices for achieving enlightened society, in concert with the Tibetan Buddhist Kagyu and Nyingma...
meditation movement, claimed in his teachings that his intention was to strip the ethnic baggage away from traditional methods of working with the mind and to deliver the essence of those teachings to his western students. Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was a Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the eleventh Trungpa tülku, a tertön, supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and originator of a radical re-presentation of Shambhala vision.Recognized...
also founded Naropa University
Naropa University
Naropa University is a private American liberal arts university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher and Oxford University scholar Chögyam Trungpa, it is named for the eleventh-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda.Naropa describes itself as...
in Boulder, Colorado in 1974. Trungpa's movement has also found particular success in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Shambhala International being based out of Halifax. An associated monastery Gampo Abbey
Gampo Abbey
Gampo Abbey is a Buddhist abbey located in Pleasant Bay, Nova Scotia.It was founded by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1984 as a centre of North American Buddhism in the Vajrayana tradition of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Abbey is associated with the Vajradhatu Buddhist Church of...
was also built near the community of Pleasant Bay
Pleasant Bay, Nova Scotia
Pleasant Bay is a community on the western coast of Cape Breton Island, on the shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Inverness County, Nova Scotia. The community is located on the Cabot Trail, 141 kilometers from Port Hawkesbury...
.
Another example is Juniper Foundation
Juniper Foundation
Juniper Foundationis an organization that works to adapt and promote Buddhist practice in the modern world. It was founded in 2003 by five individuals, Segyu Choepel Rinpoche, Hillary Brook Levy, Christina Juskiewicz, Pam Moriarty and Lawrence Levy...
, founded in 2003. To benefit from the methods of a Buddhist lineage, Juniper Foundation holds that they must become integrated into modern culture just as they were in other cultures. Juniper Foundation calls its approach "Buddhist training for modern life" and it emphasizes meditation, balancing emotions, cultivating compassion and developing insight as four building blocks of Buddhist training.
Another example of schools evolving new idioms for the transmission of the dharma are the Triratna Buddhist Community (formerly the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order), founded by Sangharakshita
Sangharakshita
Sangharakshita is a Buddhist teacher and writer, and founder of the Triratna Buddhist Community, which was known until 2010 as the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, or FWBO....
in 1967, and the Diamond Way Organisation founded by Ole Nydahl
Ole Nydahl
Ole Nydahl is a lama in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism under guidance of Trinley Thaye Dorje. Since the early 1970s, Nydahl has toured the world giving lectures and meditation courses. With his wife, Hannah Nydahl, he founded Diamond Way Buddhism, a worldwide lay organization of Karma...
, who has founded more than 600 buddhist centers across the world.
A number of groups and individuals have been implicated in sex scandals. Lama Ole Nydahl has been implicated in having sex with his students and lacking authentic lama training. Sandra Bell has analysed the scandals at Vajradhatu
Vajradhatu
Vajradhatu was the name of the umbrella organization of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, one of the first Tibetan Buddhist lamas to visit and teach in the West. It served as the vehicle for the promulgation of his Buddhist teachings, and was also the name by which his community was known from 1973 until...
and the San Francisco Zen Center and concluded that these kinds of scandals are "most likely to occur in organisations that are in transition between the pure forms of charismatic authority that brought them into being and more rational, corporate forms of organization" but also warns that "relations between individual meditation teachers and their students continue to retain inherent, and potentially disruptive, charismatic qualities". Sogyal Rinpoche, the founder and head of Rigpa, has also been implicated in multiple sex scandals by Vision TV in a program aired on May 23, 2011 entitled "In the Name of Enlightenment." Several former female students appeared in this program accusing Sogyal of inappropriate sexual advances, including his claim that by having sex with him they would be furthering their own spiritual development. Rigpa denies any wrongdoing.
Popular culture
Buddhist imagery is increasingly appropriated by modern pop culture and also for commercial use. For example, the Dalai Lama's image was used in a campaign celebrating leadership by Apple Computer. Similarly, Tibetan monasteries have been used as backdrops to perfume advertisements in magazines. Hollywood movies such as KundunKundun
Kundun is a 1997 epic biographical film written by Melissa Mathison and directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the life and writings of the 14th Dalai Lama, the exiled political and spiritual leader of Tibet...
, Little Buddha
Little Buddha
Little Buddha is a 1994 feature film by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, starring Bridget Fonda and Keanu Reeves. Made by Bertolucci's regular partner, British producer Jeremy Thomas, it marked the team's return to the East after The Last Emperor....
and Seven Years in Tibet
Seven Years in Tibet
Seven Years in Tibet is an autobiographical travel book written by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer based on his real life experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951 during the Second World War and the interim period before the Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet in...
have had considerable commercial success.
Buddhist practitioners in the West are catered for by a minor industry providing such items as charm boxes, meditation cushions, and ritual implements. This is akin to the various industries providing ritual items and publishing scripture historically, however T. Shakya has criticized this industry as the publication of Buddhist books uproots small forests and consequently kills thousands of insects.
See also
- BuddhismBuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
- Buddhism by countryBuddhism by countryObtaining exact numbers of practicing Buddhists can be difficult and may be reliant on the definition used. Adherents of Eastern religions such as Buddhism with local Animism, Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Shinto, and Taoism often have beliefs composed of a mix of religious ideas...
- Buddhism in AustraliaBuddhism in AustraliaIn Australia, Buddhism is a small but growing religion. According to the 2006 census, 2.1 percent of the total population of Australia, or 418,749 people, identified as Buddhist. It was also the fastest-growing religion by percentage, having increased its number of adherents by 79 percent between...
- Buddhism in AustriaBuddhism in AustriaBuddhism is a legally recognized religion in Austria and it is followed by more than 10,000 Austrians.Although still small in absolute numbers , Buddhism in Austria enjoys widespread acceptance...
- Buddhism in EuropeBuddhism in EuropeAlthough there was regular contact between practising Buddhists and Europeans in antiquity the former had little direct impact. In the latter half of the 19th century, Buddhism came to the attention of Western intellectuals and during the course of the following century the number of adherents has...
- Buddhism in RussiaBuddhism in RussiaHistorically, Buddhism was incorporated into Russian lands in the early 17th century, when Kalmyk people traveled to and settled in Siberia and what is now the Russian Far East. Buddhism is considered as one of Russia’s traditional religions, legally a part of Russian historical heritage.The main...
- Buddhism in SloveniaBuddhism in SloveniaBuddhism is a legally recognized religion in Slovenia and it is followed by more than 1,000 Slovenes, though no official number are establish as the previous census didn't include Buddhism specifically...
- Buddhism in the United KingdomBuddhism in the United KingdomBuddhism in the United Kingdom has a small but growing number of adherents which, according to a Buddhist organisation, is mainly the result of conversion. In the UK census for 2001, there were about 152,000 people who registered their religion as Buddhism, and about 174,000 who cited religions...
- Buddhism in the United StatesBuddhism in the United StatesBuddhism is one of the largest religions in the United States behind Christianity, Judaism and Nonreligious, and approximate with Islam and Hinduism. American Buddhists include many Asian Americans, as well as a large number of converts of other ethnicities, and now their children and even...
- Buddhism in DenmarkBuddhism in DenmarkBuddhism is the 4th largest religion in Denmark with approximately 20,000 - 25,000 members.-History:In the 19th century, knowledge about Buddhism was brought back from expeditions that explored the East and but interest was mainly from authors, Buddhologists and Philologists. In 1921, Dr. Christian F...
- Dharma Drum Retreat CenterDharma Drum Retreat CenterDharma Drum Retreat Center was founded by renowned Chinese Ch'an Master, Master Sheng-yen. Its location is at the rural area of Pine Bush, New York, just about two hours drive or northwest of New York City...
- History of meditationHistory of meditationThe practice of meditation is of prehistoric origin, and is found throughout history, especially in religious contexts.-Prehistory:Prehistoric religion involved repetitive, rhythmic chants.-Antiquity:...