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Western Buddhism primarily a middle class religion

ZenshinZenshin VeteranEast Midlands UK Veteran
edited May 2011 in Buddhism Today
So I find myself looking at Buddhism in the UK and it seems to primarily prevalent in the middle classes. Most of the Buddhist groups I look at seem to be populated by middle class university educated people. I wonder if this is because the middle classes have the time and resources to go looking for something while the poor are to caught up in the struggle of living to wonder about lifes deeper questions? I find myself intimidated by this, but this probably due to my conditioning by the English class system where I have by the dint of selling my labour for most of the time in my working life been conditioned to feel uncomfortable in the presence of my "betters". As a former addict, ex-crook, homeless guy and psych patient I really wonder if I could relate to such people.

Back when Acid House was big and evryone one was loved up on E's and trips I knew working class kids who were interested in mysticism and new age stuff but most of those are now hard drug addicts. So western buddhists, any folks in your Sangha who are former drop outs or people struggling since the plant closed down.

Your advice, thoughts, comments and suggestions are as always welcome.
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Comments

  • The movement in the US, DharmaPunx, I think was formed in part to address this perception. They're dedicated to including people from all walks of life, all ethnicities, working-class people, and they believe in activist Buddhism. Some of their groups run soup kitchens for the homeless. For an introduction, see: www.againstthestream.org
    Deepankar
  • Mr_SerenityMr_Serenity Veteran
    edited May 2011
    Hey LT,
    I think you're mostly right. I basically never see Hispanic or Black Buddhists. Which those tend to be the ones that struggle the most financially where I am from. There are always exceptions to this, but for the most part black people in America tend to be Christian. Then Hispanics tend to be Catholic or spiritual/not really religious.

    Hispanic/Latino males tend to be pretty tough people. They tend to like boxing, MMA, love eating their carne asada, for them even considering adapting a vegetarian lifestyle or backing down from a fight is very polar opposite. I am Latino, I come from L.A. I know the culture.

    Then most black people I know they're very Christian, always talking about god in some way or another lol. It's just deep in their culture. Sometimes they break off from this, but it's rare.

    The Buddhists I see in the states are mostly Asian and White people. But that doesn't mean that the poor people aren't spiritual. Because they're. I know a few minorities and even poor white people that are spiritual people rather than Buddhists. Like myself, I take a little bit of everything that helps.

    I don't say I am "one thing". I take a little bit of everything and apply it, but discard what doesn't fit.

    Personally, I have tried going to Sangha's before, but I end up holding my tongue even during the open discussions most of the time. Because the more I talk the more I end up disagreeing with a lot that is being said and possibly easily offending others just due to differences in culture. I come from a warrior culture, and I also was a cook/chef for a while. I'm a body builder, and I live to try and get more sex and money. So with those factors in mind, it makes it hard for me to agree with everything being said at a Buddhist sangha lol. I bet a lot of male Latino's from L.A. would identify with what I am saying.

    So that might give you sort of a glance of the different cultures that don't always fit in with Buddhism completely. But the more people read, the more they educate themselves the more they start to see and understand different points of views. Even though I am Latino, I am well read, I do my research. So that is probably why I am familiar with many spiritual disciplines as well as Buddhism.




  • ZenshinZenshin Veteran East Midlands UK Veteran
    Hey Mr Serenity

    Thanks for the reply, I missed a little out when I said poorer peole aren't Spiritual I know plenty of Black Christians, and a lot of working class Pakistani Muslim guys when I lived in the north of england. I also know a lot of White working class Christians, I meant to add something about them being drawn more to their religious traditions.

    @compasssionate_warrior thanks for the link, looks like an interesting group.
  • Lonely_Traveler contends that "Western Buddhism primarily a middle class religion." Where is the line between "east" & "west"? Class theory is defunct.
  • I wonder if this is because the middle classes have the time and resources to go looking for something while the poor are to caught up in the struggle of living to wonder about lifes deeper questions? I find myself intimidated by this, but this probably due to my conditioning by the English class system where I have by the dint of selling my labour for most of the time in my working life been conditioned to feel uncomfortable in the presence of my "betters".
    Are alms mendicant "poor"? What "class" are they in? You could've ordained instead of becoming a derelict. What "class" was the Buddha in?

  • The movement in the US, DharmaPunx, I think was formed in part to address this perception. They're dedicated to including people from all walks of life, all ethnicities, working-class people, and they believe in activist Buddhism. Some of their groups run soup kitchens for the homeless.
    That's true, but their founder comes from the "class" Lonely_Traveler thinks most "western" Buddhists are a part of.

  • ZenshinZenshin Veteran East Midlands UK Veteran
    edited May 2011
    Thanks Bucky_G you've made me realise its probably my own insecurity and doubt thats pushing at me.
  • I wonder if this is because the middle classes have the time and resources to go looking for something while the poor are to caught up in the struggle of living to wonder about lifes deeper questions? I find myself intimidated by this, but this probably due to my conditioning by the English class system where I have by the dint of selling my labour for most of the time in my working life been conditioned to feel uncomfortable in the presence of my "betters".
    Are alms mendicant "poor"? What "class" are they in? You could've ordained instead of becoming a derelict. What "class" was the Buddha in?

    The Buddha has an obvious connection to his past as a prince. He forsook material luxury, but he gained an even greater spiritual luxury of nirvana. Don't forget that he spent 29 years in the confines of a supremely luxurious palace, then spent 6 years searching for the meaning of life and suffering through intense ascetic practice, perhaps an elongated form of penitence, a rite of passage. But I just sound like a scholarly asshole. Workers of the world are bogged down in ideological and physical oppression, and the major oppressive force in the world's history originated in Europe, a Christian and practically anti-buddhist civilization . .
  • well, I'm not from the UK, I'm from US, and I'm not middle class, and didn't grow up middle class. I think because I didn't grow up comfy, I always asked "Why", "How", and "What if". So I think poorer people also ponder life questions.
    Maybe the high percent of Buddhists in a middle class UK culture has to do with conservative ubringing vs. open upbringing. Perhaps families in the middle class are more likely to be agnostic, or athiest... while poorer class families have stronger religious views? There might be a correlation there. Especially if young people from a middle class are given permission by their families to explore alternative religions.
    Florian
  • Don't forget that he spent 29 years in the confines of a supremely luxurious palace, then spent 6 years searching for the meaning of life and suffering through intense ascetic practice, perhaps an elongated form of penitence, a rite of passage.
    how could i forget THAT?
    But I just sound like a scholarly asshole.
    Call it what you want, but I don't think you sound that way at all.
    Workers of the world are bogged down in ideological and physical oppression, and the major oppressive force in the world's history originated in Europe, a Christian and practically anti-buddhist civilization
    Fair enough.


  • well, I'm not from the UK, I'm from US, and I'm not middle class, and didn't grow up middle class. I think because I didn't grow up comfy, I always asked "Why", "How", and "What if". So I think poorer people also ponder life questions.
    I'm an American & was born into "poverty" & have basically remained there ever since. If anyone's interested, Gil Fronsdal gave a dhamma talk (title evades me at moment) wherein he said most of the American Buddhists he knows have experienced DOWNWARD MOBILITY since becoming Buddhists in the states. Buddhism inherently comes with a critique of the values "westerners" find so dear. There are exceptions, but overall, I think it's a good thing. "Our culture" NEEDS the Buddha's medicine!

    Bunks
  • No "side" of the planet, culture, country, etc... is exempt from the truth of dukkha (stress/anguish/discontent/unsatisfactoriness/suffering).
    sova
  • edited May 2011
    Yeah, but most people don't believe in the Buddha. The gospel of soullessness isn't a very comforting remedy to a world where the soul seems as the only hope (i.e. to the slaving, suffering masses).
  • @BuckyG No argument there! I thoroughly agree. Buddhism made me more comfortable with being poor as beans, lol. Of course... I never really desired a lot of material goods, just the security of paying my bills on time and putting a roof oevr my head. If you look at western culture through the Buddhist lens, you can really see the fault in thinking that riches equal success and happiness. A therava monk said it like this "Madonna is very wealthy, but she is not happy. She cannot accept aging of the physical body", lol.
  • ZenshinZenshin Veteran East Midlands UK Veteran
    Thanks folks, your stories made me realise my misperception, I've only me one real Buddhist in my life, and he was off to become a monk on the third time I met him but I have to say he was the happiest, most sorted person I've ever met. This threads origin is obviously more a manifestation of things that are going off in my own mind rather than any truth (and that last line could be said about a lot of things! :) ).
  • VincenziVincenzi Veteran
    Buddhism was the proponent of the elimination of the caste system in India.
    with better approaches, it is easy to make Buddhism accesible to anyone.
  • English class system
    Ajahn Brahm is from a UK working class background

    :)

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Now I think this topic belongs in "Modern Buddhism".
    perfect example...

  • I wonder if this is because the middle classes have the time and resources to go looking for something while the poor are to caught up in the struggle of living to wonder about lifes deeper questions? I find myself intimidated by this, but this probably due to my conditioning by the English class system where I have by the dint of selling my labour for most of the time in my working life been conditioned to feel uncomfortable in the presence of my "betters".
    Are alms mendicant "poor"? What "class" are they in? You could've ordained instead of becoming a derelict. What "class" was the Buddha in?

    The Buddha has an obvious connection to his past as a prince. He forsook material luxury, but he gained an even greater spiritual luxury of nirvana. Don't forget that he spent 29 years in the confines of a supremely luxurious palace, then spent 6 years searching for the meaning of life and suffering through intense ascetic practice, perhaps an elongated form of penitence, a rite of passage. But I just sound like a scholarly asshole. Workers of the world are bogged down in ideological and physical oppression, and the major oppressive force in the world's history originated in Europe, a Christian and practically anti-buddhist civilization . .
    While I also have not had the thought that in discussion you sound like a
    " dogmatic student " ( my 9 year old son's choice of term for me to use instead of the description you used Chico ) I agree that is often why it can appear that spiritual quests are more the activity of the middle class ( in a socialist sense ) - and even in a country like Australia, this is still very relevant.

  • I think it's more related to intellect and education, rather than economic class per se.
  • I think it's more related to intellect and education, rather than economic class per se.
    Education is directly related to your economic class, although in US, with affirmative action, there're plenty of opportunities for poor kids to get a uni degree. I think Buddhism in Western cultures has to do with your mind being open to new things and new ideas. My wife and her whole family, being very well educated, very strongly oppose anything that is not Christian.
  • DaozenDaozen Veteran
    As a former addict, ex-crook, homeless guy and psych patient I really wonder if I could relate to such people.
    Well, you're always welcome here mate.

    The way i see it, we're all addicted to our attachments, crookedly self-deluded, ultimately alone yet connected to everyone, and in some sense, out of our minds :)

    sova
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    edited May 2011
    My experience of Zen Buddhism in the U.S. accords with LT's observation -- that Buddhism is largely populated by what James Ishmael Ford Roshi once called "a bunch of rich, well-educated white guys." At one time, Ford expressed the desire to make Zen more accessible to all. I don't know how successful he has been and I am not sure whether a universal appeal is ever really possible.

    It seems to me that people choose their spiritual endeavors according to their circumstances -- real, on-the-ground, in-your-face circumstances -- and then reform and revise their lives according to their determination. Whatever the choice, spiritual endeavor is not easy. If it were easy -- if it were nothing more than a comfort zone filled with various virtues -- how useful could it possibly be? Creating some one-size-fits-all spiritual endeavor strikes me as a pastime for hucksters and academics.

    Even as I write these words, I cannot help but remember the most compelling Zen practice setting I ever visited. For me, it was powerful and clear and stood head and shoulders above the other well-appointed temples and centers I visited over the years. It was peopled by men with large biceps and tattoos. It was in a maximum-security prison in upstate New York. The bars on the small windows, the razor-wire surrounding the place, the fact that men with guns watched vigilantly over men who had no guns ... all of it provided a gritty and honest and profound atmosphere ... at least in my mind. This was spiritual endeavor ... a place where no sissies need apply.

    I don't know how others feel, but I think that anyone who takes up a spiritual practice goes through a phase of imagining that they are in the presence of their "betters" -- people who hold the banner, show the way, are more accomplished and wise. For a while, all this is a good encouragement. It puts a fire under your ass. But with continued practice, I think there is a shift ... some realization that no matter how accomplished anyone else may be, still each of us only can work with what we've got ... two arms, two legs, emotions, intellect ... and most of all the determination to see things through. We may be grateful to the friends and enemies we encounter, but the fact is that our own courage and patience and doubt are our most reliable allies. As Gautama Buddha was reported to have said (more or less): "Better your own truth, however weak, than the truth of another, however noble."

    Just some thoughts.

    sova
  • Doesn't our perception depend, largely, on our own circle. If we spend all our time among, say, philatelist Buddhists we could imagine that all Buddhists collected stamps. As ever, we need to recognise and own our projections.
  • Good point by @genkaku. Mro.org a Zen organization in upstate NY runs a Buddhist prison sangha. Don't know much details about it but it shows that Zen/Buddhism is accessable to anyone who's really looking for it no matter what your current situation is.
  • ZenshinZenshin Veteran East Midlands UK Veteran
    @Daozen, thank you for the kind words.

    @Genkaku, thank you for the description of jail house Zen, very thought provoking.

    Like I said above a lot of it comes out of my insecurity, the guy I met who was off to become a monk didn't judge me, he was doing some temporary work at a half way house for long term psych patients I was living in at the time, but I met him in a couple of other places and his reaction to me was the same in work or out, a warm friendly smile and an open heart.

    @Dhamma Datu, thanks for the information on AJahn Brahm, he's a teacher I rather like.
  • ZenshinZenshin Veteran East Midlands UK Veteran
    I also found this organisation in the UK relating to Genkaku and andyZ's posts.

    http://angulimala.org.uk/
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    edited May 2011
    In the West, lower income populations tend to place strong importance on family and community ties, because that's an important part of their very survival and indentity. The community and family traditional religion is tied into this. It does change, of course, because cultures slowly change. Buddhist cultures today in the East where rich and poor alike identify with the local temples had to start somewhere.

    I think of the deliberate campaign here in the US to introduce the Black Muslim religion into the lower income black community as a more "natural" religion for what had become a Christian culture, and how it basically failed.
  • Maslow's hierarchy of needs tells us that we must meet and secure all our needs at the bottom of his pyramid before we can fully explore the needs at higher places on the pyramid. The lowest section of the pyramid contains our physiological needs: breathing, reproduction, excreting, water, and food. Above that we find our safety needs: employment, money, health, body safety. So it would make sense that people struggling to meet the most basic of their needs might not be as eager to explore their spirituality as those who feel safer and more secure in their finances.

    This doesn't go across the board, though, and if you're middle class yourself, it's very likely that you'll notice more middle class practitioners. I have been in poverty for my entire life and am slowly moving into the working middle class.
  • but when he became a monk,
    he was already a middle class teacher.
    English class system
    Ajahn Brahm is from a UK working class background

    :)

  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    I think it's more related to intellect and education, rather than economic class per se.
    Education is directly related to your economic class, although in US, with affirmative action, there're plenty of opportunities for poor kids to get a uni degree. I think Buddhism in Western cultures has to do with your mind being open to new things and new ideas. My wife and her whole family, being very well educated, very strongly oppose anything that is not Christian.
    I would tend to agree with Buddhajunkie, but that's just my opinion. And you can't look at one family and say that it proves your point. You have to look at more general statistics. Anyone have any?

  • Maslow's hierarchy of needs tells us that we must meet and secure all our needs at the bottom of his pyramid before we can fully explore the needs at higher places on the pyramid. The lowest section of the pyramid contains our physiological needs: breathing, reproduction, excreting, water, and food. Above that we find our safety needs: employment, money, health, body safety. So it would make sense that people struggling to meet the most basic of their needs might not be as eager to explore their spirituality as those who feel safer and more secure in their finances.
    It's interesting you bring up Maslow, because I was just thinking of it. But in my personal experience, the people in my life who have experienced the most "faith" with their religion, are the poorest. My middle class family growing up seemed to be into religion, but not wholly dedicated. I also have heard a story of my father in law's saying that while he was in prison he was there when two inmates took refuge and received teachings from the sangha near the prison. I am also pretty poor monetarily! But I don't think it's impacted my learning at all.
  • hermitwinhermitwin Veteran
    edited May 2011
    In the west, the default religion is christianity.
    an uneducated person or a person too busy working
    will have little opportunity to explore other religions.
  • edited May 2011
    I grew up in social housing with a dad who worked in factories and a mum who was a petrol station cashier; we regularly hid from the rent man and had the utilities cut off because we couldn't pay the bills. I did a degree as a mature student, am now a head of department in an independent (private) school, have a son at Oxford and a high income; but am also in debt and am a psychiatric outpatient. My sister and both parents live on benefits in rented accommodation.
    Working class? Middle class? Go figure.....Precious human birth? Definately!
    DharmaMcBum
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    In the west, the default religion is christianity.
    an uneducated person or a person too busy working
    will have little opportunity to explore other religions.
    I disagree.
    I had 2 jobs, and was bringing up 2 kids, and I was studying - when I discovered Buddhism.

    So "busy working" is not applicable here....


  • I'm guessing that smart and philosophical types suffer more, thus will tend to be attracted to Buddhism.
    I think it's more related to intellect and education, rather than economic class per se.
    Education is directly related to your economic class, although in US, with affirmative action, there're plenty of opportunities for poor kids to get a uni degree. I think Buddhism in Western cultures has to do with your mind being open to new things and new ideas.

    Education and intellect correlates with class, but they are still separate qualities.

    Thus, all else equal, a poor uneducated smart person would probably be more receptive to Buddhism than a dumb, unintellectual middle-class person with a college degree.
  • ArjquadArjquad Veteran
    Good point by @genkaku. Mro.org a Zen organization in upstate NY runs a Buddhist prison sangha. Don't know much details about it but it shows that Zen/Buddhism is accessable to anyone who's really looking for it no matter what your current situation is.
    This reminds me of the person (can't think of his name right now) who does the urban dharma podcast (free on iTunes) he's a monk in California who has done that sort of thing in prisons there. He also goes with an officer on rounds incase anyone needs guidance. Which I find pretty cool.
  • TalismanTalisman Veteran
    I am far below middle class and have been for years. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I have been able to study Buddhism voraciously. Maybe the reason that most western Buddhists are white middle class is because most westerners are white middle class? Who knows?
  • When Buddha became enlightened, he was reluctant
    to teach. Why?
    jlb
  • chanrattchanratt Veteran
    just reading thru this real quick but an fyi...middle class in the uk and the us are not the same thing.
  • cazcaz Veteran United Kingdom Veteran
    It never fails to amaze me how type cast some meditation classes can be, along the lines of people who drop in from one fad to another " Oh yes Ive done my feng Shui and now its time for my meditation class " Although having said this there are many genuine people amongst any class whom feel a connection with what is being said, although personally I have noticed that it doesnt seem to be that popular with people down the lower end of societys social scale possibly because of room hire fee's or even they as is said they dont feel comfortable with the people whom they shall associate with or what is being said may well be beyond their scale to grasp.
    I havent been doing meditation classes that long and live in a sizable town so perhapes time shall tell but my experience so far has as previously said produced the expected turnout.
    Id like to see some more people from a working labour class background because of any people I think they generally have a good idea of what real suffering can be like and I think Dharmic mind training would be a breath of fresh air for some communities across the uk.
  • edited May 2011
    I was born into a Mormon family and followed along until I was about 10 (I was in Sunday School & the teacher asked me to say the closing prayer and for some reason I said, "No." She said something about having all day which I knew was bullshit so I just defied until she gave up.). Mormons OUTSIDE of Mormon culture (Utah) are known to be hyper-devotional compared to the Mormons inside it. I find the "middle class" argument as applies here specious for a similar reason. The level of devotion I see in my dharma circles here in the States transcends so called "class boundaries." My understanding of the four-fold assembly is that Buddha instituted it so monastics would always see their NEED for the laity, despite their "class." Where would the monastics in the States or UK, or Australia, be without money making "classes?" This is true of Asian monastics, but to a lesser degree.

  • I've lived in UK for the last 6 years and one of the biggest differences from life in US is that drinking and socializing in pubs in UK are such a widespread thing. I've never seen anything like this in US. In UK it's not only for working class people though, middle class is enjyoing their pints as well. If you visit Canary Wharf in London on Thursday or Friday evenings you'll see what I mean. If one spends so much time drinking does one really have time for anything else? :)
  • ZenshinZenshin Veteran East Midlands UK Veteran
    @andyZ

    Yeah, boozing is a big part of UK culture, you only have to look at where most of the action takes place in the two major soap operas - in the local pub. Curiously enough when I used drugs I didn't drink, I had the snobby attitude that alcohol wasn't "spiritual" in the way cannabis and ethnogens were. After incarceration on a psych ward for 10 weeks got me off my psychological dependence on drugs, I stayed clean for 3 months before switching to booze, heralding another long battle with a different addiction. I went to a meeting of a support group for psych patients who attend to a local FE college and wasn't drinking and my friends who are used to my 10 pints attitude went orange juice incredulously. One of them is a former teacher who suffers from depression, come 5 O'clock he downs a couple of bottles of wine. Seen the same attitude amongst executives and middle management types when I've worked doing maintenance in buildings owned by major British corporations.

    I've finally begun to realise that its all just a different flavour of the stuff I'm trying to get away from.
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    Yes, any talk here of working class versus upper class, etc, to be a sweeping generalization because we're talking trends on average. There's always going to be exceptions, folks being who they are. I came from a middle class, very conservative, very religious Christian family, for instance. Yet in the end I felt unsatisfied and looked outside the community and family. However, I was the exception in that community and family. There were people who had no room for religion at all in their lives in my family and community, of course. But, the ones who wanted a religious practice were satisfied with the one they had been taught they were supposed to follow, until me.
  • Like I said, class theory is defunct.
  • ZenshinZenshin Veteran East Midlands UK Veteran
    edited May 2011
    Like I said, class theory is defunct.
    So would you say that the British Royal family aren't ruling class aristocracy? I'm begining to think that folks don't realise that the class system means something very different in the UK as to what it does in the rest of Europe and North America.

    The fact is that Gordon Brown was was the only Prime MInister in the last couple of hundred years that wasn't educated at Oxford or Cambridge, the present Prime Minister David Cameron is related to the Royal Family. Not many working class kids from inner city housing council housing estates go to Oxford or Cambridge, when I was growing up the only person I knew who went to one of the Oxbridge universities family worked for local landed aristocracy.
    Invincible_summer
  • ZenshinZenshin Veteran East Midlands UK Veteran
    Perhaps a better title for this thread would have been is UK Buddhism primarily the prerogative of the middle classes.
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    I don't think class theory in the West is defunct, only more complicated than figuring out where you sit on an income scale.
  • VincenziVincenzi Veteran
    When Buddha became enlightened, he was reluctant
    to teach. Why?
    probably didn't tought many will understand him... there must be a sutra somewhere about this (but it is off-topic).
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