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Buddhism Lite
Howdy folks,
I recently read some moderator for another Buddhism web-forum stating that his site doesn't allow any discussion of "Buddhism Lite." Also, a local Zen teacher was rather offended by a new student to his meditation class who only wanted to learn zazen because he thought it would help him quit smoking.
Now, I've not been practising Buddhism nearly as long as these two folks, nor do I take my studies as seriously as I should do. But I personally don't find the New Agey or self-improvement types too irritating (at least not now that The Secret is no longer in vogue).
I think I agree more with what one of my Chinese teachers spoke of a while ago. Cultivation metaphors being very popular in Chinese Buddhism, she lectured on the necessity of tailoring our explanations to the level of the audience - whether they are at the stage of "preparing the ground," or "planting seeds," or "developing good roots," or "gathering fruits."
Then again, maybe advising a newcomer to "ignore karma and rebirth for now, if you're not comfortable with these ideas" is a bad practice and only causes them more difficulty later on.
Thoughts?
I recently read some moderator for another Buddhism web-forum stating that his site doesn't allow any discussion of "Buddhism Lite." Also, a local Zen teacher was rather offended by a new student to his meditation class who only wanted to learn zazen because he thought it would help him quit smoking.
Now, I've not been practising Buddhism nearly as long as these two folks, nor do I take my studies as seriously as I should do. But I personally don't find the New Agey or self-improvement types too irritating (at least not now that The Secret is no longer in vogue).
I think I agree more with what one of my Chinese teachers spoke of a while ago. Cultivation metaphors being very popular in Chinese Buddhism, she lectured on the necessity of tailoring our explanations to the level of the audience - whether they are at the stage of "preparing the ground," or "planting seeds," or "developing good roots," or "gathering fruits."
Then again, maybe advising a newcomer to "ignore karma and rebirth for now, if you're not comfortable with these ideas" is a bad practice and only causes them more difficulty later on.
Thoughts?
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Comments
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hoka-hey,
bujinin
I'm not sure what you mean precisely, and I completely agree with you.
For me, Buddhism Lite is like those zero-alcohol lagers: all the reason for imbibing removed and only the disgusting taste left. It is the Buddhism of garden ornaments rather than shrines.
For all that, it seems like a common occurrence in the spread of an idea. I am not convinced that all the "Christian" symbols in Roman villas are signs of faith but rather of fashion.
I was never a smoker, but I came to Buddhism much the same way that chap did. I got interested in MBSR (mindfulness based stress reduction) programmes as a non-drug treatment for chronic migraines. Not knowing the difference between MBSR and zazen, I then presented myself at the local zen centre for meditation instruction! I was still just a teenager at the time so my ignorance may be understandable, if not excusable.
Apparently the "stop smoking guy" was referred to the meditation class by his doctor. And I do sympathise with the Zen teacher's lament that no other religious organisation would be treated this way... I mean it's unlikely that someone would be told to join a mosque in order to quit smoking!
Simon, you crack me up! I find it interesting that so many non-Buddhists like having Buddha sculptures, etc around. I guess it's to the Buddha's (or maybe the artist's) credit that even people who don't know him find him good company.
I don't see any problem with people coming to B(b)uddhism for whatever they see it offering. Everybody starts where they're at. If you're there because you think it'll help you stop smoking, OK, that's cool. Maybe it will, maybe it won't, but all the same you'll have the precious opportunity to hear the Dharma, and maybe that'll start some things cooking. My teacher, for instance, teaches two kinds of classes, ones for anyone and ones for close students (read "card-carrying Buddhists"). In the former, she usually makes it a point to say that she hopes that whatever the person is there for, she hopes that they are able to take home something useful from the teaching that will help them in their lives. Of course, she has somewhat higher expectations from her students, that's only natural.
The same was true of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He realized that not everyone wants to necessarily be a Buddhist, but that everyone could benefit from practicing meditation, so he started a separate organization apart from his Buddhist one called Shambhala Training. It was very successful and got a lot of people meditating who would have never dreamed of calling themselves a Buddhist!
Palzang
On tyhis, we can deceive ourselves as on so much else. If we see clearly our intention and know it to be "quit smoking" or "benefit all beings", we will also know, just as clearly, 'where we are'.
I'm with everybody else so far on this topic. We have to start where we are and wherever that is is okay by me. I find it a bit silly for that Zen teacher to be offended by one student's good intention. If the student had said he wanted to learn zazen because he was an evil genius and was planning to take over the world, well, that might be different.
In my humble little opinion, the more we practice and study Buddhism the less "offend-able" we can become. We don't hold on to our ideas of how things ought to be as tightly as we did and we don't take ourselves as seriously as we once did. Hopefully we don't sweat the small stuff as much either. I mean, fragility of ego is not exactly one of the hallmarks of practicing Buddhism, is it?
It's when that belief makes you do bad things, then you have a problem.
Word.