Buddhism in America

Buddhism in America

Buddhism first came to America in the late 1800's from the Europeans. 1893 is the year most often given to the birth of Buddhism in America. It was said to have come over during the first World Parliament of Religions, which took place in Chicago

The first known Buddhist monk in the Western hemisphere was, Allan Bennett. He eventually took the name Ananda Metteya.

As Buddhism began to flower in America, it began to influence important thinkers, who in turn influenced the practice itself.

While early in America's history, scholars, Transcendentalists and Theosophists knew about Buddhism, it was not until the early 1950's that most Americans heard of Buddhism. This greater exposure is thanks to the writers and poets of the Beat generation who took up Buddhist practice and incorporated it more blatantly into their widely published works. Later in the 1950's, Alan Watts began giving erudite public talks on Zen Buddhism. Shunryu Suzuki established San Francisco Zen Center and Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi established the Zen Center of Los Angeles. In the 1960's - the age of psychedelics - the more colorful Tibetan forms of Buddhism began to flower. In the 1970's, Insight Meditation Society, a lay meditation center, was founded in Massachusetts. In the 1980's and 1990's, Buddhism increased dramatically in America, fed by the influx of Asian immigrants, interest in martial arts, and the Internet. Currently, around 3 million Americans, or around 1 percent of the total population, consider themselves Buddhists.

The attitude of Buddhism is "come and see for yourself," which attracts many Westerners. Buddhists are not asked to believe in anything, but to follow the Buddha's advice to test ideas for ourselves. In fact, Buddha's final words were to, "be a lamp unto yourself, make of yourself a light."

The status of Buddhism today is compared to the way it was in 7th century Japan. It's gaining popularity, however in America it has been altered by various cultures and the need to put labels on it. They have to differentiate between American Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism for instance. In Japan, they don't make that distinction.

Even though there are variances, there are some core fundamentals that are still the same. One of those is the compassion for all life. This entails everything from plants, birds, insects and animals to humans.

*

Another aspect is the three treasures: the Buddha (the possibility of any human becoming enlightened), the Dharma (the teaching) and the Sangha (the community of noble disciples).

*

The final aspect is the Four Noble Truths

- Everything in existence suffers.

- Suffering is caused by greed, hate and delusion.

- Suffering and its causes can be stopped.

- The Eightfold Path provides a way to stop suffering and its causes.

A difference in the two practices is in the Eightfold path. Traditionally, the Eightfold Path is stated as "right," but in the American practice it is sometimes referred as "righting." This is because it describes the action of always making adjustments in one's life.

The first is the righting view; we view the world as it is with an open and accommodating attitude

The second is the righting intention; we abandon our preconceived notions of how the world should be

- righting speech; we say what needs to be said, very simply and in a genuine way

- righting discipline; we practice simplicity and do not overindulge

- righting livelihood; we harm none in earning money

- righting effort; we are sensitive about life

- righting mindfulness; we train our mind to think clearly and are aware of the details of our experience

- righting concentration; we are absorbed in the "now", which is fostered by meditation.

In addition to continuing traditional Asian practices, such as Zen, Buddhism in America developed its own unique style. In a series of talks in California in 1987, Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist, encouraged Americans to create "the true face of American Buddhism, one that is not foreign