{"id":1969,"date":"2013-01-20T18:09:41","date_gmt":"2013-01-20T18:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?p=1969"},"modified":"2013-01-20T18:31:24","modified_gmt":"2013-01-20T18:31:24","slug":"rise-of-the-non-religious-a-buddhist-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2013\/01\/rise-of-the-non-religious-a-buddhist-perspective.html","title":{"rendered":"Rise of the non-religious: A Buddhist Perspective?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
12th Western Buddhist<\/a> Monastic Conference \u2013 April 2007 \u2013 City of the Dharma<\/a> Realm \u2013 Sacramento, California \u2013 via UrbanDharma<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Huffington Post has a great discussion posted online<\/a> late last week on the topic of religion in the US today (click the link<\/a> for video). And all this week NPR has hosted a discussion of the topic, \u201closing our religion.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

Lacking, however, was a Buddhist (or Hindu or Jain) voice.<\/p>\n

What does the rise of the \u2018nones\u2019 mean to American Buddhists?<\/p>\n

As American Buddhists are very diverse, ranging from Asian \u201ccradle\u201d Buddhists who may be 2nd, 5th, 9th generation or otherwise to Asian \u201cconverts\u201d; European \u201ccradle\u201d Buddhists, generally restricted to 2nd or perhaps 3rd generation Buddhists; European converts, as well as Black, Latino\/a and (extremely rare) Native American converts \u2013 and others. Beyond the racial or ethnic groupings there are other ways of seeing American Buddhists: the curious, the committed newbies, the orientalists (those who think that since it comes from Asia it must be pure in a way that European traditions no longer are), the scholar-practitioners, the burn-outs, the secularists, and others<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

While drawing different sets of distinctions is helpful, it\u2019s also useful to talk about what they share in common as people in America (or \u201cthe West\u201d) in the 21st century: access to varying traditions (Buddhist and non-Buddhist), access to fellow practitioners around the globe, distractions due to so much access, relative wealth and political stability, advanced technology, and so on.<\/p>\n

Despite recent internet search trends<\/a>, Buddhism as a practiced religion is still on the rise in the US as far as I know (determining this for sure is rife with difficulties). But, assuming that to be true, it is worth asking why Buddhism is growing at a time when mainstream Christianity is shrinking. Part of the answer can come in the \u201cpackaging\u201d of Buddhism as a religion for our age: pro-science, psychologically astute, egalitarian, and so on. But Christians and others can package themselves in just this way. Perhaps there is a flexibility in Buddhism, as the \u201cnewcomer\u201d to the West, that Christianity is lacking. How many of us read with excitement the following: \u201cThe Pope has tweeted for the first time in Latin, a language Vatican officials claim is the perfect tongue to tweet in.\u201d (telegraph.co.uk<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world is this: \u201cMind and Life XXVI: Mind, Brain and Matter \u2013 Critical Conversations Between Buddhist Thought and Science<\/a>.\u201d Both religious leaders are engaging with modernity, but obviously in very different ways.<\/strong><\/p>\n

An obvious question is: is this flexibility inherent to Buddhism, or is it just a survival technique that will fade as (if) Buddhism becomes more dominant in the West? A quick survey of the history of Buddhism in various Asian contexts suggests the latter. While \u201cBuddhist Modernism\u201d presents a very visible face of Buddhism today, traditional\u00a0tendencies\u00a0and undercurrents are still common in every tradition<\/strong>. Of course, what makes Buddhism \u201cBuddhism\u201d is this very appeal to and connection with a historical past \u2013 a past that includes many things that modernists would like to ignore or cut away. Yet how much trimming can be done before the \u201cbodhi tree\u201d is no longer recognizable? \u00a0Such questions go beyond the simpler task of this post: to question how American Buddhists see the rise of the \u201cnones.\u201d<\/p>\n

My own guess is that the \u201cnones\u201d will actually provide a large(r) pool of potential Buddhists in the years to come.<\/strong> The movement will, no doubt, gain some numbers from Buddhist communities, but the general drift will be in the opposite direction. Buddhism in many (most?) forms in the West requires little in the way of faith (some degree of belief in karma may be expected, but I\u2019ve never witnessed a \u2018hard sell\u2019 on this or other tenants of Buddhist doctrine) or commitment. It\u2019s easy to drift in and, given the basic benefits of simply enjoying community and meditation or chanting, it\u2019s easy to gain some sense of benefit. As one gets \u201cdeeper\u201d into it, one will likely get more of a sense of the \u201cdemands\u201d of Buddhism<\/strong>: that one really needs to develop generosity and other basics of ethics, for instance, and that if one wants the kind of mental clarity promised in the traditions, one really needs to meditate regularly and perhaps even spend extended periods of time on retreat, and perhaps dealing with the effects of a direct experience of impermanence, non-self, and\/or (the pervasive nature of ) dissatisfactoriness.<\/p>\n

In any case, immigration (from already predominantly Buddhist countries) will play one important role in the future growth of Buddhism in America. Another key factor, however, will be cultural shifts. The last big shift: that of the late \u201960s and early \u201970s was a key turning point for Buddhism in the West. Are we in the midst of another similar era?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Huffington Post has a great discussion posted online late last week on the topic of religion in the US today (click the link for video). And all this week NPR has hosted a discussion of the topic, \u201closing our religion.\u201d Lacking, however, was a Buddhist (or Hindu or Jain) voice. What does the rise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism"],"yoast_head":"\nRise of the non-religious: A Buddhist Perspective?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Huffington Post has a great discussion posted online late last week on the topic of religion in the US today (click the link for video). 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