Relating back to prior stories about the emergence of American Buddhism, this story<\/a> about the Dalai Lama\u2019s visit describes one woman who came to see His Holiness:<\/a><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Trudy Stern, of Buffalo, \u201ctook refuge\u201d in Buddhism, a formal acknowledgment of her commitment to Buddhist practice, about a decade ago. <\/p>\n She hasn\u2019t abandoned her Jewish roots, though, and sometimes refers to herself as a \u201cBu-Jew.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThere are lots of us,\u201d she said. \u201cI really don\u2019t practice Judaism. But I\u2019ll never not be Jewish.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/p>\n It raises the issue of identity amongst contemporary American Buddhists. Everyone who has converted into Buddhism necessarily converted from<\/span> some tradition or religion (some were raised strictly secular I suppose). What do we keep from those past traditions (which can include secular values such as equality and democracy)? What do give up?<\/span><\/p>\n As an aside, I began the introduction to Buddhist Ethics today in my course and was very quickly asked about just this thing\u2026 I\u2019ll post more on this as I find out more, but my initial response was that Buddhism (early Buddhism at least) clearly argued against suicide as an action which must have emanated from a disturbed mind, and that disturbed mind would cause a rebirth in a likewise disturbed place \u2013 hence suicide is not an escape from anything.<\/p>\n The question then arose, \u201cwhat about the monks who burned themselves in protest in Vietnam?\u201d My answer to that was a bit fuzzy, but I did find this letter from Thich Nhat Hanh<\/a> after class (he argues that these were not \u2018suicides\u2019 nor where they \u2018protests\u2019\u2026). I also found and read part of the lengthy academic essay by Damien Keown, \u201cBuddhism and Suicide: the Case of Channa<\/a>\u201d which looks most closely at a case in the Pali Canon (early texts) where the Buddha seems to condone suicide (Keown argues that Buddhism exonerates<\/span>\/states the blamelessness of this case, but does not condone<\/span>\/approve of it).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.buffalo.edu\/dalai_lama\/images\/dl_side_img.jpg\")
<\/a>This week I again caught site of the Dalai Lama gracing the front of the Buddhism section of my news-stream. He was in Buffalo, New York last weekend to talk primarily with lawyers about how Buddhism can influence the legal system (click here<\/a> for the official website for the visit with photos and video).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.buddhistchannel.tv\/picture\/upload\/jetli-shengyen.jpeg\")
<\/a>There was also the story of actor Jet Li (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) who is hoping that his new film, Fearless, will help reduce China\u2019s suicide rate<\/a> (photos from Jet Li\u2019s trip to Tibet<\/a>).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7907151-115925011009276820?l=americanbuddhist.blogspot.com\")
<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"