Posted on 05/08/2010 8:40:23 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
What's a "nice" religion like Buddhism doing in a rotten place like Canada?
Very well, thank you. And that's despite the many suggestions from a new book that self-satisfied "Western" people stereotype and act condescendingly toward Buddhists from Asia.
I'm exaggerating the extent of Canada-bashing that occurs in the new book, Wild Geese: Buddhism in Canada (McGill-Queen's University Press), edited by Canadian-based scholars John Harding, Victor Sogen Hori and Alexander Soucy.
But there is a streak of political correctness running through Wild Geese, which tends to paint Canadian "Westerners" as haughty colonialists and Asian immigrants as virtuous victims of European-rooted bigotry.
The persistent theme of Western guilt in Wild Geese distracted this reader from the otherwise valuable contribution the comprehensive book makes to understanding fast-growing Buddhism in Canada.
Since the 1970s, Buddhism has gone from fringe to mainstream in this country. It's done so both through strong Asian immigration and as a result of the likes of the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and the late Chogyam Trungpa's Shambhala International (with global headquarters in Halifax) becoming almost household names.
In light of the success of Buddhism in North America, one Wild Geese contributor correctly says that the continent's media, movies, schools and magazines consistently portray the religion as "gentle," "non-violent" and "nice."
While Western religions such as Christianity and Islam are frequently excoriated in the media, Henry Shiu writes that Buddhism in North America has the opposite problem. It runs the danger of being the victim of an "overly positive stereotype."
While this is true, one quibble with Wild Geese is that it contributes to that "overly positive stereotype" by acting as if Asian forms of Buddhism are generally beyond criticism, while lobbing shots at Westerners and their proclivity toward cultural imperialism.
Before examining whether Canada's wildly diverse forms of Buddhism are as "nice" as many North Americans believe, let's first look at how the religion that Siddhartha Gautama founded 2,500 years ago in India is doing across the vast expanse of Canada.
Even though the first Buddhist priest came to Canada in 1904, Wild Geese says the religion functioned only on the periphery of Canadian society until 1967, when the country's immigration policies stopped restricting immigrants based on racial origin.
As a result of Buddhism expanding exponentially in Canada through Asian immigration and conversion, the book's contributors estimate that roughly 600,000 Canadians will count themselves Buddhist on the 2011 census.
That would make Buddhism Canada's third-largest religion, after Christianity and Islam. Most of Buddhism's adherents are in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
In Metro Vancouver alone, there are more than 80 Buddhist temples and meditation centres. Almost half these organizations, albeit the smaller ones, are directed to Western audiences, mostly through Tibetan and Zen forms of Buddhism.
Most of Canada's Buddhists are recent immigrants or their offspring. Roughly half appear to be of Chinese origin and one third are Southeast Asian, especially Vietnamese. Anywhere from 15 to 25 per cent are "Western" converts.
Wild Geese, however, goes into extreme detail about why these Statistics Canada data don't tell the full story of Buddhism in this country.
For instance, the authors rightly maintain the census doesn't capture how ethnic Asian people often practise several religions at once. I have met Chinese immigrants in Vancouver who nonchalantly attend both evangelical Christian churches and Buddhist temples.
Census Canada also does not include what Thomas Tweed wryly calls "nightstand Buddhists."
They are the host of individualistic Canadians who sympathize with Buddhism but don't join its institutions. "They read themselves to sleep at night with a book about Buddhism."
Even though Wild Geese's academic contributors bend over backwards to avoid offending Buddhists with Asian origins while having no such qualms about hurting the feelings of Western converts, a closer reading of the book reveals that things aren't always "nice" within Buddhism in Canada.
Many Westerners associate Buddhism with meditation, non-theistic philosophy and avuncular teachers like the Dalai Lama.
But the book's authors reluctantly acknowledge that Asian-Buddhist groups and others in Canada are not above rivalry, seeking converts, promoting supernaturalism and doing good works in the questionable pursuit of cosmic "merit-making."
The chronic lack of communication and even rivalry among ethnic and Western Buddhist groups in Canada was exemplified in Toronto recently when long-standing efforts to co-celebrate Vesak, Buddha's birthday, on the first full moon in May were cancelled.
Buddhists are also not above the factionalism that has struck Christianity, Judaism and all other major religious and secular movements. Different Buddhist groups in Canada vie for the claim to superiority.
"Despite the surface agreement that the many cultural forms of Buddhism are equally legitimate, there is jockeying for privileged position," conclude the authors of Wild Geese.
One example of status-seeking among Buddhists has been the competition between two large missionizing Taiwan groups in Canada -- the charitable Tzu Chi movement and the educational Fo Guang Shan organization.
Ethnic Asian Buddhist groups, in addition, can be just as hierarchical and patriarchal as any of the more conservative manifestations of Western religion.
As Shiu writes, "The organizational structure of Fo Guang Shan bears striking similarity to the papal hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church."
Wild Geese, however, retains most of its darts for the "American Buddhism" practised by Western converts in the U.S. and Canada, which the book argues should be seen as simply another form of ethnic Buddhism.
The proponents of American Buddhism have the audacity, the book claims, to believe they can improve "distortions" in traditionalistic Asian Buddhism.
Instead of applauding their efforts, Wild Geese almost chastises "American Buddhist" converts for believing in the kind of self-correcting reform that so-called liberal Christians and Jews try to bring to their traditions.
The book takes shots at "American Buddhists" for thinking their form of the religion "is going to be egalitarian, not hierarchical; it will be gender neutral, not sexist; it will be democratic, favouring lay people, and not elitist, privileging monastics."
What's more, there are many Western converts and "night-table" Buddhists who are not at all drawn to the more supernatural and ritualistic forms of Buddhism followed by many ethnic Asians.
Those Asian Buddhist practices include fortune-telling, the selling of protective amulets, reading palms, seeking intercessory help from "supernormal beings" and "merit-making," or good deeds meant to build up positive karma and lead to a better life in one's next reincarnation.
All this said, Wild Geese, generally, makes a strong contribution to the serious study of Buddhism in Canada. While dry in tone, it focuses on crucial aspects of a global cultural interaction that is dramatically changing the way countless North Americans get through their daily lives.
My minor beef is that while Wild Geese's writers validly suggest that Western converts to Buddhism are often blithely dismissive of the religion's Asian manifestations, the authors themselves seem blind to the possibility the charge of being disrespectful could be made in reverse.
Terrified by the possibility they could be accused of being unfair to immigrants, the book's contributors seem unwilling to contemplate that some ethnic Asian Buddhists could be just as adept at creating an "us" against "them" mentality as any Westerner.
As the many varieties of Buddhism continue to strengthen in Canada, perhaps the next academic book will be more frank about the good, bad and indifferent manifestations of this great Asian religion -- just as it would be about any Western religion in this country.
....Many Westerners associate Buddhism with meditation, non-theistic philosophy and avuncular teachers like the Dalai Lama. But the book's authors reluctantly acknowledge that Asian-Buddhist groups and others in Canada are not above rivalry, seeking converts, promoting supernaturalism and doing good works in the questionable pursuit of cosmic "merit-making"....
....The book takes shots at "American Buddhists" for thinking their form of the religion "is going to be egalitarian, not hierarchical; it will be gender neutral, not sexist; it will be democratic, favouring lay people, and not elitist, privileging monastics." What's more, there are many Western converts and "night-table" Buddhists who are not at all drawn to the more supernatural and ritualistic forms of Buddhism followed by many ethnic Asians.
Those Asian Buddhist practices include fortune-telling, the selling of protective amulets, reading palms, seeking intercessory help from "supernormal beings" and "merit-making," or good deeds meant to build up positive karma and lead to a better life in one's next reincarnation.
I like the inventive concept of mechanized prayer through wind driven prayer wheels.
Ask Christians in Laos or Nepal how “nice” Buddhism is.
Any religion can be the excuse for people to mistreat one another.
Let’s see, I think we could call it, YOPIOB.
And Tiger is a Buddist
Perhaps the next academic book will be more frank about the bad, bad and bad of another "great" Asian religion. Nah...didn't think so.
The word 'religion' has lost its meaning.
Just look at the FRUITS of various religions. If you want to belong to a sect that is so easily “run over”, will not even fight for the right to live, you’re welcome to it. Or Islam, which is the opposite. C’mon, you know they have to be better than Chriiiiisteean. Scientology is even better, with the aliens and the fruits and nuts of Hollywood.
Oh Yes, the peaceful non-violent Buddhists.
That myth died for me when I personally saw Buddhist Monks with bull horns egging on young demonstrators in Saigon to attack Vietnamese police in Saigon (1966) and beat and trample two of them to death for nothing.
The monks of course were safe at the BACK of the mob.
He abused his wife and treated women like objects. If that had been someone who called themselves a Christian, the media would have had a field day with it. All Christians would have been labeled hypocrites, ect. It just goes to prove you can call yourself whatever religion it is you want, but, we are all prone to sinful behavior.
Met a man who commanded Gurkhas, many of them Buddhist, in Hong Kong during the cultural revolution. A ChiCom machine gun was firing into the Colony. The British did not want to fire back and have it escalate. The Gurkhas piled their arms in a courtyard, pulled out their Kukri’s and took off in a trot for the border. 14 hours later they came back grinning with the Chicom machine gun slung over their shoulders.
CIA trained Buddhist gurkas in Colorado to fight under the Dali Lama too (another misconception is the Dali lama has always shunned violence).
“Any religion can be the excuse for people to mistreat one another.”
Precisely, which leads me to the conclusion that God is not a big fan of religion.
My conclusion is that people are sinners.
Religion is almost always one’s way of gaining a sense of superiority over another.
That is the root of all the ills of it.
Besides, this sort of superficial examination of religions is devious and misleading.
The Buddhists could retaliate by saying that the NAZIs were Christian, and that Hitler was Catholic.
The key is to examine the respective scriptures. That way, one can see how Islam commands violence against non-believers, as part of its Quran. Repeat with other religions.
Very interesting
they are nasty little buggers. Did they play soccer with the guys head? I swear they are afraid of nothing. Saw some of their handiwork in Indonesia while on TDY. It's amazing to think that the Brits have had access to these guys for decades. I wonder what a Marine Regiment of Gurkhas would be like........ besides short.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.