Buddhist traditions in the West - Term Paper Example

For example, in 1959, the famous Japanese teacher Suzuki Roshi arrived in San Francisco, and was a key proponent of Buddhist values in the United States and beyond, writing a series of essays on Zen Buddhism. Mass migration from some predominantly Buddhist countries to the West has, of course, also helped in the dissemination of Buddhist religious culture, but it is questionable whether or not it then spread beyond the immigrant communities in their adopted countries. Later, Buddhism became associated with what might be called ‘New-Age’ spirituality, and became something of a fashionable religion, especially among those involved in the entertainment industry.

In the West, Buddhism is often thought of as an exotic and progressive, even modern religion, whereas in the East, where it has been developing for centuries, it is more likely to be thought of as traditional and familiar, and part of the basic fabric of society in many countries. Buddhist messages and motifs have become commonplace in Western culture in the past half century, and especially those associated with Tibetan Buddhism. Lopez (1998) found many examples of aspects of Buddhist culture being casually used in the West, and concluded that ‘Tibetan Buddhism has been in for some time’ (p. 2). For example, at the opening ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games, Micky Hart’s musical piece ‘Call to Nature’ was performed, and this work begins with the chant of a Tibetan monk from Gyuoto monastery.

On a more popular level, the 1995 film ‘Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls’ opens with the title character spending some time in a Tibetan monastery, while the 1992 Christmas edition of Paris Vogue magazine invited His Holiness the Dalai Lama as guest editor. While the Dalai Lama is held by Tibetan Buddhists to be the incarnation of the god of compassion, it is as much a political and cultural preoccupation as a spiritual one which gives His Holiness and other Tibetan figures such prominence in the West.

Since Tibet’s occupation by the People’s Republic of China, and especially since the flight of the Dalai Lama to India in 1959, the cause of a free Tibet, and an idealization of the life that went on in Tibet prior to the Chinese invasion, has become a major political focus worldwide. Furthermore, the current Western fondness for all things Tibetan stands in stark contrast to the attitudes of their forebears. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, to the extent that anything was known about isolated Tibet, its indigenous Buddhist practices were considered in some sense debased, and a perversion of proper Buddhist practice.

Furthermore, Hegel, in 1822, found it ‘both paradoxical and revolting’ that the Dalai Lama held temporal power as well as being worshipped as the reincarnation of a god (Lopez, 1998, p. 4). However, since the Tibetan Diaspora has spread around the world, and the Tibetan causes has attracted many high-profile followers, there has been a sea-change in Western attitudes towards Tibetan culture and the religion which pervades every aspect of it. For many, Tibetan culture represents what they see as the spiritual ‘