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Do Americans Miss the Point of Buddhism?

HUFFINGTON POST
By Owen Flanagan, Ph.D.

What kind of Buddhists are American Buddhists? Buddhism is first and foremost a complex philosophy about the nature of reality, the self and morality. Philosophically what is interesting is the connection between understanding that I am no self and that I have reason to be maximally compassionate and loving to all sentient beings. Do most American Buddhists know about the philosophy or enact the moral message of Buddhism? In my experience the answers are "no." Most Americans who say that they are Buddhist mean they meditate, possibly regularly. Thinking that meditation is the essence of Buddhism would be akin to a group of converts to Catholicism thinking that real Catholics say Mass everyday because priests do. [link]
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Ernest Britton said…
It was in March, 2001 that religious extremists in the Taliban demolished two gigantic 6th Century CE Buddha's carved into the live rock in Pakistan. What they saw as blasphemous took away the opportunity for the rest of the world to explore one of the worlds largest faiths through its artistic tradition. What struck me about this essay by Professor Flannagan is that he believes Americans, even American Buddhist miss the point of the religious tradition. Most Americans are familiar with the fat & jolly buddha we see at restaurants and stores. There appears to be a connection to most of us about happiness and meditation are core to the Buddhist religious experience. Professor Flanagan even goes farther by saying that most American's consider Buddhism as a path to happiness, but when he asks his students, 'Was Jesus happy?' -- Was Buddha or Confucius happy? Was Mother Teresa happy? Socrates? Martin Luther King Jr.? Gandhi? Sojourner Truth?" He says that his students "immediately see that meaning, purpose, significance, flourishing and fulfillment are different from happiness and that happiness is not the main or most important thing." Nearly two thousand years ago the art form began but continues to flourish in any contemporary artists using Buddhist themes such as Bill Viola, in his video installations, John Connell, in sculpture, and Allan Graham in his multi-media “Time is Memory”. The current major historical Buddhist art exhibits at the Pulitzer Foundation in St. Louis and at the Asia Society in New York City offer Americans an opportunity to learn about the historical life of the faith, and to see how it has evolved through contact with other cultures as it spread throughout Asia (Pakistan, China, Japan, etc.) and the world. But whether one chooses the historical exploration or the contemporary, it is through the art forms that we see Buddhism beyond self-satisfaction of fat & jolly happiness and begin to realize that it is actually a tradition that teaches wisdom and goodness.
Sun Sep 25, 06:30:00 AM EDT
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