Reshaping of Buddhism in the United States

...and transforming American society

By Brian Bauerle

It might be interesting to explore some of the things that will happen as Buddhism comes into America. One of the things that I think will happen is that Buddhism will become much more casual and can be much more connected.

I've been thinking about what kinds of changes Buddhism will go through as it becomes more and more popular in the West. Understand that this is just a thought process. One of the things that I'd like to do is ask you and check with you to see how you think Buddhism is going to look in America as it becomes more popular.

I think Buddhism is the right medicine at the right time for America. I think we are going to see a big explosion of Buddhist centers. If you look at Tricycle magazine and look at the centers that are coming in it gets bigger and bigger. I look at it and say "Wow, this is exciting. Something is happening. There is real growth here."

So we know that changes are going to take place and it is fun to think about those and what they will mean.

One of the things that I've seen is there are a lot of good women Dharma teachers. I think that as Buddhism comes into the West it will be much more gender equal. I don't think we will have problems with women teachers. There will be much more of a sense of equality even more than in other countries. I think it will be scientifically compatible. I think the Buddhist philosophy that comes will be connected with science enough so that it appeals to those people that are very much in the linear thinking realm but need that sense of soul and spirit at the same time.

I think it was Einstein who said "science without the spirit is blind and spirit without science is lame." I think we will see an interconnectedness between science and spiritual. I think we will see an integration where science becomes, in a sense, acknow-ledges, that there are a lot of things that are just a part of the miracle of life that we may understand later, but we don't know. There will be a dimension of science that is compatible with spiritual tradition. I think it was Einstein who said "science without the spirit is blind and spirit without science is lame." I think we will see an interconnectedness between science and spiritual. I think we will see an integration where science becomes, in a sense, acknow-ledges, that there are a lot of things that are just a part of the miracle of life that we may understand later, but we don't know. There will be a dimension of science that is compatible with spiritual tradition.

I think Buddhism in America will be ecologically based. As we raise our consciousness, we raise our conscious-ness about not keeping the environment polluted. We work a lot with pollution of the mind. An extension of that is let's stop polluting the environment that is around us.

I think Buddhism is going to be much more psychological in the West. As we start to look at "what is my practice and what are the defilements that I would like to get rid of in my life" psychological processes are a part of that and will be integrated into Buddhism. Many of the Western Buddhist teachers come from a psychoanalytic background. It is appealing to somebody who is looking at how do we change behaviors. The Buddhist teachings are an easy application in terms of changing who we are; changing behavior so we are getting rid of unwholesome behaviors and substituting more wholesome behaviors in an aware and conscious way.

I also think that there will be more of an emphasis on community. One of the things I've noticed since I've been back in the United States is that people feel they don't have communities that they feel real connected with. Extended families are not there as much as they were because people are moving around. Nobody drops by your house anymore for a cup of coffee. I remember that was my mother's life. The coffee pot was always on and someone would come by and the coffee would be poured and the conversation would be poured also.

I think that our sense of community is one of the things that people genuinely miss in their lives. There is sense of isolation. I find people are lonely. The kind of Buddhism that becomes more sangha oriented and where people try to get together more and to connect in relation to the emotional level of their lives will create the appeal that will help make Buddhism really popular in the West.

I think Buddhism is going to be service based. The service base that comes, can come from that sense of community. Us getting together and actually going out and doing service. Doing service is different than giving money.

I think there is another kind of connection that comes when we are involved with people that we care about and the work that we are doing. It might be painting the house of an elderly neighbor, it might be collecting things to take to a shelter. We will find ways to be of service to each other.

Recently I went through the death of my brother-in-law here in Chicago. One of the things I thought was quite beautiful was there are people that really make an effort to be of service to anyone who is dying. There are many hospice programs that are connected with Buddhism. I watched what one of those programs did for my sister and brother-in-law and thought, "Wow, this is beautiful and connected work". It was a Buddhist organization that was non-denominational and never said a word about Buddhism. They came in to help people with their dying loved ones. That is the kind of service that is inspiring and creates connection out-side of tradition.

As Buddhism comes to America it is going to be practiced based rather than tradition based. A lot of the trappings of the traditions will be there as they are needed for inspiration, but people will reinterpret them so they become applicable to a modern American life.

I think Buddhism will be meditation based. But the meditations will take much different form. There will be more meditations that are guided meditations, meditations that connect people with each other, dynamic meditations where people actually move and use movement as a part of meditation. There will be Tai Chi, Qi Gong, movement meditations, yoga and dance because there is a real sense to understand how do we work with our physical body and we ought to do that as a part of spiritual expression.

I also think that rituals will become personalized. People will say "I would like to do a ritual that represents me and who I am and do that ritual in a form with my sangha but make it alive and real for me right now.

There will be experimentation with our own ritual. A lot of people don't do a traditional marriage ceremony anymore, they do something that represents them a lot more. Rituals are going to personalize themselves.

I think that Buddhism is going to go outside of its tradition and it is going to mix a bit. There will be a consortium. There are a lot of the compassionate and loving values of Christ and the new testament. There are some wonderful books out such as Thich Nhat Hanh's Living Buddha, Living Christ. There will be a looking at the mutual understanding of religions and a compatibility that doesn't force it to become denominational

That is something that Buddhism can absorb because it is Buddhism; because of the nature of what Buddhism is. I think there is already a mix in Pure-land Buddhism with the Taoism and the I Ching.

We will see some real fun things. I was in Australia a couple years ago when the Dalai Lama did the Kalachakra there. All of the rock stars in Australia, as a way to give back for Buddhism and in a sense of spiritualism, put together a rap record. But, it was Buddhist based. It was originally 10,000 copies. I have seen that spread and is now on the charts in England and Australia. It puts rock and roll to Buddhism and appeals to younger kids. It is music that you can dance to, but carries with it a message of much higher spiritual value.