Buddhism - Too Real For Americans?

Similar to Christianity, Buddhism has many branches. The traditional philosophy that the Buddha taught his monks is called the Theravada or the Teaching of the Elders, but this very deep teaching may be too strange and frightening for daily Americans.

This unpopularity is not unusual when we think the deeper teachings of many religions, such as Kabbalah in Judaism and Orison in Christianity. Population commonly talk a good story about God, but don't want to admittedly go there, opting instead for earthly glories such as sex, money, power, security and entertainment. Well-known things.

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For exactly these reasons, some Buddhist branches, for example, Zen, Tibetan, and many other divisions of Buddhism have split off from the original, definite Theravada, development their single brand of Buddhism more user-friendly, and have thus enjoyed great success in attracting followers, while the Theravada remains somewhat obscure in most of the world.

Theravada is called (Hinayana) the "small vehicle" because it appealed originally to a little whole of Population who were very serious in their practice, i.e., the Buddha's Sangha of monks or disciples, who had only one desire in mind: Enlightenment. In contemporary times, Theravada has evolved into a mainly public religion where ceremony and practices of generosity, harmlessness, and loving kindness have commonly substituted the austere practices of the Buddha and his disciples. However, these austere teachings are still practiced by dedicated Buddhist monks in the remote forests of Sri Lanka, Thailand and other Southeastern Asian countries, a practice relatively unchanged from the Buddha's times; teachings that I was fortunate adequate to participate in while living in forests of Northeast Thailand.

Zen, Tibetan, and the other branches are called Mahayana, the "large vehicle," which is more sociable and where multitudes can admittedly fit into the boat. Mahayana adjusts the traditional teachings so that they are palatable for the wider audience. A blend of Buddhism, German Romanticism, new age, and light and love seems to work well in the U.S.

Hinayana, or the traditional Buddhism, never altered the Buddha's traditional teachings in order to attract more followers because this formula has proven, over 2600 years, to be the fast and sure road to enlightenment. Being fully cognizant that this adherence to the definite philosophy little its popularity, Hinayana never altered its policy and has thus survived for many centuries, mostly under the radar, because it is the place one goes to get the original, profound Buddhist teachings that work.

Even though only a handful of Population ever get a hankering to go this far, adequate throughout history have recognized the Theravada as the real deal. The numbers, even today, that have come to be enlightened by practicing as the Buddha originally taught is a testament to its effectiveness. Thailand remains steady at about 93% Theravada Buddhist, and Sri Lanka about 70%, with large Theravada populations in Cambodia, Viet Nam, and Laos. There are about 100 million Theravada Buddhist worldwide, and about 2 billion Mahayana Buddhists globally counting China.

Buddhism is relatively new to America, arrival here only about fifty years ago through intellectual channels and Asian immigration. Also, Buddhist texts have only been relatively recently translated into English since the early 1900s, so Buddhism is in its infancy in America. Zen Buddhism arrived here commonly in the 50s, Tibetan Buddhism in the 60s, and Theravada Buddhism only in the 70s.

After Buddhism arrived, it appealed to westerners because of its logical advent - why should you believe what person else tells you unless you can prove it true for yourself? (Which is admittedly what the Buddha said). And the proven methods of Buddhist practice appealed to westerners, practices designed to free one psychologically so that one can live a peaceful, contented life, rather than being a "work in progress" where there is seldom any work... Or progress!

What the Buddha taught, when applied, leads to personal relaxation from stress, and a profound comprehension of life, opposed to second hand comprehension that is not the ensue of personal insight, but the ensue of what person else or some books tell you.

This scientific advent of experimenting and then experiencing comprehension for yourself, including enlightenment, immediately appealed to America's ideal of self reliance and the inherent tendency to be cautious about what others say (show me instead) which possibly is a backlash of media advertising and a growing disdain of organized, authoritative religions

Interestingly enough, the practice of meditation, when practiced correctly, results in enhanced comprehension reflecting an awareness of many good values, some of which are just now just arrival to the forefront on college campuses, such as taking care of our earth, (not polluting and deforesting just to make money), caring for all living beings, honesty and peace.

But alas, when it comes right down to it, when the deepest aspects of Theravada are looked into and it comes down to the truth of matters, many westerners run away and seek protection in Well-known surroundings. You could say that Asians are a bit tougher in this regard.

The Theravada Buddhist teachings run contrary to the world - against the world so to speak; against the stream of daily consciousness. Therefore, Theravada will never be popular in the world, as the world presently exists.

The Buddha said that the world's way is the way of desire, of wanting and thirst, and as such necessarily saddles us with negative drives such as selfishness, blind ambition, hatred, cruelty, and meanness, and finally violence and wars.

He said that worldling run after their thirsts, reasoning that the objects of their desires, when obtained, will make them happy. But instead of happiness, this craving for desires and the resulting clinging to them after they are achieved them come to be the prime causes of our stress.

He gets it right down to the nitty-gritty of human experience, which goes against the grain of our minds that admittedly believe that we can be happy by desiring and obtaining things. It goes against all gift logic and what we believe to be true.

He declared that when we stop this craving and clinging to our objects of desire, only then can the mind come to be happy and totally free. But who would believe that?

He doesn't get into God or heaven because he suggested that those things are merely thoughts and imaginations, the very things that keep us from seeing with intuitive insight, and will not help pull out the arrow of discontent. And that imaginings and thoughts only veil our true discontent by a psychological transference of responsibility. Only by solving discontent up front in the realm of reality can the mind then improve into super-mundane states. Otherwise, super-mundane states are only imagined and not admittedly experienced or achieved. It is these super mundane states that make Buddhism a religion rather than merely a philosophy.

As an example, the Buddha suggested seeing into this body of ours, seeing into the reality of it that we hide from, instead of seeing outside to gods or heavens. He said that this is the only place that we can be released by the truth.

I believe that this is good advice, because if we can't face the truth of our own body, which is right here in front of us to see, how can we ever hope to ferret out the truth of other things more complex and distant? Plus, when we do see the truth of this body and mind of ours, the truth of everything outside becomes approximately magically clear as well.

Of course, few have the courage to even effort this seemingly straightforward investigation into reality because we are so accustomed to living in images and illusions, and glancing past what we don't want to admit. We like to substitute fairy tales for reality, but in the meantime our discontent remains, even though we try to rationalize and justify it by our beliefs.

Buddhist monks who aren't particularly worried about popularity or a following will frankly suggest to you the truth about these things. They might suggest that when you study the body, you will gawk that it has a whole of holes, all of which secrete something; eye gunk, phlegm, mucous, feces, urine, sweat, snot, just to mention a few. And if you took all of these secretions and spread them out on your coffee table, this would be closer to the truth of the body than a body deodorized, made up, dressed up and ordained with jewelry and trinkets. Then he might suggest that the next time you have friends over, show them your coffee table - as a conversation starter.

When one does this study of the body from the standpoint of what the body admittedly is, it is at first quite depressing and disgusting, but like all of the Buddha's teachings, this becomes in time a big relaxation as one lets go of the body and all the perceived responsibilities for it's survival. The body then becomes just the body, to be considered maintained like a automobile, with no attachment or aversion.

This is an example of the deeper teachings that finally free us from our attachment and clinging to our bodies, an attachment which causes untold worry and heartaches. But who has the courage to look at the truth of life? Who has the courage to even look at their bodies?

In other words, the Theravada teachings are tough, but agreeing to the Buddha, the only way to come to be free. Otherwise we go through life kidding ourselves and wondering why we are always in a state of discontent. Of course, many times we don't even see that we are discontented, that's how mixed up we are. We don't see that our whole existence consists of nothing more than the constant stress of trying to satisfy our endless desires. If we aren't even aware of how we suffer every moment in life, and how we then spend an whole lifetime trying to fly this suffering, there is probably little hope for release.

One day the Buddha held up a handful of leaves and asked his monks which was greater; the few leaves in his hand, or the leaves on all the trees in the forest behind him. The monks answered that the leaves in the forest were of policy more. Then the Buddha said; that which he teaches is as the few leaves in his hand. Why do I only teach the few leaves in my hand? Because they are the only ones that can free you; all the other leaves in the forest cannot.

Buddhism - Too Real For Americans?

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