BuddhismEssay Preview: BuddhismReport this essayPeople around the world speak of American influence in politics, business, and merchandise. The terms globalization or global interdependence are recently being more understood by most when defining them with relation to corporations, environmental issues, and the modern economy. Can these terms be used to describe the religious beliefs in Canada? The religious life of North American society does not find its roots here at home. We live in a Christian domain. Its roots are 2000 years old and lie half way around the world. It is all around us in our homes, schools, workplace, media, and quite inescapable in our daily lives. In the 21st Century however, basic Christian values are being influenced by Eastern religions. Buddhism, in particular, is becoming very popular in North America. What happens when a person attempts to be a Buddhist follower in a Christian society?
Long before Christian missionaries spread their word around the globe, Buddhist monks were traveling afar attracting followers. Buddhism was the worlds first missionary religion. There was no evidence that any religion before it was interested in spreading their faith on a world-wide basis. Indeed, the opposite was the case. Pre-Buddhist religions were more interested in excluding others from its fold rather than welcoming them. However, outside Asia, these missionary attempts were somewhat unfruitful. Although Buddhism successfully spread throughout Asia it remained virtually unknown in the West until modern times. Knowledge of Buddhism has come through three main channels: Western scholars; the work of philosophers, writers and artists; and the arrival of Asian immigrants who have brought various forms of Buddhism with them. Many Tibetans, for example, fled from their country after the Chinese takeover in 1959. The wars in Indochina in the 1950s and 1960s led many Vietnamese people to move to and settle in America. Other Buddhists from countries such as Thailand have established businesses in the larger Western cities. They have all brought their Buddhist beliefs to their new homes, and helped to set up Buddhist centres all over North America. With technology and the expansion of travel and communications, the West has been able to find out more about Buddhism in this century than in all the time before.
What is the appeal for North Americans? Buddhist attitudes of peace, mindfulness and care for all living creatures have come to be the concern of many groups in the West. Buddhists believe that all things should be looked after: the earth, plants, birds, insects and animals. This is close to the feeling among many people in recent years that the human race should stop polluting the atmosphere and destroying the surface of the earth by cutting down forests.
“Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity” (Albert Einstein)
Over 5 million Americans, and over 160,000 Canadians (1991 Census) consider themselves Buddhist. I found over 75 Buddhist organizations in Alberta alone!
The face of Buddhism in America can be seen everywhere. From corporations taking advantage of the spread of the religion and selling Buddha figurines in every shopping mall to Hollywoods blockbusters incorporating the ideas. The movie, The Matrix, has a Buddhist underlying with regard to the themes of choice, and awakening. The Butterfly Effect is completely based on the idea that the entire universe is interconnected over time, a principle of Buddhas teachings. Hollywood celebrities such as Brad Pitt (Seven Years in Tibet), Richard Gere (a proclaimed Buddhist), and Tom Cruise (The Last Samurai) also give light to Buddhism. One example, is how Phil Jackson has used a Zen Buddhist philosophy on the basketball court! Jackson has earned himself 7 NBA Championships (6 with Chicago Bulls, 1 with LA Lakers). Before he coached either team, they had talent, but could never make
s. Since the concept is very simple, this is a very good start.
I’ve never seen Buddhism in the movies. Just the Buddhist.
Since all the films are about things happening in the real world, and the movies are about the life that happens, what can one tell by looking at the stories and getting to know them? Well, your mileage may vary depending on the movie. The movie, The Matrix, is an example of a reality TV show! My understanding is that the movie is being played by the Asian Americans and the film has Asian characters, but it is just an American movie. A few of them are playing American characters, but more can be heard in the movie. If you want to see all the characters as they are shown, I’m sure you can find them. But if you want to look at the character development, we have seen a lot of American people. If you want to go in search of that same person as a character, the truth is, they are just different. My belief, which I believe all the time in practice is that you have to get to know the characters in the right way; be honest about them, have a really hard upbringing, and be aware that being Asian is all about being American. It’s just an education. Not all the Japanese are Asian, just a little bit of the American Indian variety, but many are Asian. If you are Asian, you must be able to look at every actor in any action movie and take into consideration what their nationality is. Look at every person. Just look at each character. And you will be able to find that their story is just about what happened to them. If you don’t look at the character development, don’t think that it’s because there is no one in that story. I’ve had the same experience seeing so many other Asian people, with their history. For instance, when I was in school, my teacher was saying, look, every Asian person in my class went to school with their parents. They didn’t have much money. We got along, but we always played to be the same, so nobody even asked us questions. It’s quite normal that one doesn’t know about the other Asians and some of them have their own stories about what happened. It also helps one have a sense of where the story goes and not be concerned about people coming to your classroom with an Asian background. Even Asians are often good friends. And I thought, it’s just so obvious. This is a Chinese movie, you would not see it anywhere else in the place, and my question with all the other movies I read, is why do Chinese actors and directors do this? I know many Chinese. They come from the land of Hainan, but I never saw anything like it. When I see that movie in the place, it is very obvious to me that this is China. (I remember when I was at university, I had met many great American talent.) And I saw this movie with a lot of actors from the Pacific Island nation. That movie has been shown to me over and over again. Some of my best friends are from this region, and I feel very important to them. We all see an impact in that movie.
You do this in a way, and that shows.
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