Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

I admire the Amish people for their simple way of life, even though they live in a very materialistic country like the United States. I wonder if there is a Buddhist community similar to this?

The Thai Forest Tradition live out in the middle of the woods in Thailand, trying to live the way the early Buddhists did.

In the past, there also used to be a tradition in Japan of Zen Buddhist monks who wandered around, homeless. Early Chan\Zen Buddhism was also structured through independent communes, much like the Amish, though I think they received outside financial support (from the government, maybe?) and don't believe they exist anymore.

I think that's about as close as you'll get. However, many Buddhist monks adhere strictly to Vinaya, which precludes personal property ownership, money, and going to movies, listening to music, dancing, etc..

I guess I should clarify that I was looking for a lay Buddhist's community similar to the Amish. I just imagine it would be a nice place to live, the community will support the monks and everyone would live a simple life away from modern influences like the Amish.

Dugu wrote:I guess I should clarify that I was looking for a lay Buddhist's community similar to the Amish. I just imagine it would be a nice place to live, the community will support the monks and everyone would live a simple life away from modern influences like the Amish.

Thich Nhant Hanh's lay community is probably the closest to that.

I guess the difficulty in finding a near equivalent, is that most Buddhist communities (in the broad sense) are composed of both renunciant and house-holder individuals, and that there are often clear distinctions between the roles of both. Though the former is somewhat voluntarily restricted in certain activities, the latter is largely not. Whereas for the Amish community, according to my very limited understanding, there is no renunciant / house-holder distinction, so even the religious leaders in the community have full time occupations and families, etc.

Santi Asoke, maybe

jcsuperstar wrote:Santi Asoke, maybe

very interesting

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperie ... h-preview/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I caught this excellent documentary on British t.v last night. It was difficult, for all their Christian religiosity, not to feel great sympathy for the Amish.
They seem to know something about surrender, non-attachment, and not-self. A very moving film.

I've lived near some Amish and have personally known a few of them.

What you see on television and popular media doesn't really capture an accurate portrait of them IMHO. For instance, most of the Amish aren't against modern technology, they are just slow adopters. Most want to make sure that anything new doesn't disrupt their way of life or interfere with their faith. Some of the Amish these days have cell phones and power tools. But of the ones that have cell phones they tend to have rules, like they only use the cell phones in a little phone booth away from the house to limit it's use.

Also, there's some disparity in the Amish community. Some of the Amish are fairly wealthy and own hundreds, sometimes thousands of acres of land. Most of this they rent/lease to other area farmers who farm the land with modern equipment. This alone can bring in hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars a year for the Amish. Of course, of the wealthy Amish, most of that is held by one guy which is the head of that family. These families can be pretty large with dozens of people, children, grandchildren, etc. Most of the children don't live nearly as well and have to obey the head of the family or they risk getting kicked out with nothing to their names.

They don't educate their children past about the 8th grade either. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but a good number of the Amish kids I've met seemed to be a bit slow... this also works against the kids since it makes it harder for them to find work outside the community and be able to leave.

I know some of the shows make it seem like an idealistic life, living off the land and whatnot, but the reality isn't always so.

Hi

Yes - thanks. Most of these points were made in the documentary,which was an honest portrayal. Of course, many of the Amish practices are questionable, if not bizarre. What made the film a powerful one for me, was the way it pointed up our own unskilful modes of living, and addressed, or illustrated, some profound existential questions that for the most part go unacknowledged.

imagemarie wrote:Hi

Yes - thanks. Most of these points were made in the documentary,which was an honest portrayal. Of course, many of the Amish practices are questionable, if not bizarre. What made the film a powerful one for me, was the way it pointed up our own unskilful modes of living, and addressed, or illustrated, some profound existential questions that for the most part go unacknowledged.

The PBS flash player didn't like me yesterday so I didn't get to watch the documentary you posted. I was just sharing my personal experiences. Seems to be working today, so I'll watch it later tonight when I have more free time.