Attitudes of Western Buddhists: 5 Questions to Answer

[Sanghamitta]

Alan your no's two three and four appear to be designed to filter out certain kinds of Buddhism.

[mikenz66]

Hi Alan,

Do you believe we are all interdependent?
Do you believe in "Buddha Nature?
Do you believe we have "No Self"? If so, what is the goal of you meditation?

I think the questions asked are about attitudes towards the relative importance of dana, sila, bhavana. Perhaps there should have been more specific question about sila.

Your alternatives are rather technical, not really about attitude to various aspects of the Path. Besides the first two I quoted don't have much relevance to Theravada.

Metta
Mike

[A Medic]

1. Are you a Buddhist?
Yes
2. Are you interested in Buddhism because of the meditation?
No not entirely.
If you are a Buddhist ;
3. Do you see ‘ meditation’ as most relevant to the Dhama pracctice rather than other social meritorious activities? why?
Yes I do. I believe for me meditation is a chance to directly confront our "self".
4. Do you think to give material requisites to monks (Dana) can generate merits across Samsar (transsferring to next lives)?
and how this activity is important to you?
Honestly I don't know. I try not to think of stuff in the terms of next life, and stuff.
5. Name (can be a fake name), nationality, sex, status (monastic / lay), education (such as BA etc.) , martial status , age
Casey, American, male, lay, in college, single, 25

[alan]

Take a good look at those questions. Are you familiar with what in politics is called a "push poll"? It is a tactic designed to elicit a response--one the poller wants.
Now, I'm not saying these are the same. But boil down the questions. What do we see? In my opinion it is this:
How much do you give? Why don''t you give more?

[mikenz66]

Hi Alan,

What do we see? In my opinion it is this:
How much do you give? Why don''t you give more?

I don't really see it like that. While it might be worded better, I see the questions as probing different attitudes to the Path. The Buddha taught people generosity and virtue first, as a foundation for meditative development, and that's the way most Asian people I know understand the Path. Some in the West see the Path as just meditative technique. Those questions will certainly reveal that difference in attitude.

Mike

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Mike,

Yes, I read the questions as an attempt to prove or disprove a similar hypothesis.

Metta,
Retro.

[mikenz66]

Actually, though I know the "theory", I do find thinking about these questions challenging.

Would I skip my morning meditation to make breakfast for the monks at my Wat? Which action would be more meritorious?
Ummm.... I could claim my cooking can't compete with the women who do that...
Excuses, excuses...

Mike

[shjohnk]

I am confident this is not a 'data mining' scheme as it was posted by a member of the Sangha. I guess if you are skeptical, the best thing might be to just ignore the survey and let the people who feel so inclined answer it. As for what questions to ask, surely the person who is doing the research is clear what kind of information they are looking for?