Why so few Western Buddhists?

[alan]

Liberalism is not the opposite of religion. It is aware, thoughtful, decent humans who care about others and want to create a better society based in Buddhist--or humanist, values.
As a California Liberal, I am trying my best to stay to the truth, and make the world a better place. What is wrong with that?

[No_Mind]

Is lack of a place of worship so important? Buddhism requires no place of worship. I have none to attend, many of you have no temples to go to.

Without sounding pompous I thought that in case of Buddhism the temple is between one's ears.

What I meant in OP is with such a large percent of irreligious population (presumably turned off religion by stories of the Red Sea parting and Immaculate Conception .. not to mention Christian guilt) who are educated and own laptops and have internet connection .. would have found Buddhism to be appealing since resources are widely available on the internet.

In my case .. back in 2013, I was searching YouTube for meditation instructions .. came upon Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu's videos .. watched a few of his videos and was intrigued .. searched more .. read Ven Gnanarama's book Essentials of Buddhism, Bhikkhu Bodhi's The Noble Eightfold Path and few more .. came across Dhammawheel and Aloka's Buddhism Without Boundaries .. took refuge in a small monastery/temple and became a Buddhist .. after about six months stopped attending the temple because nothing happened there (as in no Dhamma talks ever took place .. just Buddha Vandana and dana)

Buddhism is a religion that can be pursued without living close to a temple.

Of course there can be the argument that my Kamma was ripe enough for me to discover and be fascinated by Buddhism ..



No_MInd

[Digity]

I think the main issue is that Buddhism goes against the grain and the vast majority of people want to go with the grain, since it's smoother. Following the Buddhist path properly involves going against your own tendencies and changing deeply conditioned patterns. This is long, hard work. On top of that, you need to be able to wrap your head around the teachings. It's not like someone can pick up Buddhism in a day and get it. It takes years of contemplating and making mistakes, coming back, etc, etc. Remember, the Buddha was reluctant to teach the Dhamma at first, since he knew what people were like. Buddhism is never going to be super popular, when taught in its truest form. It's just because it's challenging and tough at times. Regardless, those who see the value in what the Buddha taught and understand it sufficiently enough will push through those difficulties and keep going. But again, that's a small number of people.

[robertk]

It's those damn worms!
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=30137

[Mr Man]

"white people" are formally asked to give up their seats to "people of color".

Isn't this racism?

Hi SarathW
What part of above sentence is "racism"?

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Mr Man,

Are you serious? It's Rosa Parks in reverse!

Can you find the racism in the following sentence?

"people of color" are formally asked to give up their seats to "white people".

Metta,
Paul.

[SarathW]

What part of above sentence is "racism"?

What is the logic behind that action?
Retro already asked the question what I withs to ask too?

[Mr Man]

What part of above sentence is "racism"?

What is the logic behind that action?

Hi SarathW
dharmacorps said it was "in a move geared towards "social justice". But I guess you would really need to ask those who organized the event.

Retro already asked the question what I withs to ask too?

What was that?

[SarathW]

Retro ask a question in the previous post.
What is your answer to it?

[Mr Man]

Hi SarathW

Retro ask a question in the previous post.
What is your answer to it?

This question

""people of color" are formally asked to give up their seats to "white people".

There is no context. It is not, in my opinion, intrinsically racist.

Racism means a view that one race is superior to another. If a person is asked to give up a seat because they are deemed inferior due to their race it would be racism.

-

SarathW were you going to answer the question I asked you ?

"white people" are formally asked to give up their seats to "people of color".

Isn't this racism?

What part of above sentence is "racism"?

[SarathW]

Racism means a view that one race is superior to another. If a person is asked to give up a seat because they are deemed inferior due to their race it would be racism.

Ok.
What you are saying is this was just a gesture in good will.
Something like a "sorry" statement by Kevin Rudd of Australia to Aboriginal people.

[binocular]

This question

""people of color" are formally asked to give up their seats to "white people".

There is no context. It is not, in my opinion, intrinsically racist.

Racism means a view that one race is superior to another. If a person is asked to give up a seat because they are deemed inferior due to their race it would be racism.

In what context would it not be racist to ask people of X color to give up their seats to people of Y clor?

[Mr Man]

Racism means a view that one race is superior to another. If a person is asked to give up a seat because they are deemed inferior due to their race it would be racism.

Ok.
What you are saying is this was just a gesture in good will.
Something like a "sorry" statement by Kevin Rudd of Australia to Aboriginal people.

Hi SarathW
I don't know the reason behind it. All I have read is an anecdote about a non-specific "Meditation Center". From what dharmacorps wrote I'm not even sure if dharmacorps experienced being asked to give up his seat to "people of color" first hand.

[Mr Man]

This question

""people of color" are formally asked to give up their seats to "white people".

There is no context. It is not, in my opinion, intrinsically racist.

Racism means a view that one race is superior to another. If a person is asked to give up a seat because they are deemed inferior due to their race it would be racism.

In what context would it not be racist to ask people of X color to give up their seats to people of Y clor?

In any context where the reason for this was not based on a belief that Y was superior due to their race.

Possibly in a bay area "Meditation Center".

[dharmacorps]

Just to clarify, I find the practice contrary to dhamma. Once I found out about it, I never again attended this "meditation center", so I never had the opportunity to be asked to give up my seat. I might also mention, no currently ordained monastic has attended an event there in years my guess is because of this.

On their website when you pay for classes (another issue), they tell you you will lose your seat if you are white and they are overbooked. This is not a secret-- this place has been featured in nationwide newpapers about how they handle exclusion of people.

Let's say the modern social justice warrior liberal viewpoint is right view and totally interchangeable with the dhamma the Buddha taught 2600 years ago. I don't agree with that at all, but let's say that's the case.

If you cling to that view and use it against others, you now have wrong view, and wrong actions with it. So even if you are "right", you are wrong. There is no wisdom in that process, just ego-clinging and anger.