What are the hurdles hindering Dhamma propagation in the US?

[tiltbillings]

In addition, I can't really identify a Theravada Bhikkhu or Bhikkhuni that someone on the street could name as being a representative of the Dhamma.

Monastics are not the only qualified teachers of the Dhamma.

[MaeCheeWannabe]

As for the idol worship accusations...i was raised in tennessee and in my area it was drilled into us that Buddha is an idol. I am accused of "worshipping the golden calf" and idol worship a LOT and by my own relatives as well. This is not the majority...99% of people react politely, but in this state people get very prejudiced agagaunst anything not the same as themselves.

[thepea]

Any ideas for why 40% of Buddhists in the U.S. live in Southern California?

It is the mountain ranges that shield the west coast from the harsher energy in the central states, also the pacific ocean absorbs much, leaving this location an ideal place for change.

[Maitri]

Any ideas for why 40% of Buddhists in the U.S. live in Southern California?

It is the mountain ranges that shield the west coast from the harsher energy in the central states, also the pacific ocean absorbs much, leaving this location an ideal place for change.

I think the simpler and realistic answer is higher rates of immigration from Asia.

[The Thinker]

Does capitalism need Buddhism? - or who will feed the monks if everyone is a monk?

[Maitri]

Does capitalism need Buddhism? - or who will feed the monks if everyone is a monk?

Not everyone will be a monk or nun. That's not even been the case since the time of the Buddha. Personally, I think Buddhism is always be a minority religion in the U.S. as its core values are too contradictory to core American cultural values. It takes work to step outside those norms and identify with teachings that push against the mainstream convention, both secular and religious.

[Cormac Brown]

Copies of the Pali Canon are expensive.

You have Wat Metta in California, offering great translations of the suttas, completely free, and printed very elegantly. You could order some copies and distribute them to people and places who might be interested. I live in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where there is no Theravada Sangha, and am planning to do the same. They've just sent me a very generous shipment of books.

[Moth]

A major hindrance to propagating the Dhamma in the west, in my opinion, are the people who want to modify the teachings to suit their kilesa.

[Mkoll]

A major hindrance to propagating the Dhamma in the west, in my opinion, are the people who want to modify the teachings to suit their kilesa.

I agree. And it would be one thing if they did that and kept their new systems to themselves. I would have no issue with that and wouldn't even hear about it in the first place. But it's another when they propagate them, looking for attention and followers to validate their new Better Way™. Alas, there is nothing to be done to stop this but debunk them and make the teachings clear.

[Javi]

I just want to say I agree with Maitri here.

Theravada Wats just don't make the effort to propagate the Dhamma to Westerners, they are happy to remain strictly Thai or Lao affairs.

Meanwhile, most "Western" Theravada based groups are secularized and tip toe around the Dhamma. This is good and bad, its good because it can teach meditation to certain folks which might be turned off by the trappings and culture, but its bad because it doesn't create a strong sense of tradition and sangha, it just passes on a skill, and it mostly attracts a certain kind of white middle class demographic.

Also the fact that these two groups don't interact with each other much is also a problem.

A few places like Wat Metta and Abhayagiri attempt to reach out to more diverse demographics, so hopefully that is a sign that things are changing.

But yea, I am all about getting more colorful and fun too. I mean I like the serious, minimalist, somber approach but it probably is not helping.

[Zom]

A major hindrance to propagating the Dhamma in the west, in my opinion, are the people who want to modify the teachings to suit their kilesa.

My opinion: because of wrong approach to Buddhism from the very start (that is, people are taught only idealistic "meditation-nibbanic buddhism", not real life buddhism. This is why - no strong purely western lay communities, no such monasteries built around such communities, and 95% of material support to "wats & monks" comes from asian traditional buddhists, not from westerners. For a buddhism to put down roots in non-traditional country, it should have down-to-earth followers who do not "practise" Buddhism, but who lives by Buddhism.

[mikenz66]

My opinion: because of wrong approach to Buddhism from the very start (that is, people are taught only idealistic "meditation-nibbanic buddhism", not real life buddhism. This is why - no strong purely western lay communities, no such monasteries built around such communities, and 95% of material support to "wats & monks" comes from asian traditional buddhists, not from westerners. For a buddhism to put down roots in non-traditional country, it should have down-to-earth followers who do not "practise" Buddhism, but who lives by Buddhism.

I think this is correct. I don't see how there can be sustainable Western Buddhism if the only people involved are "serious Buddhists" (Zom's "meditation-nibbanic buddhism") who demand that the Dhamma costs them nothing. Judging from observing asian communities, it takes quite a lot of people and resources to build a real community.

This thread on Western Folk Buddhism may be relevant:
http://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=12718

The interesting question is whether the huge interest in mindfulness, etc, in the West (which could be thought of as a kind of western folk Buddhism) could ever lead to a suitable community.


Mike

[SarathW]

The interesting question is whether the huge interest in mindfulness, etc, in the West (which could be thought of as a kind of western folk Buddhism) could ever lead to a suitable community.

Yes only if mindfulness is taught in the context of Noble Eightfold Path. ie. Right Mindfulness.

[Zom]

The interesting question is whether the huge interest in mindfulness, etc, in the West (which could be thought of as a kind of western folk Buddhism) could ever lead to a suitable community.

No, because it has nothing to offer apart from a rather primitive psychotechnical exercise. People are interested in a short-cut method to solve all their problems quickly, but it doesn't work this way. And people won't establish communities around short-cut methods, well, because community is a long-term, not short-term thing

[mikenz66]

Sadly, that may well be true. The vast majority of mindfulness practitioners probably just want a quick fix.

However, it seems to me that the modernist/Buddhist/mindfulness people I know here who are also in the environmental-activist area might be the sort of people who would form a more cohesive group. Since you can't "save the world" on your own, so they are putting an effort into community. So perhaps Bhikkhu Bodhi is onto something by promoting a more engaged, community-oriented movement. That sense of community is not going to develop by people just meditating, no matter how "well" they meditate, and only a minority of us are likely to find the sense of community they are looking for in an ethnic monastery.


Mike