Lecture 37 - The West, Popular Culture, and Engaged Buddhism PDF

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The professor's name was Konden Smith. This is lecture #37. This is for exam four....

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RELI 160D4 The West, Popular Culture, and Engaged Buddhism

- Engaged Buddhism • Max Muller - Said that Buddhism is more than an other worldly religion - Somehow different than the material of the Western religion • Colonial resistance - Utilizing force to make change in society • Theravada world - Monasteries • Literacy, hospitals, hospice, environment conservation, relief efforts, etc

• Social safety net - Songha to protect dharma • Learning English, participating in government, watching TV, immersing into world to combat suffering, etc.

• Example: Saffron Rebellion - Burma 2007 - 100,000 monks/nuns - Economy of merit • Laity, monks/nuns, and government • All interconnected - Memory of British Colonialism 1

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- Violence • Thailand - Monasteries as military outposts and military monks • Myanmar - Democratic Karen Buddhist Army nationalism • Sri Lanka - Just War policy against Tamil Tigers - Body Bala Seria • Japan - Ikko-Shu • The mercy of Buddha should be recompensed even by pounding flesh to pieces

• One’s obligation to the teacher should be recompensed even by smashing bones to bits

• Tibet - Political fights - Western World • European enlightenment - Provided rationale to study Buddhism - Opened minds to East - Split western culture - Reform Buddhism for own needs • Motivation

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- Ro rule colonies and to contribute to science • World’s Fair (1893) - Parliament of Religions • New attitude to religion • Scientific study to find the universal essence - D.T. Suzuki • Marketed Zen for a Western audience • De-traditionalized - Zen as a spirituality and not a sectarian school of thought • Appropirating Buddhism - Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger • Understanding compassion - Father Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle (1898-1990) • Renzai master • Produces Zen retreats • Uses the Bible to create koans • Enlightenment could lead a Christian “along the line that ends in the vision of God”

• American Buddhism - American individualism reinterpreting Buddhism into a different context

- Smokey the Bear Sutra • Used as a Bodhisattva

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• American diversity - Anglo adoptions in the late 1950s and early 1960s • Big focus on Zen Buddhism - Asian-American Buddhism (immigration) • Question of identity • More American or more Asian - Bending Buddhism too far for Western secular norms - Questions of Buddhism relevance • Buddhism in Film - Little Buddha • Teaches Buddhism - Emptiness and impermeable • Buddhism compatible with the west - Popular culture • Rapping Monks - MC Happiness • Cereal - Advertising • Graphic novel - Osamu Tezuka • Buddha App - Access stories

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