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Hello, it is I, the Sage, here to bring you up to date on some interesting STUFF.
And I, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, here to listen and learn.
Heb Dino, woah woah woah.
A bit about my background before we begin.
I’m white. I’m Canadian. And I have English, Irish and Scottish ancestry.
I am a baby purple owl.
My parents raised me with Buddhism as the primary spiritual belief system in our home.
I’ve identified with it on and off for years, often referring to myself as a Buddhist, though
at this point I would probably describe myself as Agnostic.
But I’m not really here to talk about my spirituality, I'm here to open up a discussion
on how Buddhism is taken up in the West, specifically by white people.
Like in other beliefs, there are different kinds of Buddhism. I’ve been exposed to
Theravadah, Zen, and Shambhala, primarily.
And Shambhala is the kind I’ve had the most experience because it's what my family has
identified with.
Shambhala was created in the West by Chögyam Trungpa, a Tibetan monk, and it was designed
to take into account its new context.
shambhala.org describes it this way:
“Since the 11th century, the revelation of terma is one way that Tibetans have continued
to introduce innovative teachings in every generation, appropriate to the needs of the
“The Shambhala teachings emerged as terma out of the visions and revelations of Chögyam
Trungpa after he had come to the west”.
“These teachings contain the essence of ancient wisdom, yet are tailored to the specific
challenges of modern living”.
According to Buddhist philosophies that I've encountered, anyone should be able to practice
Buddhism regardless of their race, gender, sexuality, nationality or even religion.
Even me.
Buddhism is not really even considered a religion by many who practice it, but rather a path
towards Enlightenment, a series of steps, practices or philosophies that are meant to
help you in life and in death.
And so, with this information, part of me feels like it's okay for anyone to practice
Buddhism. That it is not a form of cultural appropriation for people like myself to practice
it.
But, on the other hand, the intersectional feminist within me wants to pick it apart.
And I see no clear answers.
One thing that I have observed over my years of involvement in different Buddhist communities,
though of course my experiences are limited, is that they tend to be made up of older,
white, middle-to-upper class people. So obviously there are outliers but this is definitely
a trend, and it's a sort of unsettling trend.
Whenever you see a lot of white wealthy people benefiting from something that was not created
by their culture, you should definitely question it.
Nathan G. Thompson, a white Buddhist who makes a similar observation, writes:
“White Buddhists (in North America anyway) tend to be liberal, progressive, or somewhere
further left on social/political spectrum. There’s an almost default sense that racism
is something perpetuated by conservatives, regardless of whether it’s in the form of
ugly, individual actions or in the promotion and upholding of systemically racist structures”.
From Buddhism I have learned to try to maintain an open heart, have compassion for others
and practice letting things go. But just like we need to be mindful in our everyday lives,
we also need to be mindful of how we’re practicing Buddhism, and whether that practice
is anti-racist and non-appropriative.
Dr. A. Breeze Harper, a Black Buddhist and feminist, writes:
“What does racial homogeneity do to the collective white racialized subject’s consciousness
if they participate in a mostly white (and quite financially stable) Buddhist fellowship
in a nation in which whiteness is privileged? I actually wish that white dominated Buddhist
fellowships would add a rule that everyone has to participate in ‘mindfulness whiteness
‘ sesshins. It would be great if an added tenet to Buddhism, for such congregations,
could be, “We shall learn about how structural racism and whiteness impact our Zen practice.
We shall be open and loving to transforming ourselves and not become angry as we learn
about how white racial formation has deeply affected our Zen hearts”.
We need to question who these forms of Buddhism are available for and why.
As white people, we need to recognize that we didn’t make this. We don’t get to own
it, claim it, distort it, or whitewash it.
And I’m not saying that white people shouldn’t practice Buddhism at all, it's just that we
need to be mindful of how we're practicing it.
When you study and practice Buddhism, are you learning about and being respectful of
the culture from which it was produced, or are you romanticizing or trivializing that
culture?
Are you adorning yourself with ancient, sacred symbols from another person's culture without
fully understanding what those symbols mean?
Hopefully not.
Are you meditating in a room filled almost exclusively with white people? If so, why
is that?
Have you and your sangha discussed race or practiced “mindful whiteness” in any way?
Arun, of the Angry Asian Buddhist Blog, writes:
“It’s common parlance among English speaking American Buddhists to use the term American
Buddhist or Western Buddhist to refer to White people—or at the very least at the exclusion
of American Buddhists of Asian heritage. I can certainly concede that the prototypical
“American” in the media is a White American—but I hold the American Buddhist community to
a higher standard. Especially since most American Buddhists are not White”.
They also criticize Jerry Kobler, who wrote:
“Image is everything, and unless we figure out a way to make the image of the Buddha
hip and cool, we’d be better off figuring out some other way to present the techniques
without the awesome smiling face of our Eastern inspiration”.
Arun writes back:
“Bless his non-soul for proposing a sincere and unequivocal argument for whitewashing
Buddhism. He has no compunction whatsoever about smugly proclaiming that Buddhism in
America is far better off if only we can ditch the Asian guy”.
“The author disregards the basic fact that Buddhism in America enjoys an unbroken history
that stretches back over 100 years. For all those years, it is Asian Americans who have
constituted the outright numerical majority of Buddhist Americans—even today, we are
still the majority”.
Clearly, there are those who believe in actively whitewashing Buddhism, while others may be
doing so unknowingly.
So, what should we do about this?
Please share, strange monkey.
Nathan G. Thompson writes that:
“The way forward is going to require a lot of conversation, deep listening, deconstruction
of attachments to identity, and also new, more liberated ways to both embrace differences
and the Buddhist teachings on emptiness. This is especially true for white folks, who for
far too long as a group have failed at all of these activities”.
We need to question the ways in which we take up Buddhism as white westerners. We need to
listen to Asian Americans, other people of colour and non-western folks. We need to remember
that, while it may be okay for us to practice Buddhism, we are not authority figures on
Buddhism.
As a white person though, I can’t speak with any authority on this. I’d love to
hear what non-Western, non-white people have to say about these issues. I encourage your
discussion in the comment section or elsewhere on the interwebs.
And that’s all folks! That's it for me.
Bye bye! Oh, I mean, wait, stay for - I have an announcement which is that I'm starting
a podcast called-
*Music*
And I have English, Irish and Scottis-bleh blah bleh...
Even me... no.
Irish and Scottisansasndansd... Why can't I say that?
New new new new new new new...