Buddhist Practices Make Inroads in the US

Eastern teachings have also hit mainstream America in the form of books about sports ("Sacred Hoops," by Chicago Bulls' coach Phil Jackson) and the American workplace ("Zen at Work: A Zen Teacher's 30-year Journey in Corporate America," by Les Kaye). An increasing number of magazines and the Internet offer information on meditative techniques, ways to find teachers, go on extended retreats, and form sitting groups.

"Everything has changed in Buddhist America," writes sociologist Don Morreale on a Buddhism-related Web site. "At retreats, you're likely to find yourself sitting next to a stockbroker or a therapist or a retired social worker who may or may not claim to be a Buddhist."

Such is the case at Ann Buck's Tuesday night sangha. Ninety minutes after her first three chimes, Buck repeats the gesture and her sitting-porch contingent circles informally in her candlelit living room. Representing a wide range of ages, job descriptions, and spiritual faiths - some lapsed, some not - each will speak in turn about personal experiences and concerns.

"I have learned a process that helps me keep from getting caught up in daily frustrations, depressions, and anger," says Shera Raisen, a young doctor who grew up Jewish and still attends synagogue regularly. Like many Americans experimenting with Buddhist practices, Ms. Raisen has not abandoned her faith, but rather supplements it with techniques she learned.

Many branches

Those who investigate Buddhism further encounter a choice of paths with exotic-sounding names: Mahayana (including Zen), Theravada (a school which includes the technique of vipassana), and Vajrayana (Tibetan).

In Zen Buddhism, one of the most austere branches, adherents employ the primary tools of sitting meditation, "following the breath" and stilling the mind. Practiced mostly in Japan and China, a subsect uses riddles known as koans ("What is the sound of one hand clapping?") to steer practitioners into new modes of awareness. Theravadan vipassana meditation asks students to be aware of thoughts and bodily sensations as a way of showing their impermanent nature, and to free adherents from too closely identifying with them.

Colorful ceremony

Tibetan Buddhism is most often characterized as employing colorful ceremony, chanting, and visualizations. In keeping with a trend that is cutting across all religions, in which religious seekers pursue the more affective side of spiritual practice, Tibetan Buddhism is currently attracting more attention than the others.

One reason many from Christian and Jewish faiths augment their spiritual life with Buddhist practices, say scholars, is that Buddhism, while not monotheistic, accepts the idea of a divine force.

"Buddhism properly understood doesn't really rule God out," says Robert Thurman, professor of Indo-Tibetan-Buddhist studies at Columbia University in New York. "The idea of a God force or a divine force is perfectly compatible with most types of Buddhism."

Sociologists also note that, partly because of firsthand experiences as well as books and other publications, the concerns that associated Buddhism with escapist philosophies in the hippie 1960s seem to have subsided.

"I am now teaching the sons and daughters of practicing American Buddhists and teachers," says Lisa Hallstrom, who teaches a course on Buddhism in America at Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. "That has created a huge level of acceptance and exposure."

That acceptance may also stem from increased scrutiny by adherents in the wake of scandals concerning alcoholism and seduction of students that surfaced after Buddhism's first big wave in America. More information now exists about the pitfalls of choosing teachers, as well as exploring uncharted mental territories.

The incidents may also accelerate the relaxation of hierarchical, monastic structure - typical of many Asian forms of Buddhism - that could make the American brand of Buddhism unique. "That means it will become more democratized, and individualized and less open to corruption from above," says Ann Robbins, a historian in Santa Monica, Calif.

Another sign of strengthening American roots may lie in "engaged Buddhism," which, adherents say, tries to translate Buddhist principles into social action. Participants such as Roshi Bernie Glassman have opened Zen centers for the homeless in New York City. Others are working with the elderly and in hospices, as well such issues as nuclear armaments.

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