Buddhism: Just for Asians?

[catmoon]

I was wondering if anyone who isn't culturally (or perhaps biologically) "Asian" can therefore truly be Buddhist.

let me ask you this...can anyone who wasn't living in India 2500 years ago "truly" be buddhist?
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Or another variant- if you accept the reasoning that implies Buddhism is just for Asians you have a problem. Anyone from India can use the same reasoning to demonstrate Buddhism is just for Indians and they have priority here. So the Japanese, the Thais, the Koreans, the Chinese, even the Tibetans would not be "real Buddhists"! That's how crazy this idea is.

[PadmaVonSamba]

I was wondering if anyone who isn't culturally (or perhaps biologically) "Asian" can therefore truly be Buddhist.

This question has been asked to my teacher (lama) many times.
He said that because the causes of suffering
(conflicting emotions, attachment, greed, anger, ignorance, etc.)
are exactly the same now as they were in the Buddha's time,
and also for the same for all people in all cultures,
that the remedy is exactly the same and just as applicable.

It is true that various cultures have had an influence on the institution of buddhism
but the dharma is the same as it always was
and the only place where it is really practiced is in the mind.
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[OregonBuddhist]

Thank you for the interesting responses.

I suppose what I'm trying to get at is as follows: at some point, Buddhism goes beyond religion/faith and becomes a part of a cultural identity.

I, a former Catholic, once had a conversation with a woman who said that Catholicism isn't just a religion, but also a culture. By that point, I hadn't attended a Catholic service in about a decade, and yet I agreed with the woman -- as I still felt, in some ways, a part of the "culture of Catholicism." (We all love to swap horror stories about how strict the nuns were, and how "fun" it was to be taught that all the ugliness of the world was our personal fault.)

I attended a Buddhist service last week where Asian people (some of Asian descent, some from Asia) took part in a blessing, despite the fact that they said they aren't that observant of the religion -- and a few people even said they "aren't Buddhist." But they took part in the blessing because they are Asian, or of Asian descent, and therefore it is a part of their cultural makeup and background.

I, as a former Catholic, have no problem with anyone converting to Catholicism later in life. But I know they will not have the same experience and perspective on Catholicism as I did -- because they CHOSE the path, and it was forced on me and I grew up with it. I sometimes wonder if a similar dynamic comes into play with Buddhism.

One of the things that made this come to mind for me is that I have some Asian friends who are not religious in the slightest, and yet they have been surprised and intrigued to know that I am studying Buddhism. This made me realize that at some level Buddhism is a cultural identity.

I suppose the other side of this situation is as follows: there seems to be a movement within "American Buddhism" to attempt to get rid of the Asian roots of the religion/faith/path. Or at least that's my interpretation on the matter. (I sometimes wonder if this is maybe one reason Nichiren Buddhism gets a bad rap from some people: it brings the Asian roots with it.)

[icylake]

i'm a korean. who starated my spiritual experience as protestant christian. and christianity in Korean can not merely conceived as "western religion". my turning to Buddhism in fact was almost the same to what "new buddhist" in western world experienced.. and as many dharma friends mentioned above, we Koreans, Chinese, Japanese's oroginal religions-shamanism, premitive Taoism, premitive Shinto - have nothing to do with Buddhism. but after we accepted buddhism, many concepts of buddhism introduced into our culture- the concept of samsara, nirvana, suffering - and in fact. Christianity,or Abrahamic religions are asian religion too.. as a catholic, when you saw the Coptics pray prostrationg in front of altar, could you feel that they are "Europeans" ? merely because they are Christians? can you imagine the Malaisians, indonesians, Uzbekhistans, Khazaks, pakistanis, Afghanistanis used to be Hindu of buddhist? The Celtic, Germans, Skandinavians, Lituanians were not Europeans before accepting Christianity?

the "Culture" will change all the time. just like Lord Buddha said...there is nothing permanant...some years ago, there were a fierece debate on cultural identety in South Korea,, that is " as a MODERN Koreans, we are the decendants of Decartes or Yi hwang(famous confusinism scholar in the 16the century)?" at that time i felt it's just funny because confucionism was imported from China. but conceived as "Ours" but why not for Decartes? even before the 4th century, almost all of european ancestors were not Christians. i think it's cultural or collective ego, just like collective kharma. and i can see western buddhists are in the process of making thier own buddhism. many relatives of mine live in California, so i visted them several times, then i found that the Koreans always go to Korean church, Korean temple only. they don't go to western church.. even those 'western" church itself devided into "european church", "afro-american church" and so on.. and the the atmosphere of Dharma centers for Westernsers and that of Immgrant temples are totally different. many Asians even can not try to attend dharma talks in Dharma centers. of course there may be some asian factors in western dharma centers too, just like Catholic chrch in South Korea have many latin-italian word in thier ceremony. but i sometimes imagine, in the 4th century, how the roman-citizens felt about "Amen", "Hallelujah" , when they heard it at the first time.. sorry for my bad english. but i think the immpermanance of every thing is the core of buddha's teaching.

greetings from icylake

[OregonBuddhist]

Thank you for the response. With regard to you being a Korean Protestant Christian, I am aware that Christianity is actually an "Asian" religion -- because Israel is on the Asian continent. However, culturally speaking, the Protestant Christian movement comes out of Germany during the 1600s, and it therefore is originally a part of the German and European cultures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism

I'm sure you're aware that the phenomenon of East Asians being Christian is a relatively recent phenomenon, just as it is relatively recent for Americans to practice/study Buddhism.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the following: "and as many dharma friends mentioned above, we Koreans, Chinese, Japanese's oroginal religions-shamanism, premitive Taoism, premitive Shinto - have nothing to do with Buddhism." Are you saying there are people who grow up in Asia who have nothing to do with Buddhism? Or are you referring to the fact that Buddhism originated in India and eventually moved into the East Asian countries?

Thanks.

i'm a korean. who starated my spiritual experience as protestant christian. and christianity in Korean can not merely conceived as "western religion". my turning to Buddhism in fact was almost the same to what "new buddhist" in western world experienced.. and as many dharma friends mentioned above, we Koreans, Chinese, Japanese's oroginal religions-shamanism, premitive Taoism, premitive Shinto - have nothing to do with Buddhism. but after we accepted buddhism, many concepts of buddhism introduced into our culture- the concept of samsara, nirvana, suffering - and in fact. Christianity,or Abrahamic religions are asian religion too.. as a catholic, when you saw the Coptics pray prostrationg in front of altar, could you feel that they are "Europeans" ? merely because they are Christians? can you imagine the Malaisians, indonesians, Uzbekhistans, Khazaks, pakistanis, Afghanistanis used to be Hindu of buddhist? The Celtic, Germans, Skandinavians, Lituanians were not Europeans before accepting Christianity?

the "Culture" will change all the time. just like Lord Buddha said...there is nothing permanant...some years ago, there were a fierece debate on cultural identety in South Korea,, that is " as a MODERN Koreans, we are the decendants of Decartes or Yi hwang(famous confusinism scholar in the 16the century)?" at that time i felt it's just funny because confucionism was imported from China. but conceived as "Ours" but why not for Decartes? even before the 4th century, almost all of european ancestors were not Christians. i think it's cultural or collective ego, just like collective kharma. and i can see western buddhists are in the process of making thier own buddhism. many relatives of mine live in California, so i visted them several times, then i found that the Koreans always go to Korean church, Korean temple only. they don't go to western church.. even those 'western" church itself devided into "european church", "afro-american church" and so on.. and the the atmosphere of Dharma centers for Westernsers and that of Immgrant temples are totally different. many Asians even can not try to attend dharma talks in Dharma centers. of course there may be some asian factors in western dharma centers too, just like Catholic chrch in South Korea have many latin-italian word in thier ceremony. but i sometimes imagine, in the 4th century, how the roman-citizens felt about "Amen", "Hallelujah" , when they heard it at the first time.. sorry for my bad english. but i think the immpermanance of every thing is the core of buddha's teaching.

greetings from icylake

[icylake]

Hi! oregon buddhist..

the Latter..^^ Buddhism was not originated in east-Asia... but have been our cultural base for two thousands years. maybe christianity is becoming a part of traditional east-asian culture now. and buddhism is becoming ....a part of Western culture too..

palm together.

[OregonBuddhist]

Thank you for the response. And thank you to everyone who participated in this thread. This thread helped me remember something I knew to begin with: that it doesn't matter. LOL What I mean is ... I never, ever "thought twice" about being a so-called "Westerner" (someone of European descent) practicing Buddhism. I became aware of Buddhism at a point in my life (my childhood) before I had any concept of "race." I didn't consider I was among "Japanese people" (though, certainly, they were), but just that I was among, you know, people. Like me. So, truth is, it took me by surprise to learn that some find it unusual that I, a so-called white westerner, practice Buddhism. I decided to look into that for a time.... And now I'm back where I started. So, thanks.