• Home
  • About
  • We’ve moved!

Dharma Folk

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« The Buddhas’ Wager
An Attitude Toward Precepts »

Is Western Buddhism White?

October 16, 2009 by arunlikhati

stuffwhitepeoplelikeSome Buddhist writers have an unquenchable fascination with Western Buddhism. Perhaps it’s due to a flaming sense of entitlement, zealous evangelism or cultural elitism. Regardless, I unfortunately seem to have an undying fascination with these people.

Barbara O’Brien addresses Stuff White People Like, a blog and book by Christian Lander, noting that “Lander mentions Buddhism as a popular choice.” She then writes that “[w]hile Lander’s description of western Buddhists is exaggerated, I think it reflects how most westerners view western Buddhists.” But Landers was writing about white people, not Western Buddhists.

After all, Western Buddhism isn’t white—or is it?

The issue here really has to do with what “Western” means. I typically hear this term with reference to the countries of Western Europe and the white-dominated nations that sprung from their erstwhile colonies. In this case, it’s easy to see where this term might overlap with “white.”

Faced with increasingly globalized cultural and demographic changes, Western societies have come to struggle with what “Western” (or “French”, “American”, “Australian”, etc.) really means. Is the British-born daughter of Punjabi immigrants a Westerner? And what about the Indian/American/Englishman who lives in Kyoto? Is Mitch McConnell more Western than Steven Chu?

In North America, Asian Americans in particular have had to wrestle with the perception of being perpetual foreigners. We may enjoy a heritage of five generations in the West, only to repeatedly face the question, “But where are you really from?” And sometimes we get killed just for being who we are.

Common sense tells me that I can be Asian and a Western Buddhist without being a contradiction. So when a writer like Barbara O’Brien makes a casual assumption that a man talking about white Buddhists is talking about Western Buddhists, I am quite disappointed in her.

As I have made the point before, most Western Buddhists are of Asian heritage. We comprise the majority of Western Buddhism. If you’re talking about white Buddhists (and Lander writes about Americans in particular), then you certainly aren’t talking about most Western Buddhists.

I am not against a discussion of Western Buddhism, but it is exasperating when individuals use this topic as a medium for marginalizing Asian American Western Buddhists. O’Brien has an established track record here. To talk about Buddhism in the West while focusing on non-Asians is like discussing Israel without talking about Jews.

I have a great deal of faith that Western Buddhists are generally not outright racists, and in fact affirm very noble and egalitarian values. I would like to attribute most of the rhetoric of marginalization to misplaced biases and stereotypes. These subtle habits of the mind manifest even when we believe we know better. But we can only change our biases if we are willing to acknowledge them.

The best way to overcome our implicit biases is not through sheer willpower but through experience. We can educate ourselves. We can promote our disadvantaged brothers and sisters. There are several cases of such programs already underway, at least in some Buddhist communities here on the West Coast.

There’s no obligation, of course. We are all free and entitled to write as we will—just keep in mind there might be an Angry Asian Buddhist lurking round the corner.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Angry Asian Buddhist | Tagged Asian, Asian American, Community, culture, Language, western buddhism, White Buddhist | 13 Comments

13 Responses

  1. on October 17, 2009 at 12:01 am Jayarava

    I find O’Brien generally disappointing. You are right of course that most Buddhists are Asian, though I would add that not all Asians living abroad are Asian-Americans. In the so-called ‘West’ many White Buddhists are deeply disenchanted with, not to say disenfranchised by, their own culture and look to the ‘East’ for something better. As Gita Mehta wrote many years ago in Karma Cola this can sometimes be disastrous. Think of the Western infatuation with Stalinism as well. The disenchanted are eager to fall in love with Asia and suffer from all of the symptoms of falling in love.

    Does Buddhism provide a alternative that can ‘save’ us? Despite being an ordained Buddhist I’m not 100% convinced because of the level of superstition and unreasoning belief that I see Western Buddhists adopting – we are swapping the defunct superstitions of Europe for the superstitions of Asia and that makes me wary.

    We White Buddhists may not be racist, but I think we have created institutions that people of colour do not feel drawn to. This seems to be a problem on the UK where I live. Here also we seem to have created what are perceived as “Middle-class” institutions which is a barrier to participation here. (I’ll never understand the British class system!)

    I always tell people that I’m from the Far-East having been born and grown up at about 175 degrees east, which is east of Japan.

    Best Wishes
    Jayarava


  2. on October 17, 2009 at 1:04 am arunlikhati

    You’re right, not all Asians abroad are Asian American! Thank you for catching my bias! I am of the mind that superstition will always surround Buddhism—not everyone has the time to practice Buddhism on the same level. And your understanding of a religion you are raised in is often different from one you converted to, especially when it comes to understanding things literally versus allegorically.


  3. on October 22, 2009 at 3:19 pm TFitz

    Tried to post a comment on AAB 3 times!
    Now I’m angry too!

    Cheers!
    Fitz


  4. on October 22, 2009 at 3:26 pm TFitz

    OK, Jayarava has a problem with Barbara?
    Is this one of those pissy Buddhist sites cause boy, I can sure get pissy, even by Buddhist standards, so fer Chrissake, watch the denigrating comments, boyo.


  5. on October 22, 2009 at 11:51 pm Jayarava

    The line between ritual and superstition can be a bit blurred and I wouldn’t like to squeeze out ritual altogether because I know it can be a potent force for change. Does knowing that something is an allegory rob it of it’s power to change?

    I’d also temper what I said a bit. Think of the placebo effect – if you belief you have had an effective treatment then you experience healing (including physical effects). I’m still getting my head around that.

    Time is a funny thing though isn’t it? We don’t have time to practice, really means we don’t make practice a priority. It’s a problem particularly when people come to the Dharma after they tale on spouses and have children and careers (the full catastrophe as Zorba the Greek Called it). Every moment holds the possibility of awakening – I’m quite convinced of this.

    Best Wishes
    Jayarava


  6. on October 26, 2009 at 9:29 am James

    I’m a white guy and I use to be more embracing of a “Western Buddhism” but soured on it too with the impressions of Western equaling “white” and somehow better.

    You’re right of course that there are Asians who are also westerners. As for now I’m focusing on my Zen practice as taught by Thich Nhat Hanh. If something forms as “Western Zen Buddhism” then I’ll look into it. For now, however, the crux of my practice will remain in Vietnamese Zen. Albeit with a touch of my upbringing. I don’t profess it to be “better” or anything — just a different shade of color reflecting the light of the Dharma through the prism of samsara.

    I readily admit that I can’t help but flavor my Buddhist practice to a degree with the Americanized culture I grew up in. I purposefully use “Americanized” instead of “western” because “America” encompasses many races. I have to check myself on a regular basis to make sure that I don’t buy into any form of “exceptionalism.” I’m not always perfect but at least I try and that’s all we can ask of anyone.


  7. on November 2, 2009 at 6:03 am Sean

    I hypothesize that the prevailing body politick, proceeding under its own self-perceived inertia, produces a sense as if it would be a disadvantage, an unprivileged position, for a person to be not within that body’s own exhalted ranks. In any regard, I think it’s a purely secular perspective, as equally significant as the perception as if the said body was any more exhalted for its own communal and/or individual self-views.

    Not to take issue for argument, but simply to admit: I don’t know how one could help promote someone who would be supposed to be disadvantaged — in regards to what about Buddhism? — as I don’t know how that sense of disadvantage would be defined. I think we may be all equivalently disadvantaged due to attachments upon desires – and not only one’s own, if also one’s own. I do not think I can promote another, in that regard. I may spend my whole life trying to promote myself, at that — so to speak — into a state of mindful nonattachment?


  8. on November 3, 2009 at 9:00 pm Marcus

    Hi Arun,

    I mention this post a fair bit over on my blog here:

    http://marcusjournal.blogspot.com/2009/11/angry-asian-buddhists.html

    All the best,

    Marcus


  9. on November 4, 2009 at 11:07 am Cynner

    Just curious, but what is an “ordained Buddhist”? See response @Jayarava.


  10. on January 7, 2010 at 6:27 am spritzophrenia

    Racism is tricky and shows up in many religions if that’s any comfort. I quote a committed African American Buddhist in The Dark Side of the Buddha, where he claims his part of the Sangha is racist. Not nice stuff, but important to consider, I think.


  11. on January 13, 2010 at 12:24 pm christopher bowers

    really glad you are writing about this issue. thank you! may i repost some of this on my blog: http://www.whitepriv.blogspot.com

    ?


  12. on April 29, 2010 at 3:56 am Shambhala SunSpace » Nielsen Ratings, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, and Fox News’s Buddhist Problem

    […] addition, as “Arun,” the Angry Asian Buddhist, has put it so well elsewhere: Faced with increasingly globalized cultural and demographic changes, Western societies have come […]


  13. on July 17, 2010 at 12:45 pm To the limits of Western Buddhism (and beyond) « Dharma Folk

    […] the other hand, “Western” can have strong cultural—even racialized—undertones. “Western” becomes a proxy for us or them, drawing lines through nations, […]



Comments are closed.

    The Dharma Folk

    • arunlikhati
    • John
    • kudos
    • Oz
  • Recent Posts

    • We’ve moved!
    • Aung San Suu Kyi, please speak out and help to relieve the suffering in Burma
    • Let’s Go Clubbing with the Buddha
    • Happy New Year!
    • Do You Love God?
  • Recent Comments

    Vinnie Tan (@vinniex… on Let’s Go Clubbing with t…
    david on Bugs in my rice!
    Alexander Duncan on Why Buddhists Don’t…
    Arhat Aryashakya on How will you observe Kath…
    Megan on Sex Work through the Buddhist…
    Eyes on A Vietnamese Mendicant Tr…
    Eileen on Make your own zafu
  • Twitter

    Tweets by DharmaFolk
  • Categories

  • Archives

    • September 2013 (1)
    • July 2012 (1)
    • May 2012 (1)
    • April 2012 (1)
    • March 2012 (1)
    • February 2012 (4)
    • December 2011 (1)
    • November 2011 (2)
    • August 2011 (2)
    • June 2011 (2)
    • May 2011 (3)
    • April 2011 (1)
    • March 2011 (2)
    • February 2011 (5)
    • January 2011 (3)
    • December 2010 (1)
    • October 2010 (2)
    • August 2010 (4)
    • July 2010 (1)
    • June 2010 (1)
    • May 2010 (2)
    • April 2010 (2)
    • March 2010 (2)
    • February 2010 (3)
    • January 2010 (1)
    • December 2009 (2)
    • November 2009 (2)
    • October 2009 (3)
    • September 2009 (7)
    • August 2009 (3)
    • July 2009 (7)
    • June 2009 (14)
    • May 2009 (10)
    • April 2009 (8)
    • March 2009 (13)
    • February 2009 (8)
    • January 2009 (10)
    • December 2008 (23)
    • November 2008 (5)
    • October 2008 (6)
    • September 2008 (4)
    • August 2008 (6)
    • July 2008 (9)
    • June 2008 (10)
    • May 2008 (18)
    • April 2008 (11)
  • Meta

    • Register
    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.com
  • Tags

    American Buddhism Asian Asian American Asian Meter BCA Bhikkhu Bodhi breathing meditation Buddha Buddhadharma buddha statue Buddhism Buddhist Buddhist Youth Burma Cambodia change children China Chinese college Community culture Dharma family freedom generosity giving GĐPT History inspiration karma Khmer Language loving kindness Media Meditation metta mindfulness minority monk Myanmar New York Times pali canon personal Pew Forum Politics practice race racism religion San Francisco Sangha Shambhala Shambhala Sun Southern California statistics statue Sutra sutta temple Thai temple Theravada Tibet translation Tricycle Tricycle Blog vesak Vietnamese vipassana Wat Metta western buddhism White Buddhist Wikipedia zafu zen

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Dharma Folk
    • Join 70 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Dharma Folk
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: