|
|
There are 2 million to 4 million Buddhists in the United States, with another 26 million who say that they’ve been influenced by Buddhism through books or lectures, according to David Loy, visiting professor in the Ethics/Religion and Society Program at Xavier University. The number of Buddhists in the Tristate is growing, he says.
Loy is a founding member of the Friends of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. He says he wanted a means to get together and be active in the community with other Buddhists. This led him and others to form the fellowship in October 2006. Members hope to share their unique perspective with others in order to make a positive impact.
“Compassion and working for the benefit of other people is a natural manifestation of the Buddhism we practice,” Loy says. “Many of us feel we’re in a very dangerous situation now in many ways — environmentally, politically, economically — and that, if we’re going to address it successfully, we all have bring whatever can to bear on these problems.
“For example, the war on terrorism: From an outside perspective, Bush and bin Laden seem to be mirror images of each other. They both understand the world as divided up into good and evil people and the need for the good people to destroy the evil people.
The irony is that historically one of the main causes of evil in the world have been our attempts to destroy evil. So when you look at Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse-tung — what were they trying to do? Rid the earth of its evil, corrupting elements — the Jews, the wealthy peasants in Russia, the landlords in China. It’s this mentality that is quite dangerous.”
Required to look
Loy will explain this concept in detail Jan. 25 in a lecture titled, “The Nonduality of Good and Evil: Buddhist Reflections on the New Holy Wars.”
“Buddhism has two sides,” Loy says. “It’s wisdom and compassion together. You can say wisdom is the initial focus. We have to understand something about our true nature, our relationship with world — who we are and what the world really is. The implication of that is once we realize our non-duality with others — that we’re not really separate from others — then social engagement is a natural manifestation of that. When I realize that I’m not separate from you, then naturally I will be concerned about what happens to you.”
Anyone interested in this perspective, regardless of religious preference, is welcome to join the Cincinnati Fellowship. Its goal is to eventually become a member organization of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (www.bpf.org).
Their starting point is socially engaged Buddhism. Members of the fellowship plan to participate in the national anti-war rally Jan. 27 in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Michael Marcotte, a member of the fellowship, says social engagement is fundamental to all forms of Buddhism.
“By definition, Buddhism is engaged,” he says. “It is engaged with … the current, present moment. Unless you live in a cave secluded with no visitors, you’re always engaged with others. As a group of American Buddhists, we’re looking for ways to come together to explore what it means to be engaged in the world and how to do this with the wisdom of the Buddha, the wisdom of Buddhist teachers.”
The fellowship welcomes and hopes to include all forms of Buddhism — Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana.
“Our group is a good place to begin your exploration of Buddhism in the United States,” Marcotte says. “The reason I say that, as opposed to picking one of the Tibetan Buddhist groups or the Zen Buddhist groups, is that we don’t specifically align ourselves with one path, one subgroup of Buddhism. We’re more a conglomeration of Buddhist groups who are coming together for the purpose of being engaged in the world.
“There are things that require me to look to a deeper source than just what I can read in the newspaper or watch on TV or read in a textbook. I’m looking for a deeper exploration of these issues, these difficulties, the suffering that I see around me in the world. I’m looking for a way to address that. I feel like this group is best for me to address that.”
Three legs
The form that engagement will take is up to the members. Local affiliates of the national organization are encouraged to address issues important to their community.
“I’m a newcomer to the area and a kind of newcomer back to the U.S.” Loy says.
Recently returned from living in Japan for 27 years, he’s going to leave the specifics to longer-term residents and share his approach to engagement.
“My general concern is to bring Buddhism into conversation with modernity and the particular problems of the modern world,” Loy says. “One reason I came back to the United States is that I feel, as an American, this is my constituency. As an American and because of my academic work and my zazen, the meditative practice, I feel that I have a very good sense of the Asian Buddhist tradition and what that might be able to offer.”
Marcotte believes that contribution and those of other Buddhists are a key benefit the group will provide.
“I hope to gain support, which we call our sangha community,” he says. “I hope to gain knowledge, which we call our dharma or truth. And I hope to be supported to express my true nature, which is what we call our Buddha. That’s our three legs to the foundation of Buddhism.”
The Friends of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship meet at 6 p.m. the first three Sundays of every month at the Buddhist Dharma Center, 15 Moline St. in Northside.
To learn more about the Friends of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, contact David Loy at loyd@xavier.edu. David Loy speaks on Buddhism at 7 p.m. Jan. 25 at Gallagher Student Center Theater at Xavier University.
This article appears in Jan 17-23, 2007.
