Why has Zen Buddhism become popular in America ?

Question

Why is it that Zen is popular in America, what makes it so popular, what draws people to it, why do Americans find it interesting?

Answer 1

Because it teaches of inner peace and no blind dedication to a creator god that most other religions require.

Answer 2

That's easy! Because Zen is all about learning to be at peace with yourself and with others and accepting reality, such as the consequences of your actions (or inactions); accepting the things you can't change and changing the things you can and loving people no matter how different they are or how much they don’t like you. And the beautiful thing is that when you watch the majority of Zen practitioners or read about the lives of the past masters, they lived what they preached.

Western religions aren’t like that at all. They talk the talk, "Love they neighbor and they self!" but they don’t walk the walk, "All non-Christians will go to hell!" or "Don’t associate with people from other religions." Or "If someone displays a set of morals outside your faith, they are evil and should be avoided."

Don’t believe me? Try being a Buddhist Lesbian for a little while and see how many time "Neighbor Loving Christians" tell you that you are going to be condemned to hell or how quickly new friends stop talking to you once they find out that you are Buddhist. Oh, some can live with my being a lesbian, but as soon as I say Buddhism, they are done! It's so Anti-Christian that they don’t want hang out anymore. LOL.

"Love they neighbor so long as they are just like you!" ROTFLMAO

Answer 3

There are a number of reason why Zen has become popular in the United States, and many of these reasons are the same reasons why it became popular in other countries, such as Chine, Korea and Japan, just to name a few.

First, here is the west we live in a very hustle and bustle world. We often try and fit 20 hours of tasks into a 16 hour period. What little time we have to ourselves we often squander away watching television or playing games. And then when we look back at how we spent our time, we often feel as though we should have done more or that we somehow missed so much. Zen offers us an opportunity to place our lives into perspective. It teaches us how to live in the moment and get the most out of each second he have without focusing on the past or worrying about the future. Zen slows down our lives or at the very least, the perception of our lives. It also helps us focus on what is important. Zen is all about leaning about ourselves. It's not about being better then someone else, or proving yourself to someone or trying to be "More Buddhist" then the other members of your Zen group, it about finding out who YOU are. In the words of Zen Master Seung Sahn;

"Zen is very simple . . . What are you? In this whole world, everyone searches for happiness outside, but nobody understands their true self inside. Everybody says, 'I.' 'I want this, I am like that . . .' But nobody understands this 'I.'"

"Before you were born, where did your 'I' come from? When you die, where will your 'I' go? If you sincerely ask, 'What am I?', sooner or later you will run into a wall where all thinking is cut off. We call this 'Don't know.'"

"Zen is keeping this 'Don't know' mind always and everywhere."

Secondly, Zen is a pragmatic, peaceful and intellectual pursuit. The teachings of Zen are timeless and are all about compassion, understanding and acceptance. This appeals to many people. It is also a realistic and adaptive religion. I say realistic because it understands that not all beings are able to understand all things at one time. There for, the teachings are setup to change peoples lives slowly. When you join a Zen school, you are not expected to suddenly become a vegetarian, stop drinking alcohol, stop having sex, etc... If at some point in time YOU choose to take precepts and quite these things, then that is up to you. Furthermore, Zen does not teach absolutes. By this I mean that drinking alcohol is not bad, per say, but intoxicating the mind is! Having sex is not frowned upon, but having a sexual relationship that has the potential to hurt another being is. (these are the underlying principals of all the precepts, 'Do not harm yourself' and 'Do not harm others.')

When I said the Zen is adaptive, I meant that one can change the outward appearance and even the outward rules of Zen without changing the teachings. Unlike most western religions where each school of thought, "Roman Catholicism, Adventists, Episcopalians, Baptists, etc...) have their own set of rules and believe that their way is "THE" way and the ONLY way, Zen believers there are many ways to the same goal and they are all good. In China, Zen (Ch'an) is practiced one way, in Japan, there are several ways to practice Zen (Soto, Rinzai, and Obaku, and some of these can be further sub divided) In Korea, Zen (Seon) has it's own practices. None of these schools of Zen are identical, but none of them argue that their methods or teachings are the only proper way. In the U.S. and other Western Nations, a very famous and venerable Korean Monk took the Chogye order of Zen methodologies and traditions and modified them for the western Audience. This includes permitting members of the laity to become dharma teachers and masters, in most oriental traditions, only ordained monks may be referred to as Zen Masters or Dharma Teachers. This allows the laity to be more involved, and westerners are all about being involved. :-)

Also, Zen, or any form of Buddhism for that matter, does not say, "Follow the way of Buddha or else..." nor does it say ever say that you must buy into every teaching or else you may not participate. In Zen Buddhism, you are welcomed if you only want to learn meditation. Even if you choose to reject the rest of the teachings, you are more then welcome to learn and practice JUST the meditation. In fact, there are many Zen teachers that teach Zen meditation techniques to Christian croups around the U.S. and around the world.

There are other reasons to be sure, but the reasons sited above are by far the largest contributors.

I hope this helps answer your question.

Answer 4

Very good question, but I am not so sure the assumption is correct. Perhaps the idea of Zen is popular, perhaps the "philosophy" of Zen (whatever that is) is popular, but Zen? Zen is real work. It requires us to sit down, face a wall, and be still. It demands that we examine ourselves, every nook and cranny of ourselves. Want to learn about Zen? Practice Zazen. Be well..

Answer 5

Many people find that it is a way to connect with themselves and with the world around them. It doesn't require that you connect through some cosmic boogie man. It is immediate and personal. Furthermore, it doesn't require worship to be effective. You don't have to brown nose some super being who refuses to respond consistently. Instead, you are responsible for your own life. Your failures are your own but so are your successes. As a life philosophy, this has much more to recommend it than any theistic religion.

Answer 6

It is understandable, logical, peaceful. It requires no blind belief in impossible "gods", angels, and all the rest. The belief has no Heaven ( wherever that's supposed to be ).
Buddhism is a way of improving your life right here, instead of bluffing yourself about the impossible. Buddhists seek knowledge and understanding ( nothing wrong with that ).
Their greatest shortcomings ( they don't say sin ) are ignorance, envy, and greed. it's pretty hard to argue against that. No, I'm not a Buddhist but I have a great respect for them.

Answer 7

It's calming, relieves stress and the rules and principals can easily be intergrated to fit someones life. there is no extremely strict set of rules and (i know i'm repeating myself) people can find a sense of harmony in their life.

Answer 8

1

Answer 9

The appeal is as varied as the people it appeals to, so everyone will give you a different answer. Some like the thinking aspect of it with the koans, some of the cultural attachments are appealing... to each their own.

_()_

Answer 10

Because the Bible is not allowed to be taught in the schools anymore, the family is dying, and our lives are to hectic. We are a very confused society and that's why we are dabbling in cults. We are no longer a Christian nation and this is sad!