[Buddha-l] leaving home - culturally speaking

[Piya Tan]

On Dec 12, 2007 7:13 AM, curt <curt at cola.iges.org> wrote:

> T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" famously ends with "shantih shantih
> shantih". What's up with that? It turns out that Eliot is just one of
> many Western intellectuals over the years who have been heavily
> influenced by Eastern thought in their youth, only to retreat to the
> beliefs/ideologies of their "upbringing" with advancing age. In their
> own (very different) ways Paul Williams and Stephen Batchelor have
> become two of the more recent (and high profile) members of this club.
>

Some years back (early 2000s), Paul Williams (family pressure?) announced
he has "reverted" to Roman Catholic. Wonder what is status is now?

Piya



>
> But the Western embrace of Hinduism and Buddhism continues to progress
> slowly - despite the backsliders - if one takes a long view. Charles
> Wilkins translation of the Bhagavad Gita into English was first
> published in 1785 - it was probably read by William Blake and other
> English "Romantics". Schopenhauer wrote in 1819 that his own philosophy
> coincided closely with Buddhism (as he understood it) - even though he
> insisted that he had *not* been directly influenced by Buddhism in the
> development of his philosophy (see his "The World as Will and
> Representation", vol 2, ch 17). In the same sentence he also asserts
> that Buddhism is the "religion that the majority of men on earth hold as
> their own" - which is not as crazy as it sounds if one conflates
> Hinduism with Buddhism and adds the populations of India, Japan, China
> and "Indo-China" together! In 1800 the population of the world was
> probably around 1 billion - while the population of China alone was
> probably close to 400 million.
>
> By 1900 the West had it's first real live Buddhist monk in the person of
> Allan Bennett - although Henry Olcott had already become a lay Buddhist
> prior to that - and even though Helena Blavatsky (Olcott's partner in
> crime) did not formally "convert" she insisted that Buddhism "came
> closer to the truth than any other exoteric form of belief". And by 1912
> Alexandra David-Neel was learning Sanskrit and Tibetan and studying
> Tantric Buddhism in Sikkhim.
>
> But it wasn't until much later in the 20th century that larger numbers
> of Westerners converted to Buddhism and/or Hinduism. By the end of the
> 20th century the rate of conversion had obviously peaked and the Sanghas
> of Buddhist/Hindu converts were decidedly aging.
>
> Looking at the short term trend could lead to panic, but in the long run
> things are looking pretty good. 100 years ago there were only the
> tiniest handful of Western Buddhists. 100 years before that Westerners
> were just starting to have a faint (and only a very faint) idea that
> such a thing as Buddhism even existed. And 100 years before that
> converting to Buddhism, had such a thought occurred to anyone, would
> have been a serious crime.
>
> Interest in Buddhism and Hinduism increases among Westerners during
> times when there is a combination of idealism (optimism concerning the
> human spirit) and skepticism (concerning "our own culture") - such as
> during the Romantic period and the 60's. Right now we are in a time of
> skepticism concerning the human spirit and increasing cultural
> conservatism (up to and including xenophobia) in the West. The current
> Zeitgeist simply isn't conducive to the spread of the Dharma - at least
> not the kind of spread that was seen during the 50's - 80's. But this,
> too, will pass.
>
> Curt Steinmetz
>
> P.S. Here are some interesting links:
>
> "Vedic Influences on 19th Century America":
>
> http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/vedic-culture/190010-new-book-re-vedic-influence-19th-america.html
>
> "T.S. Eliot and Indic Traditions":
> http://www.hindu.com/br/2005/01/25/stories/2005012500131700.htm
>
> "The Bhagavad-Gita and the English Romantic Movement":
> http://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/IDE923/
>
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