[Buddha-l] How to help the Dharma grow in the USA

[Richard Hayes]

On Wednesday 03 January 2007 12:27, d f tweney wrote:

> Drumming is fun. People like drumming. What's non-Buddhist about it?

Why does this question even arise? No one said or implied that there is 
anything non-Buddhist about drumming.

> In fact, think Buddhist gatherings might attract more people if there was
> some music and singing. The few Buddhist gatherings I've been to have been
> about as exciting as a Unitarian service, but with more silence.

If you think a unitarian service is staid, you should check out a Quaker 
meeting. No singing, no images, no artwork. Usually not more than about five 
minutes of speaking. A Unitarian service is a beehive of activity in 
comparison. 

Most Buddhist venues I have attended have quite a bit of chanting, usually 
accompanied by some kind of percussion. And just about every Buddhist altar I 
have seen is a riot of color, with images, flowers and flags. There is 
usually something for every one of the senses.

The only exception to this pattern I have observed among Buddhists is in the 
local vipassana group. They don't do any chanting or prostrations or burn any 
incense or put out any flowers. They just sit and meditate. Compared to them, 
a Quaker meeting is like a day at Disneyland.

>  I think perhaps Richard was being ironic
> when he proposed drumming for the Dharma

Not at all. As I mentioned, most Zen groups have quite a bit of percussion. 
Some even have repercussions.

> And video games don't have to be violent.

Agreed. I love playing that old classic game called Riven. There's not any 
violence in it at all. But my point was not that video games are violent. 
Rather my point was that for most young people I have met recently, what they 
learn in video games is the sum total of what they know about Buddhism, about 
history, about geography, about literature and about philosophy.


-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico