[Buddha-l] Western Buddhism

[Richard Hayes]

On Wednesday 14 November 2007 19:52, Richard Hayes wrote:

> When my children were young, I took every precaution
> to conceal from them that I was a Buddhist.

I forgot to add that both of my offspring discovered Buddhist meditation as 
adults. They both do vipassana seriously, and talk about most things in ways 
that sounds pretty Buddhist to my ear, and they occasionally read books by 
Pema Chodron and Thich Nhat Hanh, but neither one of them has acquired any of 
the quaint affectations that often accompany Buddhism, such as bowing, 
shaving the head, or eating kimchi.

So now we are back to the question: who gets to say whether or not someone is 
a Buddhist? By my lights, my offspring are Buddhist in every way that really 
matters. They certainly do not claim to be Buddhist, and probably no Japanese 
priest would recognize them as Buddhist. If I get to say, I'd say I brought 
them up Buddhist and that they still are. If the Japanese priests gets to 
take the census, then I did not raise my children as Buddhists and they never 
have been, are not and probably never will be.

As is almost always the case when there is a disagreement between me and a 
priest of any religion, I'm right.

-- 
Richard P. Hayes