[Buddha-l] Buddhism in Israel

[Dan Lusthaus]

Eric,

>First the peculiar use of the word 'friend' by the Tibetans in Dharamsala,

I'm afraid the relevance of this escapes me. If this is another backhanded
negative, it's too subtle (and bigotted) for my weary mind. Are you trying
to say that, unlike you, Tibetans are too polite to badmouth and kick out
the Israelis? Because, unlike Tibetans, Israelis are all bad-mannered? Or
that Israelis are too stubborn, uncouth, whatever, to benefit from proximity
to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan community in Dharamsala?

> Second thing is that young Israeli tourists have a bad reputation in India

I didn't deny that. But why is that relevant to what I posted? Are the
Israelis living in Dharamsala tourists? Are they the ones earning the bad
reputation?

> And you cannot deny I think that the relation between the number of
Israeli tourists in Dharamsala and the popularity of Buddhism in Israel is
somewhat conjectural. :-)

The preponderance of Israelis in Dharamsala is a sign of the growing
popularity of Buddhism in Israel (why choose that as destination? Once
there, they bring some of that back with them, further increasing the
popularity, etc.). The number of Buddhist centers of various stripes is
increasing; interest in meditation and Buddhist philosophy is also growing.
Some of that you can confirm by an internet search. Or ask an Israeli.

Dan