On Not Being a Buddhist

A short essay by Dustin Eaton in The Washington Post's On Faith section ("On Being and Non-Being a Buddhist"), on the fact that he doesn't refer to himself as a Buddhist. This is an interesting story about Buddhism and self-identifying as Buddhist or not. Quite provocative how many folks who practice, or actively explore Buddhism, learn early on to bypass the strong affirmation of such a label, of the Buddhism-as-identity and affiliation syndrome. Same applies to me I guess. I am a member of Thich Nhat Hanh's Order of Interbeing, I have taken the precepts (and the Order's precepts), I practice regularly, attend a sangha, have spoken about zen, mindfulness practice, and buddhism, and lead a practice group in my University. And yet... I don't tell people I'm Buddhist. Some days I feel more Buddhist-like than not, but frankly, the label is unimportant to me, and I don't see myself as one. And for me there's no need to do so either. Of course, Buddhists are not the only ones doing this non-identifying. Lots of folks consider themselves "spiritual" not religious, and thus avoid self-identifying as affiliated with a particular religious denomination. I much prefer the notion that folks need not assume a "religious" identity in order to follow an ethical path.

Comments

[Kathryn]

Interesting article. I think he catches the essence with, "To me, being a Buddhist means more than just saying you are one. It means placing yourself within the structure of a particular school, a particular lineage and a particular teacher. It means changing your life, not just changing your mind. Since I live in Iowa City and there is no school, lineage or teacher, I am technically not a Buddhist.

On the other hand…

At least once a day I descend the stairs to my basement, bow towards my zabuton and turn clockwise. I bow to the world and then lower myself onto a round black cushion. I light a small tea-light and bow to the Nepali Buddha statue that I bought in Madison. I take refuge in the three jewels. I ring a Tibetan singing bowl three times. I place my hands in the mudra of Vairocana Buddha."

It's the practice and not the preaching, right?

[Nacho]

Thanks Kathryn! Good to see you around! : ) How goes it with you?

N

[donna]

I get a bit annoyed when people refer to me as "Taoist", since I don't see myself as following any particular "ism". I enjoy Tao and Buddha and other thoughtful writing, and don't really see any need to follow a particular practice, just to live mt own life.

It's like as a kid when I became a member of the Presbyterian church, and my attitude was that I really didn't feel any different or any more spiritual. The process of enlightenment though - that is spiritual to me. The elements of worship that I actually did find spiritual, the music or candles, I finally realized were spiritual whether they were part of any particular service or not. So now it is possible to find spirit, and hence spirituality, wherever I may be or whatever I am doing. A nice feeling, indeed.

[Kendall]

Hmmm. Very provocative. I'm fine saying I'm a Buddhist, because I've invested my primary daily spiritual activity in one of several forms of Buddhism over the past 35 years. Sometimes it was Vipassana, sometimes it was Vietnamese Zen, sometimes Japanese Zen, and now and then it was even Tibetan or Chinese. But at the center of all those traditions is a daily commitment to meditation. That stays the same, whether you identify a lineage and a teacher or not. So for me, it would be dishonest NOT to say I'm a Buddhist. But at the same time I'm other things.... It's not the totality of what I am, but it's a label I've got to claim or I feel dishonest. I'm glad you're still here. I'm also back in the blogosphere. Hope we can meet up sometime, now that I'm in Portland.
Kendall

[Nacho]

Hey Kendall! Hugs!