Friday, December 6, 2013

Buddhism: Cultural Reporter Final Blog


When I first thought of the Buddhist culture, I pictured a chubby bald man sitting cross-legged, meditating.  But Buddhism is a lot more than that.  

In fact, I’ve discovered that the stereotypical Buddhist (bald headed, yoga-practicing vegetarian) is seldom correct.  The purpose of this blog post is to focus on religious identity among Buddhist, and this will be demonstrated with the discussion of Buddhist signifiers, the similar values shared, and the relationship between the terms “religion” and “teachings.”
Martin and Nakayama (2013)define culture as being learned patterns of behavior and attitudes shared by a group of people.  About one in every two hundred people across the globe practice Buddhism (Kaleem, 2011).  Buddhism means “to awaken” and the practice aims to focus on living a moral life and grow in wisdom (White 1993).  The practice initially began in the eastern portion of the world, particularly Tibet, and migrated west.  With this transition came some changes as well, so currently there are different forms of the actual religion.  It has become popular in the United States to claim one practices the philosophy of Buddhism, but avoids connecting on a religious level.  

So as to narrow down the study of the Buddhist culture, I focused on how Buddhists religiously identify themselves, as well as communication between Buddhists.  Communication can be defined as a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed, according to Martin and Nakayama.  The connection between communication and the Buddhist culture is a multifaceted one.
Religious identity rests on a spectrum for many people.  Some dedicate the majority of their lives to practicing a religion, while others are much less frequent.  However, religious identity is the sense of belonging to some sort of religious group.  I met with Courtney Bruntz, a visiting instructor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who has been practicing Buddhism for ten years.  Courtney explained to me that a Buddhist religious identity is actually an interesting concept, because “identity” and even the term “religion” are westernized concepts.  Buddhism was originally considered more like “teachings.”  Furthermore, Buddha taught that we must not “cling” to identities, as they are not permanent constructions.  The notion of no permanent “self” is defined as Anatta.  Therefore, it wouldn’t be sensible for a true practicing Buddhist to actually identify as a Buddhist. 
There are some signifiers to reveal a Buddhist identity, however.  Many Buddhists often wear mala beads, which are prayer beads, that aide in meditation.  I noticed this when I attended a Vietnamese Buddhist service last month, as well. 

Courtney did disagree with my findings regarding Buddhism as a philosophy rather than a religion.  She thinks that it is incorrect when a person practices Buddhism but believes in the Christian belief of having a permanent God, they are not Buddhist.  It just does not fit into the Buddhist teachings or ideas.  Like most religions, one cannot identify with multiple beliefs.
.  Many Buddhists share the same values.  When I attended the Buddhist Temple last month in Lincoln with Courtney, I noticed that the aura in the room was close-knit and familial.  The service was a standard “Chan Buddhist Dharma” service. 

  This included meditation involving mantras (or chants) and a Dharma talk by the head monastic.  They were a warm, compassionate crowd that spoke little English but offered us seats and company nonetheless.  They were willing to show us about their culture, and one woman even came over and translated the Dharma talk, similar to a service, for us. 
How they acted amongst each other was noted as well.  Some family members sat by each other, while others remained seated by friends.  While Courtney explained that a male-female separation (relating to the masculinity-femininity value) is typically apparent in most temples, it was not shown here.  Some would intermingle during the service, and helping each other with pages and where to look in the book next.  They were very hospitable and joyful Buddhists. 
As stated previously, only one in two hundred people around the world practice Buddhism.  Obviously, there’s less in some portions while there’s much more in others.  But the point is that many people are unaware about the true beliefs and values celebrated by Buddhism.  People don’t realize that it was only until Buddhism moved west that it was labeled a religion.  I myself was also oblivious to the fact, until I spoke with Courtney, that it was politically incorrect to label oneself as a practicing Buddhist but identify with another religion, which is what many Americans are currently doing. 

  In order to be interculturally competent, according to Martin and Nakayama, we must be motivated to communicate with other cultures, which is what I managed to do when visiting the Buddhist Temple.  We also must gain knowledge from various sources about that culture, have a positive attitude, and be nonjudgmental.  When undergoing this process of immersing myself in the Buddhist culture and openly learning more about it, I managed to remain interculturally competent.  This way, I discovered a lot of surprises, and realized there’s more to the teachings than its stereotypes.




Kaleem, J. (2011).  Buddhism in America: What is the future?  Huffington Post Religion.  Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/14/america-buddhism_n_876577.html

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2013). Intercultural communication in contexts (6th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

White, B.  (1993).  A basic Buddhism guide.  Buddha Dharma Education Association and BuddhaNet.  Retrieved from http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/5minbud.htm



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