Jewish Buddhist
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A Jewish Buddhist is a person with an ethnic Jewish background who believes in the tenets of a form of Buddhism.
Some practice forms of Dhyanam Buddhist meditation, chanting or spirituality. When the individual practices a particular religion, it may be both Judaism and Buddhism. However, in many cases their ethnic designation is Jewish while the individual's main religious practice is Buddhism. Rodger Kamenetz introduced the term JewBu or JUBU in his 1994 book The Jew in the Lotus.[1][2][3]
Demographics
In her 2019 book on the subject, American JewBu, Emily Sigalow give different surveys and estimations about the Jewish percentage of the non-Asian American Buddhist population, going from 16.5% to around a third of the total number.[4]
Origins
At the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions, a Jewish man named Charles Strauss declared himself a Buddhist[5] following talks by Buddhist delegates Soyen Shaku and Anagarika Dharmapala.[6]
After Zen's rise in popularity with the Beat Generation, a new wave of Jews became involved with Buddhism in the late 1960s. Prominent teachers included Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, Shinge Roshi Sherry Chayat and Sharon Salzberg who founded the Insight Meditation Society, Sylvia Boorstein who teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, all of whom learned vipassana meditation primarily through Thai teachers.[7][8][9] Another generation of Jews as Buddhist teachers emerged in the early 2000s, including author Taro Gold, expounding Japanese traditions such as Nichiren Buddhism.[10]
Notable people
- Alfred Bloom[11]
- Bhikkhu Bodhi[12]
- Sylvia Boorstein[13]
- Tara Brach[citation needed]
- Thubten Chodron[14]
- Leonard Cohen[15][16]
- Surya Das[17]
- Robert Downey Jr.[18]
- Mark Epstein[19]
- Anthony Ervin[20]
- Zoketsu Norman Fischer[21]
- Allen Ginsberg[22]
- Philip Glass[23]
- Tetsugen Bernard Glassman[24]
- Craig Taro Gold[25]
- Natalie Goldberg[26]
- Yuval Noah Harari[27]
- Joseph Goldstein[28]
- Shinge Roshi Cherry Chayat[29]
- Julius Goldwater[30]
- Daniel Goleman[31]
- Dan Harris[32]
- Goldie Hawn[33]
- Jon Kabat-Zinn[34]
- Ayya Khema[35]
- Jack Kornfield[36]
- Jay Michaelson[37]
- Ethan Nichtern[38]
- Mandy Patinkin[39]
- Jeremy Piven[40]
- Linda Pritzker[41]
- Nick Ribush[42]
- Jonathan F.P. Rose[43]
- Larry Rosenberg[44]
- Sharon Salzberg[45]
- Morrie Schwartz[46]
- Nyanaponika Thera[47]
- Helen Tworkov[48]
- Adam Yauch[49]
- Shinzen Young[50]
See also
References
- ^ Cohn-Sherbok, Dan (2010). "Jewish Buddhists". Judaism Today. London; New York: Continuum. pp. 98–100. ISBN 978-0-8264-3829-4.
- ^ Frankel, Ellen (January 24, 2013). "5 Reasons Jews Gravitate Toward Buddhism". HuffPost. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
- ^ Shupac, Jodie (August 23, 2017). "The Jubu in the Lotus: Why do so many Jews become Buddhist?". Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
- ^ Sigalow, Emily (2019). American JewBu: Jews, Buddhists, and Religious Change. Princeton ; Oxford: Princeton University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-691-17459-4.
- ^ The Jew in the Lotus: Jewish Identity in Buddhist India] Retrieved on June 5, 2007
- ^ "At the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions". Pluralism.com. The President and Fellows of Harvard College. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ^ Joseph Goldstein
- ^ Silvia Boorstein
- ^ Teachers at Spirit Rock
- ^ Books by Taro Gold
- ^ "About Dr. Bloom". Shin Dharma Net. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
- ^ "An Interview with Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi". Urban Dharma. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ Fleet, Josh (September 28, 2011). "Is The Jew Still In The Lotus?". Huffington Post. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
- ^ "Daikini Power". Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ Rohter, Larry (February 25, 2009). "On the Road, for Reasons Practical and Spiritual". The New York Times. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
- ^ Wolfson, Elliot R. (2006). "New Jerusalem Glowing: Songs and Poems of Leonard Cohen in a Kabbalistic Key". Kabbalah: A Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts (15): 103–152.
- ^ Das, Surya (1998). Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World. Broadway. pp. 40. ISBN 0-7679-0157-6.
- ^ De Vries, Hilary (November 21, 2004). "Robert Downey Jr.: The Album". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "You Can't Fail at Meditation". Lion's Roar. April 12, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ "Swimming Heroes From the past" (PDF). Splash Magazine. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2014. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ Loundon, Sumi (2006). The Buddha's Apprentices: More Voices of Young Buddhists. Boston: Wisdom Publications. pp. 125–130. ISBN 086171332X.
- ^ Ginsberg, Allen (April 3, 2015). "The Vomit of a Mad Tyger". Lion's Roar. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ Gordinier, Jeff (March 2008), "Wiseguy: Philip Glass Uncut", Details, archived from the original on August 9, 2014, retrieved November 10, 2008
- ^ Christopher S. Queen. "Buddhism, activism, and Unknowing: a day with Bernie Glassman (interview with Zen Peacemaker Order founder)". Tikkun. 13 (1): 64–66. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
- ^ Taro Gold Biography
- ^ "Natalie Goldberg & Beate Stolte: A Jew in Germany". Upaya Institute and Zen Center. June 28, 2010. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ Adams, Tim; @TimAdamsWrites (2016-08-27). "Yuval Noah Harari: 'We are quickly acquiring powers that were always thought to be divine'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
- ^ "Multiple Religious Identities: The Experiences of Four Jewish Buddhist Teachers" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ "Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Interview" (PDF). Retrieved March 1, 2012.
- ^ Prothero, Stephen (Winter 1997). "Julius Goldwater: The Good Shepherd". Tricycle. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
- ^ "Will Mindfulness Change the World? Daniel Goleman Isn't Sure". Religion Dispatches. November 15, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ Harris, Dan (2014). 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, And Found Self-Help That Actually Works-A True Story. pp. 85–96.
- ^ "Interview With Goldie Hawn". CNN. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
- ^ Booth, Robert (October 22, 2017). "Master of mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn: 'People are losing their minds. That is what we need to wake up to'". The Guardian. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
- ^ Wheeler, Kate Lila (1999). "I Give You My Life". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
- ^ "How Jack Kornfield Went From Ivy League Grad To Buddhist Monk (VIDEO)". The Huffington Post. December 18, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ "Jay Michaelson". New York Insight. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
- ^ Nichtern, Ethan (June 1, 2018). "Ep. 1 - Introducing the Road Home Podcast with Ethan Nichtern". Retrieved August 19, 2019.
- ^ Paskin, Willa (September 9, 2012). "Mandy Patinkin on Season Two of 'Homeland'". New York Magazine. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ "Jeremy's journey". Star-ecentral.com. 2006-10-17. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2015-09-11.
- ^ Forbes: The World's Billionaires - Linda Pritzker July 2018
- ^ [https://www.lamayeshe.com/directors-page/ Director, Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: Nick Ribush
- ^ IN PERSON; Developer With Eye To Profits For Society" By TINA KELLEY April 11, 2004
- ^ "The Art of Doing Nothing: Amy Gross interviews Larry Rosenberg". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Spring 1998. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ "Yid Lit: Sharon Salzberg". The Forward. February 24, 2011. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie. Random House.
- ^ "Buddhism and Judaism: Exploring the phenomenon of the JuBu". Thubten Chodron. March 19, 2010. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ "The Jewish-Buddhist Encounter". MyJewishLearning. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ "Buddhism In America". Time. October 13, 1997. Archived from the original on November 22, 2008.
- ^ "The Point of Contact". Shinzen Young. Fall 2005. Archived from the original on May 8, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
Further reading
- Kamenetz, Rodger (1995), The Jew in the Lotus, [San Francisco, Calif.]: HarperSanFrancisco, ISBN 978-0060645748
- Bader, David M. (2002), Zen Judaism: For You a Little Enlightenment, Harmony, ISBN 978-0609610213
- Tatz, Akiva (2005), Letters to a Buddhist Jew, Targum Press, ISBN 978-1568713564
- Boorstein, Sylvia (1998), That's Funny, You Don't Look Buddhist, HarperOne, ISBN 978-0060609580
- Drescher, Frank (2017), Jewish Converts to Buddhism and the Phenomenon of "Jewish Buddhists" ("JuBus") in the United States, Germany and Israel, Grin Publishing, ISBN 9783668514034
- Lew, Alan (2005), Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice for Real Life, Little, Brown and Company, ISBN 978-0316739108
- Musch, Sebastian. Jewish Encounters with Buddhism in German Culture. Between Moses and Buddha(1890-1940). Palgrave 2019. ISBN 978-3-030-27468-9.
External links
- The “Oy Vey” School of Buddhism
- AFC News Source – Jews by birth who practice Buddhism
- Story of a Jewish Buddhist
- You don't look Buddhist
- A frank encounter between religious Jews and Tibetan Buddhists
- Excerpt from Letters to a Buddhist Jew by Akiva Tatz
