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I believe that the image posted above shows a common stereotype of Buddhist monks. The stereotype that I am referring to is that of Buddhist monks being middle aged, dressed in orange or red and meditating in a group. Although many Americans see Buddhists in this way, it is not the reality of many practicing Buddhists.
Yes, some Buddhists dress in this manner and meditate in a similar setting, but that is not the norm. There are millions of practicing Buddhists around the world and they do not all take on this stereotype. Buddhists come in all shapes and sizes, colors and ages. It is common to see a Buddhist monk in his 80’s meditating next to one that is years his junior. In addition, not all Buddhists dress in orange and red robes. Although Buddhists are often depicted in this way, only a small portion of the Buddhist population dress like this. From my experience, Americans also see Buddhists as people who sit around and meditate all day. This is clearly not realistic. They are active members of the community and they live fairly “normal” lives.
Brad Warner explores Buddhism in his book, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate. In his book be talks about his experience with Buddhism. Warner went through a though time in his life and he turned to Buddhism to help him find his way. He took the teachings of Buddha and applied them to his life and in the process of doing so he proved many Buddhist stereotypes wrong. It is interesting that Warner takes the opposite view that most people do on Buddhism. He does not view it as the greatest thing in the world and at the same time does not see every teaching to be true. In fact, he often takes some of the teachings and blatantly says that they are not realistic and do not apply in the manner in which they were meant to be taken. The way that Warner does this is neat in that he uses his own experience when he talks about his relationship with Buddhism.
I think you did a good job of comparing and contrasting a "traditional Buddhist monk" to a modern day Buddhist. I like how you made the point that "Buddhists come in all shapes and sizes, colors and ages." This proves that a Buddhist can be of any race. One of the main stereotypes concerning Buddhism is that a Buddhist can only be recognized if he is an orange robe and of an Asian ethnicity. This is unfortunate because this is generalizing and can be considered as almost racist. Binding one ethnicity to a religion is unjust.
ReplyDeletei agree with you that buddhists typically do not fall under this stereotype. for goodness sake, Warner claims in his book that the lead singer from the heavy metal band Lamb of God is a follower of buddhism. i even heard from a friend of mine that monks in a monastery rented a tv to watch the world cup. that stereotype would be as if someone considered all jewish people to be wearing yamakas, but we are more exposed to the jewish people and understand their diversity. we should not judge them for their ignorance, though, people can't help what they don't know.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very common stereotype we Americans have of Buddhists. Buddhism is not just some religion that sits around all day in deep concentration, that would get old really fast. I don't think that Buddhism would continue to be a religion if that was all that they did everyday. There has to be more meaning to a religion than meditation. They also have to study and learn about the religion and its tradtions, as well as learn life skills for the real world.
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