Weekly Words of Wisdom
chosen by Lama Surya Das
for Dzogchen Center

12 November 2000

          THE JEW AND THE LOTUS:
          TIBET AND JERUSALEM MEET IN AMERICA --

           TEN REASONS FOR THE BURGEONING
           JEWISH-BUDDHIST MOVEMENT
           IN AMERICA TODAY


1.    The Holocaust wiped out most of the old Jewish masters and learning
centers in Europe, so Jewish seekers sought elsewhere;

2.    Judaism and Buddhism both emphasize questioning, intellectual
skepticism, debate and dialogue, and have minimal amounts of dogma;

3.    Both religions reject images and forms of the Ultimate, in favor of a
more formless understanding of the Absolute, a mystical nothingness or
infinite emptiness;

4.    Both ancient, orthodox religions stress learning, reason, experience,
and an ancient canon of wisdom and instructions for living here and now;

5.    Both religions emphasize justice, ethical morality, spiritual Law,
social conscience, and finding heaven or nirvana in this world rather than
in the next one (afterlife) -- both stress a normal, daily mysticism;

6.    Buddhism and Judaism both promise the possibility of direct mystical
experience through persistent spiritual practice, an encounter with the
Ultimate Reality unmediated by church or cleric;

7.    Jews and Buddhists share an ironic sense of humor, as evidenced in
both tradition's having an abundance of entertaining and edifying teaching
tales and oral lore;

8.    Judaism and Buddhism both eschew missionaryizing, proselytizing, and
place little emphasis on conversion;

9.    The phenomena of the wandering seeker: many Jews are like Tibetans,
Vietnamese and other Buddhists in striving to learn how to stick together
and preserve their ancient cultural, linguistic and spiritual heritage
without a homeland to return to;

10.    Buddhism entered this country on the East and West Coasts, where most
of the Jewish population resides; and was instantly accepted and popular in
the Ivy league communities and among intellectuals.

   *** Fact: an inordinate amount of meditation and yoga teachers are of
Jewish origins

          Fact: an disproportionate percentage of American Buddhists are
Jewish by birth

         Fact: The Dalai Lama is interested in Jewish secrets of cultural
and spiritual survival, and many rabbis are interested in Buddhist
meditation and philosophy

         Fact:  "The Jew in the Lotus" book and film and an academic study
of the phenomenon (called "Torah and Dharma", by Judith Linzer in 1996) have
both spurred and ridden the crest of the wave of Jewish Buddhism and
Buddhist Jews in North America.

         Fact: Jewish-Buddhist sedars take place annually

         Fact: Jewish-Buddhist retreats and conferences take place annually,
and I have attended them

         Fact: The Jewish-Buddhist encounter is a significant modern
spiritual phenomenon

         Fact: Judaism and Buddhism have both plenty in common, and also
some differences

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