Jewish Buddhists
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Bernard Glassman (right)--a Jew who has embraced Buddhism--and other members of the Peacemaker Community meditate at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Photo: Peter Cunningham and the Peacemaker Community
One major reason is Buddhism's non-theistic nature. Buddhism says there is no God in any Judaic sense of the word, thereby making it easier for Jewish agnostics and atheists to embrace it without having to undergo a fundamental shift in their theological worldview.
Also making it easier is that Jews and Buddhists have no history of communal conflict, and that the charge of ingrained anti-Semitism has never been leveled against Buddhism.
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Jewish_World_Today/ContemporaryInterfaith/JewishBuddhist.htm -
what do u know abt anti-semitism?
just bcos some jews embraced buddhism does that mean they will not be presecuted? -
which do u think is more important ?Originally posted by tiggersgd:what do u know abt anti-semitism?
just bcos some jews embraced buddhism does that mean they will not be presecuted?
faithfulness to a religion or developing love and compassion to all sentient beings ?
Kindness, compassion, and tolerance are some of the virtues that Buddhism strongly encourages. This explains why Buddhists are generally peace-loving people and why religious war is unknown in the long history of Buddhism. Much of the suffering in the world today is a direct result of the lack of these qualities. Religions that should be serving to unite people and maintain harmony are instead being used to divide and alienate them from each other. The history of some religions is full of bloodshed and violence. Against this unfortunate background, Buddhism stands out as the most tolerant religion in the annals of human civilization.
"Alone of all the great world religions," observes Aldous Huxley, "Buddhism made its way without persecution, censorship or inquisition.";
http://www.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=183665 -
are you trying to avoid my question?
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typo error in my 1st reply. should be persecuted instead of 'presecuted'.
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we are not anti of anybodyOriginally posted by tiggersgd:are you trying to avoid my question? -
if you don't know, just ask you don't know. case close.Originally posted by neutral_onliner:we are not anti of anybody -
relax broOriginally posted by tiggersgd:if you don't know, just ask you don't know. case close. -
when one realises truth, fear no longer hinders or shakes the stable spontaneity of wisdom in accomplishing task.
it is not an act of bravery to stand by a blind faith, instead because it is truth (truth is the dharma) and nothing is able to threaten, change or manipulate truth - which it has always been here and now, to be discovered and realised.
when you realise truth, self integrity and self authenticity emerges together. aeons-age-old of ignorances and illusioned thoughts are diminished. hence, what fear exists to hinder when you are authentically doing what ought to be done, simply and naturally.... -
Genocides happens every year.Originally posted by tiggersgd:what do u know abt anti-semitism?
just bcos some jews embraced buddhism does that mean they will not be presecuted?
It is becos of people who are intolerance of differences.
Persecution of Anti-semitism arise from? Perhaps u can share ur views on it? -
Originally posted by neutral_onliner:
Do not get the idea of the Jewish convert wrong .
Bernard Glassman (right)--a Jew who has embraced Buddhism--and other members of the Peacemaker Community meditate at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Photo: Peter Cunningham and the Peacemaker Community
[b]One major reason is Buddhism's non-theistic nature. Buddhism says there is no God in any Judaic sense of the word, thereby making it easier for Jewish agnostics and atheists to embrace it without having to undergo a fundamental shift in their theological worldview.
Also making it easier is that Jews and Buddhists have no history of communal conflict, and that the charge of ingrained anti-Semitism has never been leveled against Buddhism.
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Jewish_World_Today/ContemporaryInterfaith/JewishBuddhist.htm[/b]
Buddhism recognise alot of innocent soul murdered in the Notorious Auswald Concentration Camp. and the woeful spirit have not rest in peace ,seeking revenge at the Nazi Soldier .
Buddhist Compassion directed towards both the Nazi Soldier who committed the atrocities and the innocent victims is in the way hope to prevent an energy of hatred from giving rebirth to the next World War .
According to Buddha Sakyamuni Teachings , it is said World War is the results of wronged killings of animals by butcher for human desire for meat in the plate of delight .
By performing or Loving Kindness Great Compassion meditation ,Buddhist practitioner hopes to "guides"some of the woeful spirit to the right path and seek enlightenment in future rebirths to come .Thus reducing the karmic forces propelling the next World War .
Let go of all the attachment of this world ,and attain Arhatship or Western Paradise in whichever tradition they are .
And With such thoughts, I sincerely blessed the victims of the terrible Holocaust reach the Path of Enlightenment
Homage to the Vairocana Buddha
Homage to the Medicine Buddha
Homage to the Great Compassion Avalokiteshvara
Homage to the Great Vows of Kshetigarbha
Homage to the Great Practice of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva
Homage to the Great Wisdom Manjusri Bodhisattva
Homage to the Great Loving Kindness Maitreya Bodhisattva -
Interesting article
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Jan Nattier in her article "American Buddhists: Who are they? confirms this socioeconomic assessment of the Western Buddhist, which she has termed Elite Buddhism. She claims that the American Buddhist is upper-middle class, well educated, financially comfortable and overwhelmingly of European-American constituency. Recent statistics and information seems to confirm this assessment. While 2.5% of the American population are of the Jewish faith 25% of the American Buddhist population were formally of the Jewish faith. The concentration of Jewish Buddhist then is 10 times more in the Buddhist population than in the average American population. In general Jewish Americans are well educated, financially comfortable and most definitely at the high end of the socio-economic scale.
In the last decade the Western media has also focused its attention on Buddhism. Several years ago the C.B.C. radio programme, Tapestry, announced that Buddhism was the fastest growing religion in North America. By the middle of 1999 The Dharma Web Ring was the largest religios web ring in the world with the highest number of daily hits. -
Buddhist Jews a growing U.S. force
UPI, May 2, 2006
San Francisco, CA (USA) -- A new breed of Buddhism is growing in the United States that is being fueled by believers in Judaism, who are known as JuBus, a report said Tuesday.
The United States has an estimated 6 million Jews and 3 million Buddhists. While most U.S. Buddhists are Asian, up to 30 percent of converts are Jewish.
The growing JuBu movement is "a fruitful and beautifully creative meeting of two religious streams that came together in the United States," Rabbi Alan Lew told The Los Angeles Times.
The rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom in San Francisco operates a meditation program next to his synagogue.
"We get up from here and walk next door to the synagogue, where instead of reading sutras, we study (the) Torah," Lew said. "Meditation is really catching on in the Jewish community."
"Suffering is at the heart of the matter," said "Letters to a Buddhist Jew" author David Gottlieb. "Judaism, at its best, embraces suffering and, at its worst, enshrines it. Buddhism explicitly seeks to end suffering, and doesn't look to the past." -
from what i know the jewish community is very close knitted, a little little little bit like muslims. when a jew converts to buddhism, doesn't he sort of go against the jewish religion by denying the existence of a god? in that case, by denying the existence of a god, doesn't it itself an anti-something already?
Buddhism says there is no God in any Judaic sense of the word.
explain this pls. -
Originally posted by Ito_^:
Don't know, but Neutral Onliner's article is refering to Jewish Agnostic/Atheist, not Jewish who follow Judaism. Probably quite a number of Jews are not into Judaism, I guess.
from what i know the jewish community is very close knitted, a little little little bit like muslims. when a jew converts to buddhism, doesn't he sort of go against the jewish religion by denying the existence of a god? in that case, by denying the existence of a god, doesn't it itself an anti-something already?explain this pls.
What is meant is that Buddhists do not believe in a personal God (a Creator with a set of personality/a person) who created the world, the earth, the oceans, etc. It seems that God described in the old testament is very much like a personal God.
See my following post. -
See also, neutral_onliner's topic on Buddha REJECT the idea of the Creator God
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
Slightly edited from the first topic in our forum regarding Creationism: How the Brahma believed He was God?
In Buddha's days there were many many different teachings, one popular one was Brahmanism. In fact the Brahma was still worshipped nowadays. Brahma was known to be "The Supreme One, the All-mighty, the All-seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of all, the Maker, the Creator, the Chief of All".
In Buddhism, the Mahabrahma resides in the 1st Jhana plane, the first plane among the 8 jhanic planes. There were higher realms above where he lives that he was unaware of, and above it all, beyond the 8 Jhanic planes and all Samsaric planes, is Nirvana. Nevertheless all the devas below the 1st Jhana planes considered him as the Creator God. Buddha did not subscribe to the belief of such a notion that the Universe and its Inhabitants were the Creation of the Mahabrahma. He met with the Brahma, asked him questions which he could not answer. Eventually he has taken refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
The Buddha was also known to have said this,
If the creator of the world entire
They call God, of every being be the Lord
Why does he order such misfortune
If the creator of the world entire
They call God, of every being be the Lord
Why prevail deceit, lies and ignorance
And he such inequity and injustice create?
If the creator of the world entire
They call God, of every being be the Lord
Then an evil master is he, (O Aritta)
Knowing what's right did let wrong prevail!
When the previous universe was destroyed and this universe was formed, the Mahabrahma was first to be reborn. Other subsequent brahmas/devas were to be reborn.
'On this, brethren, the one who was first reborn thinks thus to himself: " I am Brahmà , the Great Brahmà , the Supreme One, the Mighty, the All-seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of all, the Maker, the Creator, the Chief of all, appointing to each his place, the Ancient of days the Father of all that are and are to be. 'These other beings are of my creation. And why is that so? A while ago I thought, 'Would that they might come!' And on my mental aspiration, behold the beings came." DN 1 2:5
In reality, the universe works by the law of Karma and he has no control over the system of karma.
The Venerable Ledi Sayadaw, a highly renowned Myanmar scholar-monk of the first part of this century, gave a careful analysis of the powers of Maha Brahma in his Niyama Dipani (MB pp. 138-39). He states that although Maha Brahma can perform all sorts of transformations, he cannot actually create independent creatures, change the kammic law of cause and effect, or keep anyone from growing old or dying. Brahma can use his special powers to transport a man to the brahma plane for a short visit, but he cannot ensure that someone will be reborn there.
from http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol5no3f.htm:
When he came to know about Sakyamuni Buddha in the human world who speaks of the universal truth, he was curious and arrived at the human world with the intention to debate with the Buddha. The Buddha, with his ability to know another's mind, knew his intention and asked, "You claim to be the creator of the human race and all things in the universe, is this a fact?"
The king replied, "Yes, it is."
Buddha continued to question him, "Since you created life, why did you also create death? Is death created by you too?"
The king paused for while, and thinking that everyone loves life and nobody welcomes death, he replied, "I did not create death."
Buddha asked him again, "All human beings experience sickness, did you create sickness also?" The king knew that nobody likes to be ill, and he replied, "I did not create illness."
Buddha asked many questions in succession, but the king denied that he created them. Eventually, he admitted that he did not create the universe and all things in it, and certainly not the human race. The king of heavens was full of regrets and he felt ashamed. Finally, he accepted Buddha as his teacher and invited Him to spread the Dharma in the heavens.
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http://www.mahindarama.com/e-library/whybuddhism2.html
"To those who talked about the first cause of this world, the Buddha responded by saying that it is impossible to find a first cause since everything is changing, interdependent and conditioned by other things. Something that acts as the cause in the present may become the effect in the future. Later that same effect may again become the cause. Such phenomenon continues ad infinitum. It is called the universal law of Anicca or impermanency.”
However, Buddhism is largely Agnostic rather than Atheist. We believe that pondering over such things brings no benefits at all to our spiritual practice, enlightenment, and liberation from samsara.
Kinds of speech to be avoided by contemplatives
"Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, are addicted to talking about lowly topics such as these -- talking about kings, robbers, ministers of state; armies, alarms, and battles; food and drink; clothing, furniture, garlands, and scents; relatives; vehicles; villages, towns, cities, the countryside; women and heroes; the gossip of the street and the well; tales of the dead; tales of diversity [philosophical discussions of the past and future], the creation of the world and of the sea, and talk of whether things exist or not -- he abstains from talking about lowly topics such as these. This, too, is part of his virtue.
"Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, are addicted to debates such as these -- 'You understand this doctrine and discipline? I'm the one who understands this doctrine and discipline. How could you understand this doctrine and discipline? You're practicing wrongly. I'm practicing rightly. I'm being consistent. You're not. What should be said first you said last. What should be said last you said first. What you took so long to think out has been refuted. Your doctrine has been overthrown. You're defeated. Go and try to salvage your doctrine; extricate yourself if you can!' -- he abstains from debates such as these. This, too, is part of his virtue."
-- DN 2
Ten wholesome topics of conversation
"There are these ten topics of [proper] conversation. Which ten? Talk on modesty, on contentment, on seclusion, on non-entanglement, on arousing persistence, on virtue, on concentration, on discernment, on release, and on the knowledge & vision of release. These are the ten topics of conversation. If you were to engage repeatedly in these ten topics of conversation, you would outshine even the sun & moon, so mighty, so powerful -- to say nothing of the wanderers of other sects."
-- AN X.69
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"Malunkhyaputta Sutta stresses that whether the universe was created or uncreated, finite or infinite, is irrelevant to our main spiritual concerns: the cause and cessation of suffering:
"Therefore Malunkhyaputta, bear the undeclared as undeclared. Malunkhyaputta, what are the not declared? The world is eternal, is not declared by me. The world is not eternal, is not declared by me. They are not essential for the principles of the holy life, they do not lead to turning away, to detachment, to cessation, to appeasement, to realisation, to enlightenment and to extinction. Malunkhyaputta, what are the declared by me? This, is unpleasant, is declared. This, is its arising, is declared. This, is its cessation is declared. This is the path to its cessation, is declared. Malunkhyaputta, why are these declared by me? These are the essentials for the principles of the holy life; they lead to turning away, to detachment, to cessation, to appeasement, to realisation, to enlightenment and to extinction. Malunkhyaputta, I declare them." MN 64" -
thnks An Eternal Now,Originally posted by An Eternal Now:What is meant is that Buddhists do not believe in a personal God (a Creator with a set of personality/a person) who created the world, the earth, the oceans, etc. It seems that God described in the old testament is very much like a personal God.
See my following post.
well these jewish buddhists r so-called mordern jewishs which r normal found in rich western europe and US.Unlike the conservative jewish who follow Judaism , they r more opened minded and well exposed.In the recent years there is a trend of so-called elite jewish taking up buddhism. -
In my opinion, you are the one who doesnt understand anti-Semitism and neutral onliner's words, in fact, i could say almost to twisting his words.Originally posted by tiggersgd:what do u know abt anti-semitism?
just bcos some jews embraced buddhism does that mean they will not be presecuted?
Anti Semitism is ingrained in Christianity, when Judas was potrayed as a representative of the Jews who petitioned Pontius Pilates to persecute Jesus, among other charges, the charge of being a false messiah. Anti Semitism then balrolled into two millenium of hate against the Jews, culminating in the Holocaust, which Hitler sought to persecute Jews, blaming them for Germany's woes.
Anti Semitism, therefore, do not even begin in places other than Christianity, and which Christians had already sought to rectify.
Neutral onliner's words were specific, that Buddhism do not discriminate against Jews, nor do Buddhists and Jews have any history of conflict. It doesnt mean of course that embracing Buddhism would help one seek physical protection from semi sentient beings whose main aim in life is to destroy other people.
It doesnt take much effort to read his post more carefully. -
thnks dudeOriginally posted by laurence82:In my opinion, you are the one who doesnt understand anti-Semitism and neutral onliner's words, in fact, i could say almost to twisting his words.
Anti Semitism is ingrained in Christianity, when Judas was potrayed as a representative of the Jews who petitioned Pontius Pilates to persecute Jesus, among other charges, the charge of being a false messiah. Anti Semitism then balrolled into two millenium of hate against the Jews, culminating in the Holocaust, which Hitler sought to persecute Jews, blaming them for Germany's woes.
Anti Semitism, therefore, do not even begin in places other than Christianity, and which Christians had already sought to rectify.
Neutral onliner's words were specific, that Buddhism do not discriminate against Jews, nor do Buddhists and Jews have any history of conflict. It doesnt mean of course that embracing Buddhism would help one seek physical protection from semi sentient beings whose main aim in life is to destroy other people.
It doesnt take much effort to read his post more carefully. -
A 'meeting of two religious streams'
By LOUIS SAHAGUN, Los Angeles Times, May 26, 2006
Blend of Judaism, Buddhism creating harmony for some, confusion for others
Los Angeles, CA (USA) -- The altar in Becca Topol's living room carries a statue of Buddha and a garden stone painted with the Hebrew word for peace, "shalom."
Becca Topol, meditating at the Santa Monica Zen Center in California, says commingling her Jewish faith and Buddhism has deepened her spirituality.
ANNE CUSACK: LOS ANGELES TIMES
In April she celebrated Passover with a "Zen Seder" feast that opened with a modified Haggada narrative comparing Israel's exodus from Egypt to Buddha's liberation from suffering.
"I'm a Jewish Buddhist — a JuBu," said Topol, 37. "My Buddhist practice has actually made me a stronger Jew."
While Buddhism has enriched Topol's Judaism — giving her a deeper sense of spirituality, she says — it has produced confusion in fellow Jubu David Grotell. Grotell, 41, is so worried about breaking Judaism's ban against idol worship that "although I have a meditation spot in my home, as a Jew I just can't allow myself to put a statue of Buddha there."
Grotell's conundrum and Topol's confidence show how diverse the JuBu experience can be, even inside one Zen Buddhist center in Santa Monica, Calif. It also underlines how a new, American hybrid of Buddhism is blossoming, fed by a large representation of Jewish practitioners.
No one knows for certain how many JuBus there are; the last surveys were conducted in the 1970s. A large majority of the 3 million Buddhists in the United States are Asian, but by some estimates at least 30 percent of all newcomers to Buddhism are Jewish. (By comparison, U.S. Jews number 6 million.)
Alan Lew, who studied Buddhism for a decade before changing course to become a rabbi, calls the paradoxical blend of Judaism, which bows to one God, and Buddhism, which has no supreme being, "a fruitful and beautifully creative meeting of two religious streams that came together in the United States."
"Most people don't go very far into Buddhism; they just want to feel a little better," said Michael Shiffman, founder of L.A. Dharma, a nonsectarian Buddhist organization in Los Angeles. "But can you be Jewish and not believe in God? Good question."
Others, however, would say it all depends on an individual's definition of God.
Essentially, Buddhism creates a solitary and quiet path away from suffering and toward a moral life based on an all-inclusive vision of interconnectedness, wisdom and compassion. A method for achieving that awareness is daily meditation.
Being nondogmatic, Buddhism does not require that adherents join anything or reject anything — even the notion of God.
So in this regard it differs vastly from Judaism, a community-based tradition that relies on observances, laws and prayers such as the mourner's kaddish — the prayer for the dead — to connect adherents with a personal god.
So what is it that Jews find so attractive about Buddhism?
"Suffering is at the heart of the matter," suggested David Gottlieb, whose autobiographical book Letters to a Buddhist Jew examines the life of a "Zen Jew" struggling to resolve his two identities. "Judaism, at its best, embraces suffering and, at its worst, enshrines it. Buddhism explicitly seeks to end suffering and doesn't look to the past."
Lee Rosenthal, 59, of San Diego found that powerfully appealing. He'd just returned from the Vietnam War and was facing the deaths of his two children shortly after they were born, and then his wife's cancer.
"I couldn't buy into the spiritual answers I was getting from people for why my little babies passed away," he recalled. "But I picked up a book on Buddhism and it spoke to me, streetwise and honest."
"Instead of sugarcoating things, it gave me a plain explanation for why I was suffering: Life is painful and difficult," he said. "It said also you can't run away from it. Deal with it."
As the world's leading Buddhist, the Dalai Lama, likes to say: If there is a problem and there is nothing you can do about it, there's no use worrying. If there is something that can be done, there's no use worrying. And with that understanding can come contentment, even joy.
Rosenthal went on to become a Buddhist priest, which his mother, Rosalie, came to terms with a few years ago in a poignant meeting.
"My mother has Alzheimer's disease and thinks I'm a kid who lived down the street from us in the 1950s," he said. "So one day I asked her, 'Rosalie, how's your son Lee doing?' She sat up straight in her wheelchair and with a proud look in her eye said, 'He's a Buddhist priest.' "
"I got teary-eyed," he said. -
A majority of JuBus, as they call themselves, are baby boomers who were raised in loosely religious families and began to feel unfulfilled in the tumultuous and experimental 1960s and '70s. They joined the legions of other young men and women searching for spiritual nourishment and ended up turning to Buddhism, a welcoming meditative practice devoid of the cultural stigmas contained in, say, Christianity or Islam.
And many, like Alan Senauke, now a Buddhist priest in the San Francisco Bay Area, discovered the two traditions combined easily, almost on their own.
Although he no longer celebrates Jewish holy days, with the exception of Passover, Senauke said, "My Judaism and Buddhism are like vines so entangled they are not separate."
"Because of my Jewishness, I'm faulty as a Buddhist, and because of my Buddhism, I can never really be a practicing Jew," he said. With a smile, he added: "I'm comfortable with that."
"Look at it this way," said Senauke, who is also a noted bluegrass guitarist. "I've been playing Southern music for 45 years, but I'll never be a Southerner. I'm a New York Jewish boy. But this is my music, it resonates in my heart, and I play it as authentically as I can."
The boom in Buddhism has left some Jewish leaders wondering how they could better serve their people.
"I'm encouraged that people want to find something more spiritual," said Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz of a group called Jews for Judaism. "But I'm also disillusioned that they have not found it in Judaism. Maybe we haven't done a good enough job of making Jewish mysticism accessible to the masses."
But Marc Lieberman, a San Francisco ophthalmologist who helped arrange a historic dialogue between Jewish leaders and the Dalai Lama in 1989, calls the JuBu phenomenon a fine example of "good old American innovation."
"I'm a healthy mosaic of Judaism and Buddhism," Lieberman said. "Is that fair to either religion? Fair schmair! It's what I am.
"My Jewish side is a tribal sensibility, a reflexive identity with the pain and agony of my people and the pride and glories of their traditions," he said. "But my Buddhist side asks, 'Does that exclude others in the world?' "
How all those clashing religious notions affect JuBus is illustrated in the paths taken by Lew and his lifelong chum Norman Fischer. In the 1970s, they lived in Buddhist monasteries and studied under Berkeley Zen master Sojun Mel Weitsman, an ethnic Jew.
Their friends figured that Lew, a freewheeling intellectual, would become a Buddhist priest, and Fischer, who was always a studious rabbi's pet, would become a rabbinical scholar.
Instead, the opposite happened. But their theologically competing spiritual realms have acquired a lot of the curlicues and ambiguities that are characteristic of JuBus.
Lew, for example, said, "I don't believe one can be both Jewish and Buddhist; your central commitment should be clear.
"Personally, my roots are more Buddhist than Jewish, but my spiritual practice is Jewish."
He also firmly believes in God.
But Fischer, a high-ranking Buddhist priest whose first name is now Zoketsu, suggested that a "person can be a faithful Jew and practice Buddhism."
Topol would tend to agree with Fischer.
Six years of Buddhist training at the Santa Monica Zen Center, where reconciling with one's religion of origin is emphasized, has only deepened her appreciation and respect for her Jewish roots.
"I've found that Buddhism has broken apart my fixed beliefs and notions," she said, "so that I can approach Judaism with a fresh eye."
For Topol, that means viewing biblical descriptions of God's active presence in human affairs not as literal history but as meditation tools and spiritual instructions for coping with daily life.
Rising from a meditation pillow after a Sunday-morning Buddhist service, Topol said, "I even look at the writings of the Old Testament, such as Moses' conversations with God, as Zen koans; that is, as questions and statements to be used as meditation disciplines along the lines of 'What is the sound of one hand clapping?' "
What happens next is anyone's guess. But some JuBus are predicting the emergence of a unique American-style Buddhism.
"Jews value education, hard work, innovation and strong commitment to family, all of which they are bringing to American Buddhism," said Charles S. Prebish, a professor of religious studies at Penn State University. "What you get is some kind of a hybrid." -
Interesting.
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The Enlightened One: Buddhist Art in the Israel Museum Collection
By Shlomit Yakobi, Epoch Times Israel Staff, Jul 22, 2006
Some pieces seen for the first time
Jerusalem, Israel -- "The Enlightened One" collection of Buddhist art at the Israel Museum presents sculptures, paintings, scriptures and relics spanning 2,500 years and originating from several countries of the Far East. The museum's website says "the works on display range from the earliest representations of Buddha and his attendants in India to later forms developed in China and Japan.
Along with the various Buddhas, deities, and sages, Tibetan ritual objects are also on display. Together, the works—some of which are shown to the public for the first time—convey the many facets of Buddhist art, its multiple meanings, and its visual richness."
Buddhism didn't have one form. During the years, it went through many changes, split into various sections, absorbed and was assimilated by the local culture and religious system of the places where it was spread. Buddhist arts similarly experienced various changes. But in spite of the differences and variety, the items in the exhibit share many things in common.
Buddha Sakyamuni (literally, "the wise one from the clan of the Sakya" ) was born to a ruling family and, as Prince Gautama Siddhartha, lived a life of comfort and pleasure. When exposed to the suffering and tribulations of human existence, he decided to abandon his royal life and pursue answers to some of life's perplexing questions: Why was man doomed to suffer? How can one escape suffering? After six years of wandering, he sat down and mediated under a bodhi tree until he enlightened to the eternal truth of the universe.
From that time forward, Buddha Sakyamuni wandered around India and taught his teachings. Buddha Sakyamuni lived as human being with a flesh body, and became enlightened through his will and seeking. He found answers to life's questions, rose above human concerns and penetrated eternity. Buddha Sakyamuni awakened to wisdom and became a high-level being with heavenly powers. It is said that Buddha Sakyamuni left the earth for an existence much higher than the specific person who lived in India 2,500 hundred years ago.
Since Sakyamuni's departure from the earth by way of nirvana, other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas joined the pantheon of Buddhist belief. They had their own characteristics and specific existence. For example, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara became known as the goddess of mercy and is especially honored in Tibet. The Buddha of Healing is regarded as one who watches over physicians.
For the believer, a sculpture of the Buddha is not merely an artistic item, but an object that carries with it a spark of the divine being it represents. It is the image of the god, and the presence of this god in this object gives it holiness.
Buddhist religious art wasn't meant to provide an aesthetic experience for the beholder. Rather, the sacred image was meant to offer a spiritual solace and to protect those who honored and respected the artwork. Buddhist artwork represents a kind of ritual object, that is, an aid in one's spiritual journey to the Truth.
The exhibition at the Israel Museum opens a window to another culture, with its mystery and sacredness. Explanations and descriptions of each object help the observer to understand sacred symbols and how they relate to the mundane world.
The Enlightened One: Buddhist Art in the Israel Museum Collection is currently being shown at the Nathan Cummings 20th Century Art building, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, until August 31, 2006. -
I even see malay buddhist before, they are from indonesia usually.
There are some buddhist songs in bahasa, the music is very nice, still searching now.