The Buddhist Geeks in America

Riding on the revival of global religiosity, “Western” religions have attracted their share of “Eastern” devotees while at the same time, various Buddhist communities have also sprouted amongst “Western” countries. During my trip to attend the 2nd Buddhist Geeks Conference held in Boulder, Colorado, I took the opportunity to visit a Buddhist-based university and two different Buddhist meditation centers in central and west coast of the United States, to gain a better understanding of the development of Buddhism in the “West”.

Since the 1950s, individuals from the Beat Generation such as contemporary U.S. poet Gary Snyder and founder of Apple Inc. - Steve Jobs, have turned to Zen Buddhism, searching for the truth Eastwards. Today, young practitioners of Zen in the U.S. are no longer encumbered by the traditions of apprenticeship undertaken by Buddhist Zen masters, but instead hope to seek a new path of integration between Buddhism and technology, and hence creating a “Western” model of practicing Zen. 

The pioneer of Buddhist Geeks, Vincent Horn, graduated from Buddhist-based Naropa University, and majored in religious studies (See Fig. 1). In 2006, Horn, together with a friend, started Buddhist Geeks. This year, the “buddhify” app by Rohan Gunatillake joined in the fray, adding strength to the Buddhist Geeks movement.

Fig. 1: From right: Lama Surya Das, Vincent Horn, and myself. From left: Rohan Gunatilake, Amber Case

From the 29th to 31st of July 2011, Buddhist Geeks held its inaugural conference “Discover the Emerging Face(s) of Buddhism” at the University of the West, a Buddhist-based university in Los Angeles. In its 2nd conference this year, attendees of Buddhist Geeks have exceeded 240 in numbers, comprising of mainly Buddhist participants from the U.S. and Europe, with myself as the only officially registered participant of Chinese ethnicity.

Fig. 2: With Sensei Viradhamma [1^st from right], Aki Shimazu and Venerable Hae Won Sunim

Buddhist Geeks Conference

The Buddhist Geeks Conference was held for 3 days from August 9th to 11th, 2012. In the early morning of the first day, I met a couple (Robert Austin and wife) who were staying in the same hotel. They had brought along their hi-tech equipment for Zen meditation. The conference venue was to be held in the Memorial Hall of University of Colorado-Boulders.

Fig. 3: A corner of the memorial hall, Robert Austin with a book in hand, and his wife, Anji, to his right.

The conference was lively with a tight schedule. For example, the morning started off with a public meditative workshop conducted by Sofia Diaz and Hokai Sobol. There were also a series of talks, group discussions, as well as seminars. From the 21 invited speakers, there were lamas, anthropologist, authors, lecturers, CEOs, social activists, yoga masters, teachers of Buddhism and meditation, university professors, scientists, philosophers and numerous others.

The conference began at 4pm in the afternoon after registration. After a welcome address by Horn, Lama Surya Das talked about the “Future of Buddhism”, noting the neurological research of Indiana University Professor Jill Bolte Taylor, and its profound influence on the future direction of Buddhism.

Another interesting speaker who caught my attention is Prof. Willoughby Britton. She is a neuroscientist with a focus on the meditative process, whose research received a 5-year grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH). With an eye on the integration of science and Buddhism, she believes that scientific research on meditation will no doubt provide impetus for the spread of Buddhism.

Amber Case is another notable speaker, and a cyborg anthropologist. Due to the frailty of the human body, we are unable to withstand the demands of light-speed travel. In response, scientists have postulated the possibility of cybernetic and neurological implants to the human body, in order to boost our survival capabilities in adverse environments. The word Cyborg in itself emcompasses the meaning of neurology. 

Case’s topic was “Meditation and the Modern Cyborg”. She hypothesizes that strengthening the integration between humans and technologies will quickly shorten the gulf between individuals and society-at-large. Furthermore, she postulates that such integration will enable humankind to achieve accelerated learning and communication on a scale never seen before.

Humankind has overtaken other primates due to our advanced usage of tools, propelling ourselves to be the top species on the planet. But at the same time, we have also grown more distant from Mother Nature. Upon entering the 21st centaury, it is foreseeable that man will be ever more dependent on the use of electronics and technological tools, bringing us once again to a next level of transcendence. The difference is, this time, the transcendence shall be in the domain of our mental or cognitive capabilities.

Case suffered periodically from insomnia in her younger days, hence motivating her to explore how the human mind could perhaps go into a “sleep mode” as easily as a computer might. This line of research resonates with Prof. Jill Bolte Taylor’s own experience on the effects of stroke to the left hemisphere to the brain, causing her sense of self to “shut down”. The left hemisphere controls our rational reasoning abilities, and one important reason contributing to the difficulty in attaining spontaneous “moral enlightenment” is the increased usage of our left brain, which strengthens not only linear processing but also subjectivity; thereby causing humankind to become increasingly “self-centered” but also morally bankrupt.

When Prof. Taylor suffered a hemorrhage to her left brain and was forced to “shut down” her sense of self, her singularly functioning right brain also miraculously brought this famous neuroanatomist to experienced a nirvana-like state, where her own bodily molecules seemed to blend into the molecules of her external environment. A direct effect of the Buddhist meditative practice of “zhi-xi (to bring the mind to rest)” is similar to “shutting down” oneself, and the cycle from birth to death can then also be experienced as our molecules gather and dissipate. This is an important finding from the science of neuro-anatomy.

Other speakers included Rohan Gunatillake, the creator of the “buddhify” app, its goal is to provide innovative technological solutions to real-world problems surrounding the practice of meditation. He is one of the first to apply mobile apps or computer programs towards the promotion of meditation. His topic is “Practice, Play, and Products” and advocates the use of games to promote meditative training; and that the integration of new technology with meditation will attract more practitioners, thereby contributing to the goal of “enlightenment”.

Many more speakers, such as Stephen & Martine Batchelor, Buddhist scholar David Loy, Buddhist activist Michael Stone etc. spoke at the Buddhist Geeks conference. Interested readers are encouraged to visit the Buddhist Geeks website.

Group Discussions

The themes for group discussions were suggested by select conference participants, and displayed on a public board for other participants to sign up. The participant who suggested the theme naturally became the group facilitator, and was tasked to organize other interested discussants into classrooms. The group facilitator did not play the role of a lecturer, but merely directed the flow of the discussion. Such group discussions are enthusiastically received in the West.

I joined a group whose topic of choice was meditation and technology. Members of this group mostly contributed insights from their meditation experience. In the discussion, Robert Austin introduced a product, researched and developed by his team, which assisted in the moderation of our state of mind.

Neurological research by American scientists has uncovered important findings in the past 20 over years. Austin further made use of methodology developed in the field of neurology for the past 50 years and combined with the contemporary acoustic understanding of “window frequencies”, developed a device that induces the required meditative state.

The device can very quickly draw out our α, β, θ and δ brainwaves, therefore focusing our concentration and bringing our mind to its optimal state in a shorter time-frame, allowing some beginners to the practice of meditation to quickly attain the required state of mind.

Visiting the Zen Center of Denver

Before the three-day conference, I visited the Zen Center of Denver as planned on the morning of 7th August, 2012 (See Fig. 4). My contact there was Sensei Karin Kempe.

Pic. 4: Zen Center of Denver in 1935

Pic. 4: Zen Center of Denver——today 

Pic. 4: Zen Center of Denver——today 

Sensei Karin is a Jewish Buddhist (Jubu). As the number of American Jubu’s grow, they have become a considerably special community in the U.S. The first speaker for this year’s Buddhist Geeks conference is also Jewish, Lama Surya Das.

During our conversation, I asked Sensei Karin out of curiosity: Most Western religious texts originated from the Tanakh, a bible of the Hebrews and of Jewish ancestry. The Jews are also purportedly the chosen people (citizen) of God. Why then are there increasingly more Jewish Buddhists?

Using herself as an example, she said that the Jewish faith has survived a few thousand years of history, but has never brought peace and tranquility to the Jews. On the contrary, war and violence has been the norm in Jewish history. When Sensei Karin encountered the equality, compassion and tranquility of the Buddhist faith, she felt that this was the belief worth pursuing.

Later, Sensei Karin showed me around the Zen Center. The center was actually Colorado’s fourth Christian church, built in 1921. As progressively more Americans stayed away from the church, it was decided that the place would now serve as a meditation center. In fact, such instances where churches were turned into meditation venues are commonplace in many states of the U.S. The most famous being the Garrison Institute in New York City, which was originally the Monastery of Mary Immaculate.

When our conversation turned to the Aurora shooting on 20th July, 2012, where 12 were killed and 59 injured in a mass shooting inside a movie theater in Denver, Sensei Karin revealed that the center had thrice performed scripture chanting for the salvation of the deceased, which was well-received by the community.

Our conversation lasted for an hour, and I requested a photo with Sensei Karin. She happily agreed, and treated the occasion with formality as she don her Japanese Zen robe for the picture (See Pic. 5). Many ascetics in the U.S. do not distinguish themselves with clothing, and dress as lay people would, nor do they shave their heads. I am to see more examples of these in the 3-day Buddhist Geeks conference.

          Pic. 5: Me and Sensei Karin

Visiting Naropa University in the U.S.

On the morning of 8th August, I rode on the bicycle from my hostel, and headed towards Naropa University, founded by the exiled Tibetan Lama Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. There, I met Prof. Barbara Catbagan (see Pic. 6). I asked her why is it that the East now idolizes Western religions, while the West looks towards Zen Buddhism.

She said that this was perhaps the result of globalization, causing the civilizations of East and West to intersect upon the convenience of modern telecommunication. And the advances made in neuroscience and relevant technologies have made the pursuit of spirituality more modern, scientific, technologically advanced, liberated, quantifiable and practical; thus driving the interest in Zen practices in the West.

Pic. 6: Me and Prof. Barbara Catbagan in the library of Naropa University

I suggested that the Western cultural mindset of “the others” stems from the exclusivity of its religious beliefs, and its sense of superiority over others, hence Samuel P. Huntington’s theory on the clash of civilizations. However, Buddhism believes that all things exist because of mutual dependency (interdependent origination). As all things come into being due to interdependent origination, thus forming the basis for the Chinese outlook of a harmonious cultural co-existence, and the grounds for a culture of “the others” is eradicated.

From my observations for the past few years, the influence of Buddhism on the societies of the West is clearly contradictory to the theory on clashes of civilizations. Some scholars have proposed a “dialogue among civilizations” in lieu of clash of civilizations, yet a dialogue requires the premise of a common language or grounds of understanding. For example, if one talks about the Confucian value of Benevolence (ren) while the West talks about the love of God; or if we were to make abstract such a “love” to a higher moral value of a “universal love” to numb the masses, then it is difficult to see the interactional value in such a dialogue.

In contrast, due to Buddhism’s understanding of life as suffering, it proposes the compassion-contemplation of saving one from suffering and to give joy. This understanding is grounded in the transience-ness of all emotionality, and the term “compassion” absolves us from engaging in any and all abstract versions of “love”. With this innate and common understanding of life as the deliverance of suffering through joy, the civilizations of East and West can then begin a dialogue on a mutually understood basis, and prevent a scenario where each says its piece with minimal interaction.   

San Francisco Buddhist Center

During lunch on the 3rd day of the conference, I met a participant from California, the West coast of the U.S., and he had a religious (Dharma) name Viradhamma. From our conversation, Viradhamma told me his grandfather was a Jesuit priest, and had been in China to evangelize before the 2nd World War. His father was born in China, and was also a Jesuit priest. However, his grandfather did not allowed his father to learn Chinese, as he was worried that Chinese culture might exert an influence on his son. Hence, both his grandfather and father returned to the U.S. after China was liberated by Mao Zedong.

On the 2nd day after the end of the conference, I changed my itinerary and flew to San Francisco to visit the San Francisco Buddhist Center. It was located in an old 3-story building in the Mission District (See Pic. 7).

Pic. 7: With Sensei Viradhamma in front of the San Francisco Buddhist Center

Viradhamma had been practicing Zen with the U.S. Triratna Community since 1980. In 1994, he went to India to be ordained into the Triratna Order, and now teaches Dharma and meditation classes, as well as coordinates ordination rituals for those interested. Viradhamma leads Americans to India yearly on tours to Buddhist sites and for Zen practices. In 1997, he led a few hundred Americans together to turn towards Buddhism. Viradhamma is also a council member of the Triratna International Council. Although he did not receive the support of his family for his ordination, Viradhamma persevered onwards in his journey with Zen Buddhism. The morning of the very next day after Viradhamma guided my tour of the center, he went for a meditation retreat for over 10 days.

Conclusions

In summary of my U.S. visit, I had the opportunity to directly witness the state of Buddhism in America, and have also met many American Buddhist enthusiasts, of which I am unable to detail here. Suffice to say that my trip has been truly enriching.

In the past, China was ahead of other civilizations for over a thousand years, especially in the areas of material and spiritual wealth, but for the past 200 years, the West has superseded China in technological advances. Although China’s GDP has risen to be the 2nd highest in the world today, if we continue to pay little heed to our spiritual growth, then it will similarly face the same stagnant fate of our material growth and lag behind the West.

Also, when the world’s economies reached its maximal potential, and needs to rely on new innovative enterprises to develop further, the loss of impetus to be creative will undoubtedly pose a serious problem to all societies.

The U.S. has produced many exceptional talents who draw their inspiration from Zen practices in the later half of last century, including the likes of creative genius Steve Jobs. Jobs is like the ascetics I’ve encountered in the U.S. during this trip, their heads unshaven, they get married, practice Zen, and live a secular but buddhified life. Jobs’ motto was “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”. 

On page 49 of “Steve Jobs: A Biography”, author Walter Isaacson quoted Jobs as saying: “Zen has been a deep influence in my life ever since.” The reason being “If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things – that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It’s a discipline; you have to practice it.”

Jobs could always see things that others could not beforehand, and to see them clearly, broadening the horizon indefinitely. This has given the lethargic U.S. economy a much-needed boost, and propelled Apple Inc. products to be always innovative and desirable. The part Zen has played here is undeniable.

Americans are now quickly following the footsteps of Jobs. Much like how Robert Austin developed his mind-priming device, like how exceptional neuroscientists such as Prof. Britton and Prof. Taylor do ground-breaking research work on the mind, like how many notable universities in the U.S. are developing Buddhism courses, like how Sensei Karin, Sensei Viradhamma and others personally experience the Zen path despite obstacles, and like the emergence of “buddify” and “Buddhist Geeks” developed by Vincent Horn and Rohan Gunatillake; I sense the development of an American Buddhism rising strongly in the West, creating with it a real practical bridge for communication between the civilizations of East and West, and a real contribution towards world peace. There is no reason for us to wait any longer.

Chinese culture has been made up of influences from Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism for the past two millenia. "Revere spirits and deities (people during the ancients times believed that spirits and deities were incarnations of ancestors) but keep a distance (meant keeping a distance from their places of residence - hell and heaven)". Our faiths embodied "awareness" , "heaven" and "the right path" and we in our lives hope to achieve the state of "self-awareness", "being aware of others" and "attaining enlightenment" allowing us to then exist in the realm of Deva. It was due to the devout reverence of spirits and deities (ancestors) that formed the thousands of years of history of Chinese civillisation.

 Unfortunately, modern Chinese now view paying respects to spirits and deities as superstition and stopped paying their respects to their ancestors, resulting in the bleak continuation of Chinese civillisation. As for how the three schools of cultures morphed into modern religion, forming a myriad of gods and deities, that's a whole separate discussion altogether. When we now reflect upon the fervent emergence of a new Western Culture, there is really no reason as to why we should be losing faith in our own culture.

By Mingya Lin 

Research Fellow of the Singapore Buddhist Federation