Word: buddhistically
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Howard is sometimes disturbed by the picking and choosing that many American Buddhists practice, especially when people use Buddhist doctrine to justify prior beliefs. “If you bring all your baggage with you, rather than using Buddhism to investigate your political beliefs,” you’re not actually subscribing to Buddhism, she says. She does recognize, however, the importance of testing beliefs before internalizing them. “My faith in Buddhism has grown because of testing [what I’m told],” she says. “Otherwise it?...
...Counter-intuitive as that may sound, it is actually a pretty common sentiment among many who come to Buddhism in adulthood. The most popular way of expressing it is to say, as Henry W. Mak ’06 says, “I’m philosophically Buddhist.” Mak meditates daily and calls the practice “the core of my life,” but that core is based on Buddhist theories of psychology and philosophy...
Such views of Buddhist philosophy as separable from religion are prevalent among Western Buddhist circles and are very much present at Harvard. The Buddhist figure on campus who is most likely to affect students, McHardy, adheres to this view of Buddhism. McHardy’s simple linen garb, joined-palm greeting and the smell of incense that clings to her and anyone who enters her attic apartment set her apart from the t-shirt-and-jeans students who practice Buddhist meditation. Her basic conception of Buddhism is, however, surprisingly close to that of many who have not practiced with this...
Wangmo tells this story of a concrete benefit of her faith as an illustration of the practical power of Buddhist spirituality. But this story about the silenced yapping of angry dogs that took place half a world away is almost the opposite of how the applicable effects of Buddhist meditation are sold in the U.S. Meditation has become a cure-all for the over-worked, over-extended, yet culturally sensitive American. The important thing to note as meditation becomes even trendier is that the Buddhist religion and secular meditation practice, though very different, are not mutually exclusive...
...Howard, a lifelong Buddhist, says, “Buddhism is happy for people to be involved at whatever level they want...