British Buddhism and Hexham

Whilst in Northumberland on a short visit, I was pleased to be able to meet Dr Robert Bluck at his home near the  town of Hexham. Robert lives in a delightful old house overlooking the Tyne valley. There was a pleasing symmetry to this meeting at the end of my tenure as NBO development officer. One of my very first engagements a year ago had been at the friend’s Meeting House in Euston at an event organised by the Buddhist Hospice Trust. Dr Bluck had spoken at the event about his research into contemporary Buddhism in the UK (available as a book – British Buddhism*).

One element of his research has been in understanding the population of Buddhists in the UK. The last census provides some interesting source data. I mentioned some of the figures in my earlier blog entry. Robert wants to update the information in his book, and is interested in making contact with the large proportion of UK Buddhists who register themselves as Buddhist but do not appear to be linked with organisations. Many of this group are probably Buddhists by birth and see this as something of a cultural or religious identity. Getting in touch with, and understanding the outlook of this group is a challenge, as I have found to some extent over the past year.

There are difficulties with questions such as ‘how many Buddhists are there in the UK?’. Is a ‘Buddhist’ someone who says as much on a census form, or someone who is a member of a recognised Buddhist organisation, or someone who practises Buddhist meditation, or someone who is inspired and informed by, for example, the Dalai Lama’s books? Does being a ‘Buddhist’ mean one cannot also be a Christian, Marxist, Jedi Knight or Pagan? Does being a Theravada Buddhist mean one cannot practice Zen?

Statistics on numbers of religious adherents are potential political and propaganda tools as in ‘lies damn lies, and statistics’. The greater the number of members that a religion can justify, the greater the influence and privilege it can lay claim to.

My experience with those who are practising Buddhism is that many are not very interested in adopting and promoting their conventional identities; in fact quite the reverse. The liberation taught by the Buddha included freedom from attachment to identities of all sorts. So the desire to lay claim to the privileges associated with ones ethnic, cultural, sexual orientation, gender, physical attributes, geographical, and age identities may not be too appealing to many of those sincerely interested in the Buddhist path.

A woodpecker alighted at the feeding table in Robert’s garden. We watched through a spotting scope as it fed. Woodpeckers have developed quite a wide range of feeding habits. A few years ago I had a woodpecker regularly eating ants from nests in my lawn - an example of adaptation as the right sort of trees become harder to find.

I asked Robert about ordination practices that he had found whilst undertaking his research. What we call ‘ordination’, conditions us to think in Western terms, usually with ideas of monks or priests. Perhaps undertaking or embarking on a form of Buddhist training might be a better way to understand what happens when a lay-person becomes a traditional bhikkhu, for example. At Amaravati, which is a Theravada Monastery using the Vinaya for guidance, the process of an individual entering the community is a gradual one. Although in principle open to anyone, in practice, not only must one’s family agree with this course of action, but the monastic community must support the new member. In practice the process of becoming a full bhikkhu or siladara might take few years of progression through lay-helper, through white robed anagarika to monk or nun. There is no laid down time limit.

This contrast with adaptations that have been applied in various Westernised Buddhist traditions. As one example on a continuum, the FWBO have dropped the vinaya and the idea of householder or monk, and use a ten precept form. A request to be ordained as a member of the Western Buddhist Order may take many years (up to ten) before ordination is granted by the preceptors, and this is not automatic. In a sense this looks more like a graduation or perhaps initiation process than an embarkation on an ongoing training.

Robert and I also discussed the way Buddhism has collected cultural accretions – like barnacles - over its history. Although this image suggests the largely discredited idea of an essential core Buddhism lying beneath the barnacles.

Why should Western people sit cross legged on cushions for meetings for example? Or the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives use a form of English organ music?

However, such minor adaptations are surely pretty trivial when set against the aim of freedom from suffering, and perhaps the irritation or lack of patience we might experience makes these things useful examples of the way we can so easily generate dukkha.

*British Buddhism : Teachings, Practice And Development
(Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism)
by Robert Bluck
Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd
ISBN: 0415395151

Comments

[Gentian Rahtz]

I am probably fairly typical of a non alligned Buddhist in britain - i did take the 5 precepts with Thich Nhat Hahn - Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master, have done retreats at Gaia House, Amaravati, Throssel Hole over the years (first went to Throssel in the 70s)I read books on Buddhism and have a small meditation group in my house. I am also interested in Middle Eastern teachings be it Jesus/the Essenes or Islamic stuff. There arent any rules, it just seems useful stuff and meditation is a rich and fundamental practice for me - it echoes the stillness and "being in the present moment" inherent in the alexander Technique which i teach. For myself and others I know there is a general exploration of the various manifestations of buddhism in the UK
and Europe and tasting the differences.
Gentian Rahtz
York