American Jews’ impact on the Buddhist movement in the country was the topic of Professor Daniel Veidlinger speech at last night’s weekly Hillel meeting.
Many Jews convert to Buddhism, Veidlinger said, because the religion shares many core beliefs with Judaism. However, many of the elements that Jews find most frustrating in their native religion are absent in Buddhism: many Jews get frustrated because they pray regularly but none of their prayers seem to be answered, Veidlinger told us, but Buddhists don’t pray and meditate, instead.
Instead of looking to a god for the answers to their problems, Buddhists look inside themselves and try to change themselves to solve them. Because many American Jews liked this practice, they converted to Buddhism and provided a shot in the arm to the religion’s growth.