Buddhism Assignment: Buddhist Stereotypes

Zen and the Art of Leadership

For the Buddhist stereotype assignment, I decided to look where stereotypes are most likely to be found: cartoon strips. What I found was not surprising – images of meditating monks, jokes about having no thoughts, wanting for nothing, etc. Though I found many positive Buddhist stereotypes, the one I finally settled on is one that I believe Brad Warner would disagree with. This image depicts a businessperson sitting in his office amidst all of his work and papers, meditating, and completely ignoring all of the work he is supposed to be doing. To me, this says that people generally see Buddhist practitioners as people who completely disconnect from the world and shirk all of their responsibilities to their job, their family, etc. Whereas the most hardcore practitioners do often retreat from the world to practice Buddhism, there are many who practice Buddhism and still lead a normal life.
I believe that Brad Warner refutes this stereotype a number of times throughout his book. First and foremost, he himself is an example, in that he works, makes money, communicates with people, and keeps up his relationships, in addition to practicing Buddhism. He brings up the point himself (p. 69) of the apparent contradiction of the Buddhist ideal of having no goals, and living in a world where goals are completely necessary. He says,

“In terms of the Zen view of the true nature of time, the idea of having a goal breaks down into absurdity… But human business affairs take place in a different realm… As human beings we need to interact with other humans… You can’t function in society if you don’t involve yourself in the fictions society accepts about time.” (p.70)

He states that it is essentially impossible in our world today to turn from one’s responsibilities outside of one’s religious practices.

“A lot of people imagine it’d be wonderful to escape from their everyday lives and run off to some kind of spiritual world where… they never have to worry about jobs… But the truth is that there’s no cult, no church, no monastery in the world that is any less susceptible to politics and basic human bull crap than any company or other organization.” (p.70)

Another stereotype that this cartoon seems to illustrate is the idea that Buddhist practice is an “escape” from one’s life, stresses, and responsibilities. Warner counters this idea with his story of the “Inscription of Faith in Mind” and his kidney stones. He says,

“…we don’t need to fight against the circumstances in which we find ourselves… In fact, no matter how much trouble we may have seeing it, the place where we are could be said to be exactly where we most want to be. This is hard to accept. But when you accept it, your situation changes dramatically.” (p. 119)

According to Warner, Buddhism does not give you a way to retreat from your situation, but to make it less aversive by not comparing it to anything else. “Even the concept of ‘pain’ makes no sense unless it’s contrasted with something else.” (p. 119) Warner defies the idea that Buddhism is simply a means of running away and evading responsibility, and instead argues that it is in fact a way of being fully involved and immersed in everything that is happening to you at every moment.