A Cross Fertilization Of Identities The Meeting of Jews and Buddhism in America

Date of Award

2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Newman, John

Keywords

Judaism, Buddhism, America

Area of Concentration

Religion

Abstract

This thesis addresses the phenomenon of Jews practicing Buddhism in America. I was curious about this phenomenon for personal reasons, in addition to wanting to see what light this topic could shed on others. I found that the occurrence of Jews practicing Buddhism in America illuminated two areas: American Jewish Identity and American Buddhist Identity. In order to attend to the former topic, I read a considerable amount of background material on American Jewish Identity. In order to research the latter topic, I did a survey of the literature on American Buddhism. I also examined nearly all of the available literature on Jews practicing Buddhism, which pertained to both American Jewish Identity and American Buddhist Identity. Studying American Jewish Buddhists, revealed a deep formlessness at the heart of American Jewish Identity. This thesis examines the various ways that this formlessness manifests in the behavior of American Jewish Buddhists, and also reveals how Jewish Identity has always been somewhat nebulous. Studying American Jewish Buddhists also disclosed the way in which American Buddhists, in general, view Buddhism as superior to Western Religions such as Judaism. This thesis enumerates the aspects of Buddhism that Americans champion and lists them side by side with the supposedly inferior attributes of Judaism.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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