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Jewish Buddhist
Person with a Jewish background who practices a form of Buddhism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A Jewish Buddhist is a person of Jewish ethnicity who practices a form of Buddhism, with or without simultaneously observing Judaism.[1]
Some practice forms of Dhyana Buddhist meditation, chanting, or spirituality.[2] An individual may identify with both Judaism and Buddhism in terms of their religious practices. In many instances, the person may be ethnically designated as Jewish while practicing Buddhism as their primary religion. Rodger Kamenetz introduced the term JewBu or JUBU in his 1994 book The Jew in the Lotus.[3][4][5]
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Demographics
In her 2019 book on the subject entitled American JewBu, Emily Sigalow surveys the demography of American Buddhism, estimating ethnically Jewish Buddhists comprise between 16.5% and one-third of all non-Asian American Buddhists.[6]
Origins
At the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions, a Jewish man named Charles Strauss declared himself a Buddhist following talks delivered by Buddhist delegates Soyen Shaku and Anagarika Dharmapala.[7][8]
In the late 1960s, following the rise of Zen within the Beat Generation, many Jews began to explore Buddhism. Key figures included Shinge-shitsu Roko Sherry Chayat, a Zen Buddhist; Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg—founders of the Theravada-based Insight Meditation Society; and Sylvia Boorstein, who teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. They primarily practice Vipassana meditation as taught Thai teachers.[9][10][11] Another generation of Jewish Buddhist teachers emerged in the early 2000s, including author Taro Gold, expounding Japanese traditions such as Nichiren Buddhism.[12]
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Notable people
- Alfred Bloom[13]
- Bhikkhu Bodhi[14]
- Sylvia Boorstein[15]
- Tara Brach[citation needed]
- Thubten Chodron[16]
- Leonard Cohen[17][18]
- Surya Das[19]
- Robert Downey Jr.[20]
- Mark Epstein[21]
- Anthony Ervin[22]
- Zoketsu Norman Fischer[23]
- Allen Ginsberg[24]
- Philip Glass[25]
- Tetsugen Bernard Glassman[26]
- Craig Taro Gold[27]
- Natalie Goldberg[28]
- Yuval Noah Harari[29]
- Joseph Goldstein[30]
- Shinge Roshi Cherry Chayat[31]
- Julius Goldwater[32]
- Daniel Goleman[33]
- Dan Harris[34]
- Goldie Hawn[35]
- Jon Kabat-Zinn[36]
- Ayya Khema[37]
- Jack Kornfield[38]
- Jay Michaelson[39]
- Ethan Nichtern[40]
- Mandy Patinkin[41]
- Jeremy Piven[42]
- Linda Pritzker[43]
- Nick Ribush[44]
- Jonathan F.P. Rose[45]
- Larry Rosenberg[46]
- Sharon Salzberg[47]
- Morrie Schwartz[48]
- Nyanaponika Thera[49]
- Helen Tworkov[50]
- Adam Yauch[51]
- Shinzen Young[52]
See also
References
Further reading
External links
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