Buddhist Heart - Jewish Soul: A Examination of the Phenomenon of Jewish Buddhists in the United States
Graduation Date
Fall 2003
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program Name
Humanities
First Reader
Philp Novak, PhD
Second Reader
Harlan Stelmach, PhD
Abstract
In the United States, Jews are a small minority. Yet, 30 percent of the non- Asian Buddhists in the United States are Jews. Within the population of Jewish Buddhists are many of Western Buddhism’s scholars, spiritual leaders, authors and teachers. This thesis project will examine the phenomenon of the non-Asian Buddhists in the United States who are Jewish. It argues that this phenomenon is a result of the Holocaust, the rejection of the God of Judaism, Anti-Semitism and cultural assimilation. It demonstrates that higher education and the evolving discipline of science were also factors. It reveals how the literary movement of the beats, its founding member Allen Ginsberg and the psychedelic drug experiments of the 1960s were also contributory elements. It demonstrates that because Buddhism and Jewish culture share common values, the Jewish population easily immersed itself in Buddhist practice once they discovered it. It validates that it is possible to maintain a Jewish identity while practicing Buddhism.