[as]

Yea, many schools of Buddhism have a lot of supernatural trappings that are basically ornaments and interpretations from the cultures they grew to prominence in. I think this is why the most popular school of Buddhism in the west is Zen, which strips most of that away.

[silentbicycle]

Right. I remember reading something where the author's teacher, when asked what some chanting in a sutra meant, basically said, "Oh, that? That's just Hindu stuff."

Historically, buddhism has partially melded with the local worldview as it has been carried from culture to culture: Theravada in India seems to have a lot of elements from Hinduism in it, Mahayana in China and Japan incorporated Taoism and Shinto respectively, Tibetan Vajrayana melded with Bon, etc. It seems to me that buddhism in America has been absorbing psychology, though it may be too early to say.

Also, I think another reason for the relative popularity of Zen / Mahayana here is that some of the Beats, particularly Alan Watts, attracted people to Shunryu Suzuki and the San Francisco Zen Center. Other buddhisms are common in immigrant communities, for example, but the Zen Center had a head start.

[mattmaroon]

Buddhism as most Americans understand it is more philosophy than religion for that reason.