[trane_project]

"But the cost of the mindfulness revolution has been Buddhism’s lost monopoly on many of its core concepts. Very few of those using Buddhist practices will ever become Buddhists in a religious sense. California Buddhism is one of the most successful cultural syntheses of the last century; but as far as conversion goes, it seems that it is Buddhism that has embraced California rather than the other way around."

Pretty much. Sad state of affairs. I don't care if people find something positive in Buddhism and offer their own takes, but too many people call their offerings "Buddhism" for the clout. Finding a qualified teacher becomes very difficult if you are actually interested in Buddhism.

On the positive side, I don't actually agree with the first sentence. You still have to find a proper Buddhist teacher if you want to be taught the good stuff. Even if you found the instructions somehow, it either requires proper motivation (at which point you are a buddhist) or a transmission for those methods to actually work.

[pasquinelli]

> Finding a qualified teacher becomes very difficult if you are actually interested in Buddhism.

you can find that same complaint 1000 years ago.

[jrvarela56]

I guess then if you did not receive instruction from the Buddha himself you cannot call yourself a true buddhist.

[trane_project]

No need. You just find someone that has a proper transmission, meaning that they were taught by a teacher that also had transmission, and so on. It's sort of like medical school. Your doctor was trained by doctors that trained under other doctors and so on.

People are free to take whatever they want from Buddhism and practice and teach it, even if completely unqualified. There is no dharma police to call. I was just making the point that calling teachings that reject core tenants of Buddhism by the same name is often just done to help them associate with whatever "clout" the word Buddhism has in the popular imagination.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is an example of how to properly go about this process without overstating what it really is.

[kelseyfrog]

Buddhas are fairly easy to meet on the road.