Buddhism Moving Into The Heartland, Says Penn State English Professor

10-17-97
University Park, Pa. -- Two years ago, Penn State English professor Dinty W. Moore began a search for American Buddhism that took him to Jersey City, N.J., eastern New York state, High View, W. Va., Floyds Knob, Ind., and a host of other spots across the country. In the beginning, Moore saw his search as simply a fun, hands-on project -- he'd see American Buddhism in action and write a book about it -- but as time went on the project turned into a spiritual quest that ended up with Moore himself becoming a Buddhist.

Moore started his project in 1995 when he suddenly began to notice traces of Buddhism everywhere. Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson was giving Zen training to Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. Detroit police were being taught Buddhist breathing techniques to fight stress. Buddhist retreat centers were flourishing in out-of-the-way places. Television commercials were making references to finding true meaning on Tibetan mountaintops. Movie directors were beginning work on Buddhism-related projects that are scheduled for release this fall: "Seven Years in Tibet," starring Brad Pitt, and "Kundun," directed by Martin Scorsese.

Through his project, Moore discovered that Buddhism in America is really nothing new. It has existed in big American cities, like New York and San Francisco, for nearly the whole century. But the recent growth of Buddhist meditation groups and Zen retreat centers -- and the movement of Buddhism into suburban and rural areas -- is something new and substantial, Moore found.

"The growth of Buddhism as a religion among Americans of Western descent is probably happening very slowly," says Moore. "But the growth in the practice of Buddhist principles and ideology -- whether or not it's called Buddhism -- is a real groundswell."

Moore has reported his findings about American Buddhism and chronicled his own conversion to Buddhism in "The Accidental Buddhist: Mindfulness, Enlightenment, and Sitting Still," being published this month by Algonquin Books in Chapel Hill, N.C.

The title of Moore's book is a play on the title of the Anne Tyler novel, "The Accidental Tourist," and Moore himself -- pictured on the book's cover, sitting cross-legged under a tree -- is the accidental Buddhist. It's also Moore's way of acknowledging that he became a Buddhist by accident, without really intending to.

Moore was raised a Catholic in the days when Catholicism seemed to him to focus on guilt and fear. Moore found himself drawn to Buddhism because it didn't focus on people's shortcomings, undeserving nature, or the necessity of suffering.

The average American turning to Buddhism is probably sees it as a way to get away from the complexity of life, Moore says.

"I think America's most recent fascination with Buddhism is a reaction to the overstimulation that fills nearly everyone's life -- we have beepers, fax machines, e-mail, cell phones, radio and television, and we are being asked to process billions of pieces of information every day," says Moore. "Buddhism shows us a way to slow down, to take stock of where we are at the moment, to sort through what information is important and what is just information."

Moore found that Buddhism is short on dogma but long on meditation -- called sitting -- sometimes for as long as 10 hours a day. The idea is to attain at least two things: mindfulness -- the unwavering concentration that comes from stillness, and non-duality -- the belief that all living (and non-living) things are one, not separate.

Moore says Buddhism has brought him a calmness -- a mental freshness and clarity -- that he didn't have before. "I think many of us carry around a lot of pain in our daily lives," he says. "But if you disarm the source of that pain, it goes away -- and Buddhism can help you do that."

Moore's previous book, "The Emperor's Virtual Clothes: The Naked Truth about Internet Culture," was also published by Algonquin. For that book, Moore spent hours and hours each day exploring the Internet. Maxed out on information technology, Moore says he made a deliberate decision to focus on something completely different for his next project.

"I thought, my goodness, I'm so tied into my e-mail that I have electrical connections running into my brain," Moore recalls. "I was spending so much time on the Internet that I thought I'd better find some way to relax. I've always been fascinated by Buddhism. After the Internet book, I said to myself, if I'm going to spend another two years looking closely at something, I'm going to pick Buddhism."

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Editors: Moore can be reached at 814/949-5154 or via e-mail at dinty@psu.edu

Contact: Alan Janesch (814) 865-7517 or axj12@psu.edu