The American Encounter With Buddhism

Before reading "The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent" by Thomas A. Tweed I had no experience with Buddhism except for what I have seen in the movies and in the media. Seeing Buddhism through these different sources, it does not portray an accurate illustration of what the religion is truly regarding. Having little to no knowledge about the background of the religion makes reading this book both interesting and a little difficult to read at the same time. In Buddhism, two groupings define the religion. The first group is known as "The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism," the categories underneath are life means suffering, the origin of suffering is attachment, the cessation of suffering is attainable, and lastly, the path to the cessation of suffering. The second group is "The Eightfold Path," which consists of, the right view, the right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and lastly, the right concentration. Once read and understood the different points, it made this literature easier to comprehend and made for smoother reading.

Thomas Tweed brings up some interesting points when it has to do with Buddhism. He brings up how the spread of Buddhism was a difficult road to go down. It had made tribulations to go through before actually being accepting in society. There are a couple major reasons why Buddhism had a rough history. One reason is that it was an Asian influenced religion. At this time in America people of Asian origin were not allowed to come to America, so when Buddhism was introduced to Americans it was not popular with the majority of the citizens. Another was the classification of Buddhism as a religion. Buddhism had this conflict of categorization of whether it was a philosophy or an actual religion. Many believed Buddhism was a philosophy because Buddhism is more of a way of life that a religion. However, for the believers and followers of Buddhism it was much more than just a philosophy it was their faith. The reason it was grouped in with the rest of the different philosophy's and not a religion because Buddhism was not similar to other religions. There is no "One Being" that is prayed to like Christianity or Protestant. Buddhism does not consist of praying but meditating and self-discipline.