Hasidim and Buddhism: comparative religious traditions

Speculating in Detail -- the growth of Buddhism and Hasidic Judaism

Although the scenario presented for speculative discourse is considered to be absurd, it actually contains some features that are not so absurd at all. Buddhism is not simply a religion. Buddhism, although it began in India, is a non-territorially specific philosophy of mindfulness and living in the present. This is why it spread so rapidly throughout China and Japan, amongst other Asian nations. Buddhism is a kind of 'portable' way of looking on life, without specific practices and texts other than meditation. It would have seemed absurd to someone living in America fifty years ago that yoga would become one of the most popular workout techniques for suburban mothers desiring to keep their minds and bodies active, or that books such as the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance would top the best seller charts.

Buddhist philosophy has become popularized in American life since the 1950's and 1960's, since the cultural elevation of the Beats and the Beatles. Thus, the fact that various forms of Buddhism could become the number one religion in America, with 62% of the population considering themselves practicing Buddhists, is hardly ridiculous when one considers the near ubiquity of other facets of Eastern culture becoming mainstream. Also, need not go to church every Sunday to be a Buddhist, to meditate and to stretch the body. Some Buddhists think that an individual needs to simply approach life with a Buddhist philosophy to be a 'true' Buddhist, hence the number of positive responses gleaned by the survey.

Of course this relative ease of identification is not the case with the highly regimented although fulfilling form of religious communal life known Hasidic Judaism. One must formally convert to become Jewish, and even a Jewish person must follow a strict way of life to consider him or herself a member of one of the Hasidic sects. But the fact slightly more than 27% of the population claims membership to the variations of this practice would not so surprising either, when one considers the increased demand for a family-focused culture in America today. This demand has been articulated not only Jewish individuals, but all families as well.

The voluntary simplicity movement, asking families to return to traditional ways of living, eating, and organizing their life around community and faith is emblematic of Hasidic Judaism. Also, life in Hasidic Judaism is governed by the religious clock of the Shabbat and of prayer and temple-going rather than corporate ladder-climbing, a relief for members of Generations X, Y, and beyond, who have become burnt out at an early age, from the demands posed by modern life. The increased interest in Middle Eastern religions, spawned by the resurgence of conflict in the area, could very well drive many people to greater curiosity about this way of life.