Buddhism in America has struck a responsive cord and has also become a product of pop culture and the politics of repressed Tibet that have produced a Tibet Chic. Buddhism is also the antithesis of our consumer-oriented society since it stresses simplicity, austerity and directness. Chanting and spiritual seeking are rampant in a modern age were we can no longer define ourselves by our occupations or our status.  Indeed, we no longer have lions to kill so that we are initiated into manhood, and just cooking and having babies used to define our womanhood.  Still, the monk who said just sixty years ago that, introducing Buddhism into America would be like holding a lotus against a rock and waiting for it to take root has proved incredibly wrong.

Satoru