Of the various Buddhist cultural heritages, in which I (off-handedly) identify three distinctions that make their way through and in to the modern day: Japanese meditative and chanting style of Buddhism, Chinese form, largely unknown to me, although the fat seated man, "full of riches of life," so to speak, as a prominent Chinese figurative symbol that makes it's way in to knick knacks of cultural commodities, say, for example, in Chinatown sorts of storefront offerings of cultural effects; the third variant being the various cultural and religious lineages of Buddhism of the South Asian Subcontinent of India and nearby Pakistan, Tibet, and perhaps Nepal (Nepal being correlated due to my encounters with the nation being associated in cuisine, not that I've identified them as a formerly Buddhist culture).
According to Pew Forum, which is America's statistics resource in expertise, and authority, in my summation, Buddhist influences take us, as more youthful sorts, in studying religions and cultures that had existed, or do exist, outside of our nation's boundaries.
Being that, in former generations, such as in the days of the hippies, cultural influences such as Buddhism became popular; also of that the psychedelic public relations and iconic figures from that time, such as Terrence McKenna, Alexander Shulgin, and Timothy Leary - either extensibly, tangentially, semantically, or directly - these figures and their influence contributed, largely, to a cultural facet, standing to this day, in our youth generations, as it stands, as that the influences of cultural and religious Buddhism are part of our cultural heritage which emerges from that transformational age in our society: the 60's, which I haven't studied, much, but I've had the good fortune to have had become acquainted with some of these folks, as Buddhists, themselves, in part; personally, such that I feel I can offer some anecdotal insights and first-hand accounts of what fed us, culturally, back then, and which sows seeds of influence and impact upon us, to this day, and that it should stand, as such, that other nations of our global community had been founded, in former centuries, in Buddhist cultural and religious beliefs and practices, and that we, here, in America, have inclusive virtues of our nation, in the study and assimilation of all the nations of the world, in a friendly nature, should we not be offended by the truths and cultures of other countries and their people.
For example, (I'll make it quick, for now), I went out and lived as a homeless man, this past week, and it was many ways, shapes, and forms tough, but I did it in the name of non-aggression, which I'd been exposed to, of many various takes on the subject; various suggestions about takes on things; some of which I'd identified with, some courageous, some of it disinformation, some shortcomings in life, of my own doing, and consequence, and some ego that showed up - many things thrown at me, to suggest, of a formative self and decisiveness to come forth, from out of it.
As it turned out, I was, here and there, simply deceived, by intelligence. I suppose that that's simply my place, in life, being a civilian, and for my shortcoming of desiring violence and it's outcomes, upon others, rather than that I was simply capable in changing a man, who I take issue with, for having been unclean. Now, just as reference, I feel that Christian virtues largely come first, in America, whereas these Buddhist virtues of non-attachment and humility (put simply), are things that we learn, after our secondary school days, when we pursue our own interests and novel influences. Given that, I have a huge set of ethical constraints upon myself, and it's challenging for me to be placed so nearby a challenging individual, of an unlearned and aggressive sort.
People see me as that I ought to, and ought be considered to be a man; fortunate, and capable, for having been fortunate, of not finding myself deluded or judgmental over others, in any American virtue, brought forth, in to the common latest day of our times. For not having much communications with the man, I'd been fraught with dilemma and delusions over him. As it turns out, he's currently as unwell as I'd seen of what I witnessed of him, at his last stand sort, of himself; he himself, purportedly leaving, yet this quandary was lobbed at me, while I myself left home: who is he, of what I can ascertain, truthfully, and how much am I being deluded? What if he was a better person than what I'd been willing to offer him, and for not "liking" him, for who he is, and what he's good for, how faulty might I be?
Now, in general, I hold to the belief that a person is generally who they are, for their own reasons and best interests, and by and large, many people are good. About a third of us, from stats of my upbringing, are Christian, and some of them lackluster in that facet of themselves, in learning and in discipline. Many of us lead a fast life, so to speak. I'm faulty of my appearance, in being a narcissist, yet I somewhat "demand" respect, through dressing well, yet it's not all that serious, with everyone, and I do play around, at times, as an out and about transvestite. I won't go in to that, now, but these things merit some coverage.
So it turned out that I was deluded about the young man, as I came home, and someone even more bum than himself seemed to have been shipped in, and taken his spot. As it ends up, he is still there, and still stricken with unwellness, same as I'd last observed of him, when he was purportedly leaving, for good.
That's all I'll say, for now. But I'll leave with this offering: non-aggression méthodes, amongst us, as civilians, lead to heroic outcomes, at some times in life, and we're given many virtuous things of aesthetics from these cultures, as well as cultural virtues that we can adopt, for our own.
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