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Buddhism and the West 1. Buddhism in Popular Culture 2. The Dalai Lama 3. Cognitive Therapy: East Meets West
1. Buddhism in Popular Culture
• Buddhism was introduced to North America around the 1890s, but it did not get much attention until the mid-20th century
• Why?
• Canadian and U.S. soldiers who had fought in Asia during the Second World War brought back some ideas of Eastern religions, including Buddhism, after the war
• Popular musicians of the 1960s and after began to explore and spread Buddhist ideas
• For example...
Take 2 minutes…
2. The Dalai Lama • The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of
Tibetan Buddhism • He was born Lhamo Dondrub in 1935
Thubten Gyatso - 1933
Lhamo La Tso Lake
Lhamo Thondup – age 2
The test...
• The Dalai Lama is believed to be the 14th reincarnation of Gedun Drupa (1391-1474)
• He is a bhodisattva
• The Dalai Lama has won virtually every humanitarian award, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989
Dalai Lama Quotes
3. Cognitive Therapy: East Meets West
• Recently, Buddhist practices such as meditation have become very common in our society
• For many people, it is seen as a way to escape the fast pace and pressures of their daily lives
The Old Eastern Model • Mental illness (ex. depression, anxiety,
addiction) are all fabrications of the mind
The Old Western Model • Those same mental illnesses are triggered
by physical or chemical problems in the brain
• Balance can be restored with the use of drugs or other measures such as ECT
• Remember Siddhārta and the sitar! • Cognitive therapy has had some success
by trying to find a middle ground between these two views
• Depression, anxiety, and addiction can be triggered by processes in your brain, but you can control some of the symptoms through exercises in mind control
• In other words, maybe you can’t control your brain, but you can control your response to it