A Jewish Buddhist is a person with a Jewish background who practices forms of Dhyanam

Buddhist meditation Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are '' bhāvanā'' ("mental development") and '' jhāna/dhyāna'' (mental training resulting in a calm and ...

chanting A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of n ...

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

. When the individual practices a particular religion, it may be both

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. However, in many cases their ethnic designation is Jewish while the individual's main religious practice is

Rodger Kamenetz Rodger Kamenetz (born 1950) is an American poet and author best known for ''The Jew in the Lotus'' (1994), an account of the historic dialogue between rabbis and the XIV Dalai Lama. His poetry explores the Jewish experience and in recent years, ...

introduced the term JewBu or JUBU in his 1994 book ''

The Jew in the Lotus ''The Jew in the Lotus'' is a 1994 book by Rodger Kamenetz about a historic dialogue between rabbis and the Dalai Lama, the first recorded major dialogue between experts in Judaism and Buddhism. The book was a popular success and became an interna ...

''.

Origins

At the 1893

Parliament of the World's Religions There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another c ...

, a Jewish man named Charles Strauss declared himself a Buddhist following talks by Buddhist delegates

Soyen Shaku Soyen Shaku (, January 10, 1860 – October 29, 1919; written in modern Japanese ''Shaku Sōen'' or ''Kōgaku Shaku Sōen'') was the first Zen Buddhist master to teach in the United States. He was a rōshi of the Rinzai school and was abbot of bo ...

and

Anagarika Dharmapala Anagārika Dharmapāla (Pali: ''Anagārika'', ; Sinhala: Anagārika, lit., si, අනගාරික ධර්මපාල; 17 September 1864 – 29 April 1933) was a Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist and a writer. Anagarika Dharmapāla is not ...

. After

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

's rise in popularity with the

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatio ...

, a new wave of Jews became involved with Buddhism in the late 1960s. Prominent teachers included Joseph Goldstein,

Jack Kornfield Jack Kornfield (born 1945) is an American writer and teacher in the Vipassana movement in American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, first as a student of the Thai forest master Ajahn Chah and Maha ...

, and

Sharon Salzberg Sharon Salzberg (born August 5, 1952) is a ''New York Times'' bestselling author and teacher of Buddhist meditation practices in the West. In 1974, she co-founded the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts, with Jack Kornfield and Jos ...

who founded the

Insight Meditation Society The Insight Meditation Society (IMS) is a non-profit organization for study of Buddhism located in Barre, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1975, by Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, and Joseph Goldstein and is rooted in the Theravada tradition. I ...

, Sylvia Boorstein who teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, all of whom learned

vipassana ''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...

meditation primarily through

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

teachers. Another generation of Jews as Buddhist teachers emerged in the early 2000s, including author

Taro Gold Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...

, expounding Japanese traditions such as

Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren Buddhism ( ja, 日蓮仏教), also known as Hokkeshū ( ja, 法華宗, meaning ''Lotus Sect'') is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one of ...

Notable people

Alfred Bloom Alfred H. Bloom is an American psychologist and linguist. He was the executive vice chancellor of Duke Kunshan University from 2020 to 2021. Before that, he was the vice chancellor of New York University Abu Dhabi from 2008 to 2019 and the presid ...

Bhikkhu Bodhi Bhikkhu Bodhi (born December 10, 1944), born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York and New Jersey area. He was appointed the second president of the Buddhist Publica ...

Sylvia Boorstein Sylvia Boorstein is an American author, psychotherapist, and Buddhist teacher. Boorstein studied with Dipa Ma and is a co-founding teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California and a senior teacher at the Insight Meditation Soc ...

Tara Brach Tara Brach (born May 17, 1953) is an American psychologist, author, and proponent of Buddhist meditation. She is a guiding teacher and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C. (IMCW). Her colleagues in the Vipassanā, or ...

Thubten Chodron Thubten Chodron ( — De Lin), born Cheryl Greene, is an American Tibetan Buddhist nun, author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Western nuns and monks in the United States. C ...

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

Surya Das Surya Das (born Jeffrey Miller in 1950) is an American lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He is a poet, chantmaster, spiritual activist, author of many popular works on Buddhism, meditation teacher and spokesperson for Buddhism in the West. ...

Robert Downey Jr. Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor and producer. His career has been characterized by critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, before a resurgence of ...

* Mark Epstein *

Anthony Ervin Anthony Lee Ervin (born May 26, 1981) is an American competition swimmer who has won four Olympic medals and two World Championship golds. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the men's 50-meter freestyle, and earned a silver med ...

Zoketsu Norman Fischer Zoketsu Norman Fischer is an American poet, writer, and Sōtō, Soto Zen priest, teaching and practicing in the lineage of Shunryū Suzuki, Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Dharma heir of Mel Weitsman, Sojun Mel Weitsman, from whom he received Dharma trans ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

Tetsugen Bernard Glassman Bernie Glassman (January 18, 1939 – November 4, 2018) was an American Zen Buddhist roshi and founder of the Zen Peacemakers (previously the Zen Community of New York), an organization established in 1980. In 1996, he co-founded the Zen Peace ...

Craig Taro Gold Craig Taro Gold (born November 1969), known as Taro Gold, is an American author, entertainer, singer-songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is the author of several ''New York Times'' best-selling books including ''Open Your Mind, Open Your Life'' and ...

Natalie Goldberg Natalie Goldberg (born January 4, 1948) is an American popular author and speaker. She is best known for a series of books which explore writing as Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; v ...

Yuval Noah Harari Yuval Noah Harari ( he, יובל נח הררי ; born 1976) is an Israeli historian and professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of the popular science bestsellers '' Sapiens: A Brief History ...

* Joseph Goldstein * Julius Goldwater *

Daniel Goleman Daniel Goleman (born March 7, 1946) is an author, psychologist, and science journalist. For twelve years, he wrote for ''The New York Times'', reporting on the brain and behavioral sciences. His 1995 book ''Emotional Intelligence'' was on ''Th ...

* Dan Harris *

Goldie Hawn Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, dancer, producer, and singer. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Go ...

Jon Kabat-Zinn Jon Kabat-Zinn (born Jon Kabat, June 5, 1944) is an American professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medi ...

Ayya Khema Ayya Khema ( 25, 1923 – November 2, 1997) was a Buddhist teacher noted for providing opportunities for women to practice Buddhism, founding several centers around the world. In 1987, she helped coordinate the first-ever Sakyadhita Internationa ...

Jay Michaelson Jay Michaelson (born May 5, 1971) is an American writer, professor, rabbi, and podcast host. He is a writer for ''New York'' magazine, ''Rolling Stone'', and other publications, having been the legal affairs columnist at ''The Daily Beast'' for eig ...

* Ethan Nichtern *

Mandy Patinkin Mandel Bruce Patinkin (; born November 30, 1952) is an American actor and singer, known for his work in musical theatre, television and film. He is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received three Tony Award nominations, winning ...

Jeremy Piven Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ari Gold in the comedy series ''Entourage'', for which he won a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards. He also starred in the British ...

Linda Pritzker Linda Pritzker (born September 1953) also known by the name Lama Tsomo is an American lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She is a spiritual teacher, author, philanthropist, and co-founder of the Namchak Foundation and Namchak Retreat Ranch ...

Forbes: The World's Billionaires - Linda Pritzker
July 2018 *

Nick Ribush Nicholas Ribush was one of the first Westerners to be ordained as a monk in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. A founder of Wisdom Publications, Ribush is today the director of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, a collection of thousands of teachings by ...

Jonathan F.P. Rose Jonathan Frederick Phinneas Rose (born 1952)BuildingNY: "The Life of Jonathan F. P. R ...

IN PERSON; Developer With Eye To Profits For Society" By TINA KELLEY
April 11, 2004 *

Larry Rosenberg Larry Rosenberg (born December 7, 1932) is an American Buddhist teacher who founded the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1985. He is also a resident teacher there. Rosenberg was a professor of psychology at the U ...

Morrie Schwartz Morris S. "Morrie" Schwartz (December 20, 1916 – November 4, 1995)Nyanaponika Thera Nyanaponika Thera or Nyanaponika Mahathera (July 21, 1901 – 19 October 1994) was a German-born Theravada Buddhist monk and scholar who, after ordaining in Sri Lanka, later became the co-founder of the Buddhist Publication Society and autho ...

Helen Tworkov Helen Tworkov is founding editor of '' Tricycle: The Buddhist Review'', the first and only independent Buddhist magazine, and author of ''Zen in America: Profiles of Five Teachers'' (North Point Press, 1989; Kodansha, 1994). She first encountered ...

Adam Yauch Adam Nathaniel Yauch ( ; August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012), better known under the stage name MCA, was an American rapper, bass player, filmmaker and a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys. Besides his musical work, he also directed ...

Shinzen Young is an American meditation teacher. He leads residential and phone-based meditation retreats for students interested in learning the Vipassana (insight) tradition of Buddhism. Shinzen was originally ordained in Japan as a monk in the Shingon (Ja ...

References

External links

The “Oy Vey” School of Buddhism

You don't look Buddhist

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091003025908/http://www.targum.com/excerpts/letters_to_a_buddhist_jew.html Excerpt from ''Letters to a Buddhist Jew''by Akiva Tatz {{Buddhism topics

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

Religious syncretism

Origins

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading

External links