East Meets West

Although optimistic about the upsurge in interest, Rosenthal is aware of the faddist tendency. "Some people are lost and jumping on the Tibetan bandwagon. For them it's a phase, like Hula-Hoops or Frisbees. They have a romantic view of the monk living in the forest, and they see that as how they want to be. But they're like a little girl dressing up in her mother's high heels. It's not real. They're playing dress-up."

He believes that this is why Zen was the spiritual fad of the Seventies. "You didn't have to become a priest. You could be an armchair philosopher and pursue enlightenment on weekends."

But not everybody is trying to become enlightened. Many people are simply seeing the world of Western consumerism as hollow, and are trying to find a better way to live. Buddhist magazines like Turning Wheel and Tricycle contain a diversity of views and approaches to Buddhist practice, and the excellent Shambala Sun reaches a readership of 25,000 with its Tibetan-focused, politically conscious articles.

Lee Rosenthal sees the need for the political rather than the austere. "Religion and politics have never been separate. Westerners are seeing that the Dalai Lama's political struggle for his people is also his religious struggle."

In spite of the necessity of commitment and hard work, Buddhism's appeal may be in the broadness of its roads. The emphasis is always on personal responsibility rather than the guidance of a nebulous parent figure in the sky.

In L.A., the Dalai Lama responded to a question by laughing and admitting, "I don't know." Has anybody ever heard the pope say that?