In thinking about the history of the world, it is apparent that some religions have been associated with violent struggles and wars, while others have not. Christianity, for example, continues to be associated with sectarian conflicts. Islam is perceived as war like, as having converted many of its adherents by the sword. However, Buddhism is not perceived in that way. Instead, it seems to enter countries quietly and gradually become an important part of their culture. This is even more intriguing, since it was not particularly successful as a philosophy in its own homeland. But, it proved very successful at adaptation to other cultures, and continues to do so, as witness its growth in the United States.
However, there are those who contend that Buddhism is losing its character in the United States, becoming just another Western trend, denuded of its original meaning. The intent in this paper is to explore Buddhist tradition in order to determine what is necessary to the tradition for an expression to be authentic. In other words, what cannot be lost and what must be present for an adaptation to remain true to its source.
While there are certainly elements of the story of the Buddha which are magical, and which would be difficult for modern readers to credit, there are many other elements which make it the story of an ordinary spiritual seeker. The Buddha tries many things during his spiritual search, before eventually attaining enlightenment. The Buddha, in the basic story, is not seen as God, nor an incarnation of God, nor as supernatural. Instead, his story is seen as the story that provides the basic model for the spiritual seeker. He himself encouraged that stance by refusing to call himself a God, or saint; instead, in answer to the questions that people asked him, he stated that he was "awake."
This is not a difficult position to aspire to. It is easy to think of oneself as "waking up" from the world's illu...