From my POV Tibetan Buddhism very gently proselytizes and I think of that as a good thing.
Whether you think it is a good thing or not does not mean that it is a part of Buddhism...especially pegging it as a part of Tibetan Buddhism, inparticular. If you read H.H the Dalai Lama's work, he encourages all religious endevours, not just TB.
I'm very glad that H.H. the Dalai Lama is out there loving the peoples and offering to make the Dharma as accessible to people as possible.
Do you think accessibility implies proselytizing? I thought proselytizing was actively recruiting people. Which, teaching someone to meditate, or chant, is not qualify as - as Grant mentioned about a group in his area. Explaining a religion or philosophy is recruiting either, as there are lots of books on Judaism as well. The difference being, one has to be BORN into Judaism, making it a bit of a closed club. Yes, one could become a Buddhist, even of Tibetan variety, but never would they go and actively seek new membership. If they do, they are directly going against Buddhist doctrine. Sure, listen to a teaching, learn something new - maybe how to meditate - but THAT doesn't make one a Buddhist. First of all, in order to actually recruit a new Buddhist, one needs to try to convince someone to take Refuge in the Three Jewels, in order to be "converted". Meditation alone doesn't make a Buddhist conversion.
Secondly, it hardly qualifies as proselytizing when information is just being dispersed to those who are interested; as in a talk is being given to those who wish to hear it. Perhaps, as a book people wish to buy. If you are not interested no one should be trying to convince you.
Thirdly, if someone is a Buddhist and they are trying to convert people, they are sorely missing the point. I would also be wary of their credentials. It is one thing to point to information, it is another to recruit. A good Dharma teacher doesn't need to recruit. A good Dharma teacher relies on the karma of the students to ripen. If you think you have come across an actively recruiting Dharma centre - stay away. There are some that do, and they are missing the point, as I stated before. I would highly wonder what the agenda is of the resident lama.
I guess I'm all down with compassionate systems of religious belief standing on soap boxes.
I am also for compassionate systems of religious belief expressing their beliefs, (rather than soapboxing the idea, which I find unpalatable), but I don't think that expression and discussion is actually proselytizing. Rabbis speak out all the time, but that doesn't make them proselytizers. Why is it that because the option of becoming a (Tibetan) Buddhist is there, a discussion of the doctrine is viewed as proselytizing - since the same is not said for Judaism?
Being Jewish has a lot to do with blood lineage, but that doesn't mean it is impossible to become one. That being said, being a Buddhist, especially in the Tibetan Buddhist school I belong to, the old school of Nyingmapa, also has a lineage. It is more of a mind lineage, however, and if you are not supposed to be there, you won't be. |
