Create Your Own Religion, Jew-Bu Style

My high school friend recently went Jew-Bu, a synthesis of Judaism and Buddhism intended to grasp the best of both religions. It combines Buddhist thought with Jewish theology and structure, in effect incorporating Buddhist traditions such as meditation and chanting into traditional Judaism. Presto, Jew-Bu.

I was skeptical when I first heard about the splicing of religions; have we gotten so jaded in our search for peace and spirituality, so soft in our quest for personal religion, that a "make your own religion" kit is acceptable? Apparently. But that doesn't mean that the hybrid religions are a detrimental thing.

For my high school friend, Buddhism fills a void left by her traditional Jewish faith. It's a way to understand and diminish personal suffering, let go of fears, and get piece of mind. She still appreciates the strong community and traditions of Judaism, but wanted to discover the wisdom of another religion without abandoning her born faith. By using Buddhist meditation techniques to enhance her Jewish spirituality, she has achieved this balance.

Some feel that Buddhism and Judaism are easily reconcilable. There is solidarity in the goals of both religions: to make human beings more compassionate and thereby make the world a better place. Although the two faiths have different traditions and methods that lead to enlightenment, their paths are not exclusionary.

Jew-Bu's resolve the biggest difference between Jew and Bu -- the monotheistic Judeo belief in one omnipotent god versus the Buddhist belief that their is no one all-powerful creator -- with a variety of logics.

In the Jewish mystical tradition -- where Judaism comes closest to Buddhism -- God exists on many planes. He is part of everything in the world and humans are consciously practicing good deeds to make the world worthy of him. One Kabbalah scholar even called God a verb because pious humans are forever in the act of "god-ing." When God is conceptually altered from an autonomous single entity, Judaism and Buddhism are decidedly reconcilable.

But not all Jew-Bu's even go so far. As one online Jew-Bu explained, "The Buddhist concept of nirvana is compatible with the Jewish concept of a monotheistic God. Different words. Same thing." Communing with God to an extent that brings peace and harmony is nirvana to a Jew, whereas communing with nature and the true inner self is nirvana to a Buddhist. Nirvana is dependent on the beholder's definition.

Jew-Bu is not without contention, however. Jewish purists argue that lifting one tradition and placing it within another religion and culture inevitably weakens both religions. To many American Jews, Jew-Bu is a bunk new-age religion masked in old-age garb for the sake of legitimacy. They believe that Jew-Bu's are searching for spirituality in the wrong places, turning to a false peace in sources other than old-fashioned study and prayer.

Critics of Jew-Bu forget that the malleable qualities of a religion allow it to stand the test of time. Exiled for 2,000 years, Jews had to adapt their faith to the local customs, traditions, and cuisines of their diverse geographic regions. When faced with adversity, they used whatever resources were available to keep their traditions alive as well as distinctly Jewish. The result today is a unified faith, marked by subsets of people with slightly different customs.

I see the emergence of Jew-Bu as a modern day adaptation to the stimuli of the American melting pot and the needs of today's worshipers. Proven by our nation's yoga craze of late, meditation is a mainstream mechanism for coping with stress. Religion, also a tool for easing the trials of life, should adapt to the changing tastes of the population if it wants to remain a visible and powerful force in the modern world. Buddhism's prominent use of meditation could compliment other religions.

The creation of Jew-Bu does not imply that Judaism is insufficient as a religion in and of itself. Ours is the day of personal religion, a spirituality that cannot be fostered by Sunday School workbooks and Hebrew lessons for the masses. It is acceptable and even encouraged to develop a personal relationship with God, catering your faith to your individual needs. Jew-Bu is the result.

The principles of Buddhism appeal to many people of our generation, who are wearied by the complexities of the modern world, disillusioned by traditional religions. It's packed with simple wisdom, including the notion that most human suffering is caused by our resistance to accepting our lives just as they are right now. The messages conveyed in traditional Buddhist chants are also sage. My favorite: "Delusions are inexhaustible -- I vow to end them."

Buddhism teaches that we should approach everything -- the good, the bad, the neutral -- with awareness. We spend so much time scrutinizing the past and worrying about the future that the present evades us.

While these lessons are distinctly Buddhist in origin, any person or religion could improve by embracing them. Jew-Bu's are not demanding that Judaism revolutionize its founding tenets -- they just want to incorporate the lessons of other religions into their personal faith. The goal is to complement, not to undermine, traditional Judaism.

So, what's next, you ask? Catholics for karma? Jew-Vishnu? Jews for Jesus? Oh wait, that last one already exists. Not all religions are unifiable, clearly. But Jew-Bu's feel that Buddhism and Judaism go hand in hand. If it makes their God or nirvana more attainable, why not? You say dharma, I say Torah, but we don't have to call it off.

Archived article by Andrea Forker