| Perhaps this
hiding of Hindu cultural forms, which occurred among the educated in India as well, was
necessary at the turn of the last century when the West was still dominated by
Christianity, but it is no longer true and is becoming counter-productive as Westerners
are looking for new religious forms, for example, a religion of the Divine Mother such as
Hinduism has much more clearly articulated than the predominant Western religions. Other spiritual traditions have not kept their cultures so much in
the background in their coming to the West. Chinese and far Eastern culture, Chinese
medicine, Chinese astrology (I Ching), martial arts, Japanese poetry (haiku), and Chinese
and Japanese painting are as well known as the meditation tradition (Chan or Zen). Much of
the popularity of Tibetan Buddhism has come from the pujas, visualizations and devotional
meditations they teach their followers, along with Tibetan chants. |
