For this blog assignment I decided to search YouTube for commercials that pertained to an American stereotypical depiction of Buddhism. I found this video which is about an American boy who’s in an Asian country and he knocks on a door and a Buddhist monk opens it. In the commercial, everyone is wearing the same outfit and each person resembles each other in appearance. The American boy’s head is shaved and he is dressed like the other monks. As the commercial continues the boy is shown training as though he was preparing for a fight. One of the other monks holds up a board that looks like it’s supposed to be concrete. The boy punches the board and hurts his hand. He is then shown as a young adult and finally completes the challenge and is also able to chop a board in half and is shown doing flips around a group of monks. When the boy is done, he drinks a can of Pepsi and then smashes it on his head, leaving a mark on his forehead that resembles the other men. The young man is then praised and I guess at that point he has reached enlightenment.
There are many stereotypes found in this commercial. First, each monk resembled each other in appearance. They wore the same colors and each of their heads were shaved. At the end of the commercial when the young man receives “enlightenment “, it is done in a quick manner. He smashes the can on his forehead and boom, he’s accepted into the group.
In Brad Warner’s book, Zen Wrapped In Karma Dipped In Chocolate, he describes the current status of Buddhism in the West. Warner discusses some of the scams that do take place in the West concerning Buddhism in the chapter, Does Real Buddhism Exist in the West? “One of the worst is the idea that there are ways to speed a person to enlightenment,” (Warner pg 27). He also mentions that under Dogen’s lineage there are two kinds of enlightenment. The first does happen instantaneously and according to Dogen, it is not an experience that someone has, but it is an activity that you can do. Unlike the first kind of enlightenment, the second type takes a lot of time and practice and cannot be completed without years of practice. Enlightenment has to be practiced.
