Dudeism=Buddhism?

[camerata]

Dudeism=Buddhism?

What is Dudeism?

According to dudeism.com, a website dedicated to deploying the wisdom of The Dude (Jeff Bridges) from the comedy The Big Lebowski, Dudeism is a religion with the following creed:

"The idea is this: Life is short and complicated and nobody knows what to do about it. So don’t do anything about it. Just take it easy, man. Stop worrying so much whether you’ll make it into the finals. Kick back with some friends and some oat soda and whether you roll strikes or gutters, do your best to be true to yourself and others – that is to say, abide."

In short, Dudeism is not Buddhism.

However, dudeism.com does list the Buddha as one of the “Great Dudes in History” — along with Snoopy, Gandhi, and Jerry Garcia — citing the fact that “he bailed on his birthright and taught that you should go with the flow.”

Full article.

One of the comments - from The Dudely Lama - is worth quoting in full...

Howdy, I’m the founder of Dudeism.

Perhaps you’ve been too distracted by the Dudeism/Buddhism pun? Funny, but no Jews have accused us of imperfectly aping Judaism, which also sounds a lot like “Dudeism.”

You’re correct - Dudeism is not Buddhism. Although, I’d venture to say that despite what you guys tend to write about at Tricycle, Buddhism is not Buddhism. I live in Thailand most of the year, and have studied a lot of Buddhism and done several temple retreats here. Ich bin no expert, but I think I’m more well-versed than the average bear.

This is why I find nothing more hilarious than a Western Buddhist being smug and supercilious in defending their particular brand of Buddhism. Seems to be a rather common occurrence. When Thai Buddhists do that, it’s for political reasons. When Westerners do, it’s for egotistical ones. Ergo, irony.

You’ve got the wrong religion, man. Dudeism is a descendant not of Buddhism, but of Taoism, and by proxy, Zen Buddhism to some degree. As you know, Zen Buddhism was heavily influenced by Taoism. Some say that it’s actually more Taoism than Buddhism. I guess it depends if you’re taking your cues from Basho or Thich Naht Hanh or D.T. Suzuki or what-have-you. Or, perhaps, new agey advertisers with deep pockets and ideas that stray far from the Dhammapada (and some might say) into lunacy. Do you accuse them of being unBuddhistic too?

I’d venture so far as to say that almost all Westerners (including Watts) follow Zen Buddhism, or otherwise, a form of Buddhism so well-purged of its Vedic influences that it is unrecognizable from Buddhism as it’s practiced by adherents in Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Laos. I’d also venture to say that most of them adhere to the watered down version of “Beat Zen” that Watts poked fun of. And that probably includes the majority of Tricycle’s readers. No harm intended - being an orthodox adherent to a 2500 year old tradition is hard work. Sounds exhausting. That’s why we’re not Buddhists. Then again, as is the case with Jesus (not The Jesus), Buddha wasn’t a Buddhist either. We like to think he was more of a Dudeist. But that’s just, like, our opinion, man.

(Look - now I’m being smug about what Buddhism is. Oh well. Forgive me if I contradict myself, Walt Whitman-style.)

On the other hand, Taoism (the original, uncompromised first draft), is easy to follow and has maintained its purity of thought (at least the original lineage has - see Holmes Welch’s “The Parting of the Way”).

Of course, Taoism was designed to be immune to bickering. That’s because it wasn’t meant to make pronouncements about metaphysics or rebirth or provide a strict moral code with 256 precepts and the systematic denigration of women (as in Buddhism). Taoism was and is merely a fundamental principle which is difficult to describe and can only be alluded to (Zen capitalized heavily on this Taoist idea). In short, it’s a semi-written poem which aims to capture the poetry of life so that it can be lived harmoniously by those who try to understand its verses implicitly.

All Dudeism aims to do is to show that this Taoist tradition has existed in one form or another in all civilizations, usually in the shadow of more bombastic, superstitious and insincerely humble traditions like Christianity, Islam, and even Buddhism. We call this tradition Dudeism because it reached its current apotheosis in the character of The Dude in The Big Lebowski.

There have been Dudeist Buddhists, of course and despite what you imply, I believe Alan Watts probably fell into that camp, however imperfectly. Did you find unBuddhistic in Alan Watts his infidelity and severe alcoholism? His tendency to blather incomprehensibly on camera and take himself too seriously? Does that preclude him from the hallowed peak of Mount Meru?

If so, that’s cool. We’ll take him.

Anyone interested in learning more about Dudeism should visit the above links. It may be silly, but not in the way that the author implies. There’s a lot of lighthearted but sincere content and inspiration there. If you can get over the fact that our icon (mascot?) is a fictional character, you’ll dig our style. Then again, the Buddha and other religious prime movers have become highly fictionalized too and you don’t see anyone crying “over the line!” in regards to that.

[sabaijai]

Here's the Chiang Mai founder, who also happens to be a forum member.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tavH9TDxDE

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[mizzi39]

Great post! Thanks! :jap:

Edited July 12, 2010 by mizzi39