Interest in Dalai Lama

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"Interest in Dalai Lama shows Buddhism's reach

By JOHN CHADWICK
STAFF WRITER

When the Dalai Lama delivered his first lecture to an American audience, the year was 1979, and the place was in northwestern New Jersey, at an obscure Buddhist teaching center.

'We had maybe several hundred people,' said Diana Cutler, who has lived at the center for decades. 'He wasn't famous then.'

That has changed.

On Sunday, the 75-year-old leader of Tibetan Buddhism and global human rights champion will address more than 32,000 people at Rutgers University's football stadium - one of Rutgers' largest crowds for a guest speaker."

The appearance, during which he will speak on "Peace, War and Reconciliation," has electrified the university, inspiring a series of events throughout the semester, including films with Tibetan themes, lectures on global conflict and exhibits of Asian art.

But the sheer number planning to attend also has served notice of a change going on outside the campus: Buddhism has entered the mainstream of the American religious landscape, spreading from remote monasteries and university lecture halls to suburbs like Ridgewood and Wyckoff.

Buddhism is still popular in America but most of the Buddhists in America are immigrants. Immigrants out number American converts 3 to 1. Still it is estimated that there are two million Buddhists in the U. S.

Interesting that the ACLU does not act here at Rutgers. If this was a Christian event that was causing class discussions, movies, and art shows on campus then the university would surely be sued by the ACLU.