Pagan / Buddhist Syncretism
June 23, 2015 at 10:40 pm 4 comments
At our Druid Meet n’ Greet, we had several people with an interest in Buddhism, or who already had a dual path or syncretic practice including Buddhism & Western Neo-Paganism. Over the years, I’ve known many Pagan folks who either included Buddhist “bits” of philosophy and practice (especially meditation) or identified as Buddhist Pagans (or insert your hybrid label here) I’ve also known of people who left Buddhism to become Pagan or left Paganism to be more focused on Buddhism (Deo and his wife of the former Deo’s Shadow podcast come to mind for the latter) Since I feel that I know just enough about Buddhism to “be dangerous” as it were, I will leave judgment of what are good and not-so-good methods of syncretism to Buddhists and Buddhist Pagans themselves, but this gives you an idea of the diverse viewpoints and resources out there. I’m also including a section- or maybe a seperate post of links of viewpoints from both Pagans & Buddhists who think the two don’t mesh well together- though this can be reflective of what types of Buddhism and Paganism they are familiar with, have practiced etc. Note: I do not consider Buddhists or Buddhism overall to be “Pagan” it is classed as a Dharmic religion, along with Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism.
Egregores: Top Ten Things Pagans Should Know About Buddhism
Open Buddha: A Pagan Buddhist?, Pagan Dharma blog also by same author- the top post is about Zen Druids!
Dharma Pagan (not sure if this is the same website reincarnated?) Great website, lots of resources!
“Spiritual But Not Religious” in Paganism & Buddhism– interesting suggestions on how to adapt Wheel of the Year holidays to Buddhist practice on the related blog for ex: here’s Summer Solstice
Reflections on “Why Buddha Touched the Earth: Zen Paganism for the 21st Century” by Tom Swiss by Trellia, a British eclectic Pagan who includes Shinto (with Zen influence) in her practice.
Another review of “Why Buddha...” on Blog of Baphomet
Zen Paganism group on Facebook
It All Just Is– Pagan Buddhist blog
Secular Buddhism- an interview on Humanistic Paganism
Fake Buddha Quotes– Make sure those Buddha quote memes you see floating around are actually legit!
Entry filed under: Buddhism. Tags: Buddhism, druidism, druidry, summer solstice, syncretism, Zen Buddhism.
The Lefthander's Path 
1.
Redfaery | June 24, 2015 at 11:46 pm
Reblogged this on Flight of the Hamsa.
2.
lofnbard | July 7, 2015 at 7:22 am
I don’t identify as Buddhist in any way, but I’ve found the book Feeding Your Demons to be extremely useful and compatible with my spirit suppers and cult of the Handmaidens of Frigga. It’s sort of an extreme version of hospitality. 🙂
3.
caelesti | July 7, 2015 at 7:27 am
Nor am I, but I’ve been looking into it for mental health stuff- mindfulness practices in particular. I looked it up- sounds like an interesting book!
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lofnbard | July 7, 2015 at 8:13 am
Well, the religious parts have been removed, and in that form is pretty similar to a lot of NLP techniques for creating mental change. The full technique is in the Amazon preview, the rest of the book describes “types of demons.”
I led my kindred in feeding their demons for the last Yule. Typically it’s themed on community, but this time the theme was fear. We made offering to the dokkalfar (dark elves) at the Hawthorne tree, sang some Cthulhu solstice carols, and then fed our demons. 😉