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Los Angeles is the most diverse Buddhist city in the world. With 300 temples and meditation centers from nearly every Buddhist sect in the world, LA encompasses the entire spectrum of Buddhist beliefs.
Buddhist ideas are actively promoted in the US and throughout Western societies through images of peace, calm, and wisdom without any discussion of the worldview behind the façade. For example, the “Compassionate schools” program promotes itself as secular yet was developed by a professor of Tibetan Buddhist studies. The curriculum is based on two Tibetan Buddhist tenets of “mindfulness” and “contemplation.”
Buddhist worldview is actively celebrated in movies such as Star Wars, Kill Bill, and Dr. Strange. Business leaders like the late Steve Jobs of Apple actively promote Buddhist meditation. Local garden centers will frequently have a Buddha figurine available to evoke calm in people’s yards.
Buddhist meditation is popular on college campuses. The contrast with Christian meditation couldn’t be starker. In Buddhist meditation the focus is on emptying the mind, while Christian meditation fills the mind with Scripture and gazing on God’s beauty.