Bill Maher is a Buddhist!

As part of his “New Rules” segment on his HBO program, Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher had some disparaging things to say about Buddhism in relation to the Tiger Woods scandal (Tiger claims Buddhism as his religion). Among the things Maher said about Buddhism include:

- the “Life sucks, and then you die” philosophy was useful when Buddha came up with it around 500 B.C., because back then life pretty much sucked, and then you died – but now we have medicine, and plenty of food, and iPhones, and James Cameron movies – our life isn’t all about suffering anymore. And when we do suffer, instead of accepting it we try to alleviate it.

- Craving for things outside ourselves is what makes life life – I don’t want to learn to not want, that’s what people in prison have to do. Buddhism teaches suffering is inevitable.

- People are always debating, is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy: it’s a religion. You’re a religion if you do something as weird as when the Buddhist monks scrutinize two-year-olds to find the reincarnation of the dude who just died, and then choose one of the toddlers as the sacred Lama: “His poop is royal!” Sorry, but thinking you can look at a babbling, barely-housebroken, uneducated being and say, “That’s our leader” doesn’t make you enlightened. It makes you a Sarah Palin supporter.

Again, we shouldn’t get too worked up about these comments because Maher is a Buddhist. That’s right, the comedian who spends a good part of his career criticizing and poking fun at religion (remember his film Religulous?) is a Buddhist and I’ll tell you why . . .

• Like most Buddhists, Maher is compassionate toward fellow humans and animals. Maher is a board member for PETA and supports other causes for humane treatment of animals. He also supports human-based causes like the Somaly Mam Foundation. Maher supports gay marriage and was against California’s Proposition 8.
• Maher appears to try and see reality “as it is” as opposed to seeing the world through the lens of political ideology. He has been outspoken against both Republicans and Democrats in this regard. A real Buddhist also tries to perceive reality, putting aside attachments to nationality, ideology and culture.
• Finally, Maher distrusts organized religion. Organized religion often suffers from outdated ideas, beliefs and practices that are more often than not simply adopted on “faith.” A real Buddhist doesn’t kowtow to beliefs; rather, a real Buddhist investigates Dharma and discovers truth on his or her own.

As for Maher’s criticisms: I would say most of them are dead on . . .

I’ve seen other Buddhists defend the “life sucks and then you die” aspect of suffering in the Four Noble Truths without understanding that all of these truths are provisional and preparatory—it isn’t the summum bonum goal of Buddhism, but simply the observed state of the samsaric self.

Many Buddhists do treat Buddhism too much like a religion—in the traditional Western Judeo-Christian sense—with all the trappings of mind-numbing “faith” rather than as a philosophy to be lived.

Alright, I jest: Bill Maher isn’t a Buddhist, but I’m making a couple of different points. First, we should judge others by their actions and intentions rather than whether or not they appreciate our religious or spiritual practice. Buddhists should be more upset by the reality distortion and hate mongering machine known as Fox News rather than the remarks of a comedian, particularly one that reflects—or should reflect—many of our compassionate concerns and ideals.

Secondly, before getting our collective panties in a bunch about criticism (particularly in the form of jokes), we should analyze whether or not the criticism doesn’t have some validity in regard to the broader understanding of Buddhism (even among Buddhists). A good Buddhist should also question if he or she isn’t getting too attached to “Buddhism” if there is an itching need to argue on behalf of this vacuous identity.

I’ll close with one big difference between Buddhists and Bill Maher: although many Buddhists smell of sandalwood and patchouli, Bill Maher reeks of pot. I kid, I kid . . . many Buddhists reek of pot too. Apologies to Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert for the title of this post.