Thanks. I had to get a respond on my blog based on your post. It’s here.

The ignorance just continues eh? I love your explanation here Rod. There are times I agree with Maher politically as well, but it seems he has a deep rooted hate of religion, all of them. Did you see Religulous?

Thanks, Nate. I didnt see Religulous. I remember being excited about it when I first heard about it, but then friends saw it before me and — along with reviewer’s comments — what I’d heard about the last 10 minutes of the film, that its hypocrisy unravels whatever arguments the film sets forth, put it way at the bottom of my must-see pile. I should and will change that.

Thanks Rod! and this is the exact reason that we need to speak up when people make such unfounded and ignorant remarks about something they know little to nothing about. I took a ton of heat as well, but it really did open our eyes to the amount of ignorance that prevails about Buddhism. And yes it might be tabloidish, and it might be attention grabbing, or as another blogger called me, “an attention whore”, but how do we expect to attract people to Buddhism when this is the kind of information that is so rampid.

Some Buddhists may not give a hoot about the image that much of the public precieves Buddhism to be, and thats a horrible shame.

Thanks, Kyle. Keep it up, I say!

Yeah… I probably wouldn’t listen to anything Bill Maher has to say about religion. “Religious”, while it did have a few funny moments, was kind of skewed by his complete hatred of anything to do with any religion – which overflows into his political views, in my opinion. Personally, as someone that is just starting to learn about Buddhism, I want to know what real Buddhists (not people like Maher or Stern) think about Tiger Woods, even if it is considered “tabloidy”. How often are the daily struggles of a Buddhist talked about in the news? I think talking about it is good for us that are trying to learn.

Thanks, Basil. The feedback is appreciated.

Well said, Rod. Thanks!

From a Buddhist who can’t afford an iPhone (but would love one).

For someone who makes the perceived ignorance of Americans such a big part of his schtick, it is rather astounding to see him wade so deep into ignorance himself.

Thanks, Jaime. (And for the record, I cant afford one either.)

maher’s ego seems very sure that it understands buddhist concepts well enough to refute them. it doesn’t.

a real “buddhism for dummies” is a book that cannot be written so these hume, maher etc “attacks” will continue. but so will buddhism. and a small percentage of people will stop suffering as has always been the case.

great article, thank you.

I think you hit all the right points here. The same thing needed to happen when Brit Hume got on his soapbox the first time, leaving many Americans wonder just just what the hell us Buddhists believe anyway.

Its great that people are talking about buddhism now in a more public light. We just need to make sure what makes its way into the media is at the very least factual.

Nice post.

And for the record, I’ve got an iPhone, but prices will eventually come down.

Your admiration for Maher is misplaced, but thanks for keeping an eye on the ill-informed things he says.

No, I think you’re losing your sense of humor a bit. I wouldn’t really see this as the provocation or forum for a serious discussion like yours. It comes off looking kindof petulant to carefully parse a standup comedy routine. And on a specific point, I also think that the serious convictions about reincarnation out there in Buddhism-land can not be dispensed with by asserting a metaphorical read on them, although I also find that read useful.

Fair enough. Thanks, Naomi.

More discussion of religion from Maher and his panel last night here on the post-show videocast, “Overtime.” http://www.hbo.com/#/real-time-with-bill-maher/episodes/0/174-episode/video/174-february-26-overtime.html/eNrjcmbOUM-PSXHMS8ypLMlMDkhMT-VLzE1lLtQsy0xJzYeJO+fnlaRWlDDnszGySSeWluQX5CRW2pYUlaayMXIyMgIAacUXOA==

Great piece, Rod! I know how frustrated you feel about the misconceptions of Buddhism that persist. The sticking point about desire and just takes too much explanation for the average person used to sound bites. Even with iPhones (yes I own one), life offers diminishing retrns no matter how much stuff you get. If only people u derstood that more. :-/

To paraphrase Brad Warner: “You know atheism’s a religion when atheists start loudly defending against those who disagree with them.” The truth rarely needs defending, if ever.

I used to love Bill Maher but his hatred (and I do mean true unadulterated *hatred*) of religion soured me on him.

If you’ve ever seen him in panel discussions (like the old Politically Incorrect), you can sometimes see him get visibly angry when people start making religious assertions. So much for the superior badge of ‘reason’ militant atheists like Maher wear.

Atheism, like any other religious opinion, is unprovable. So, for Maher (or other atheists like Hitchens or Dawkins) to claim that his viewpoint is correct and superior is arrogant bigotry, especially when he maligns religion with simplistic incorrect viewpoints that allows him to ‘win’ his arguments.

Unfortunately, bigotry in the name of atheism is the last acceptable bigotry in America — even though bigotry in the name of other religious opinions has been condemned.

Had he been a Christian condemning a Muslim for his religion, it would Maher who would be making the next public apology.

I think Maher is an extreme narcissist who thinks that everyone thinks like him, deep down, even if they don’t admit it. As well, for a sel-proclaimed libertarian, he’s big on setting “rules,” even if they are allegedly tongue-in-cheek.

Two more things come to mind about his comments: the first is that with the exception of medicine (which, it should be pointed out, isn’t available to everybody) his examples of ways to alleviate suffering are, to use a tired old term, bourgeois.

The other thing that I can’t help but think is when people defend Maher’s comments on the basis of “satire,” I wondder, what exactly is he satirizing? Too many loudmouths make silly pronouncements and then hide behind the defense that “it was satire.” (viz, the Rush Limbaugh defense of the term r*t*rd.)

Bill is not the only celeb to slander Buddha, a while back Dennis Prager ripped Buddhism because it preaches that all desire is evil, he even went to say that Buddhists did not desire medicine or treatment, which is stange because the oldest hospitals in the worlds are of the Buddhist Asoka and we find in the early Buddhist monastic code that the Buddha allowed his monks to carry medicine.

Buddhism does not teach that desires are evil, but that man who is unaware of his desires and how he may comprimise his values for his desires.

One Pali account tells us of a monk who wanted to leave the order. He told Buddha that he could not cut-off all of his desire in order to achieve enlightenment by saying “I do not see how it can be done” the Buddha told him that he did see as this was the very essense of his teaching. We see that the most primitive form of desire is in itself thirst for existance. The Buddha told the monk that the Buddha nature was in him and that even his loss (giving in to desire) can be a victory if he recognizes his faults

You know, if you look at this, Maher is much more aware of Buddhism than many others in mainstream media/pop culture seem to be. He points to the debate between is it a religion or a philosophy, which shows the guy has paid some attention. And the who “life sucks” bit seems to be poking fun at what people think are things that will alleviate suffering. Do you really think Maher thinks that Iphones or James Cameron movies are a cure for suffering?

Clearly, Maher has a long track record of anti-religious sentiment, and there’s plenty of failed jokes in here that slide into insults, but I think the guy is more tuned in than he might appear to be.

I watched Maher’s show for a long time until recently. (I just don’t watch much TV anymore.) He’s had several Buddhists on his show, including Oliver Stone, and didn’t mention Buddhism even in passing in Religulous. He’s held off on Eastern religions until now due to a lack of understanding because he only likes to discuss things he’s educated about- probably more of a defining characteristic than a PR thing.

It seems like he’s determined to lump ALL religions together and tie them off with a neat bow. That’s understandable. It makes it easier to deal with. When we don’t understand things, our first instinct is often to file it away in the most convenient way possible, preferably in a file that already exists.

He has no compulsion to delve far enough into Buddhism to see what it’s really about, so like most people he’s caught up in the cultural wrappings. The Buddha never talked about reincarnation of Lamas, he talked about the Four Noble truths and the Eightfold Path. Ignorance is the root of suffering, so coming from ignorance it looks like Buddhism is obsessed with suffering. This misunderstanding is so common it’s hardly even worthy of further discussion, aside from the desire to once-and-for-all clear it up. Maybe it will work some day, maybe not. After all, you don’t hear him knocking the 8fold Path… because there’s nothing to disagree with there.

He’s not knocking Buddhism at all, not really; just the culture that sprang up around it. It’s a shame, but oh well. It doesn’t really change anything. Where it goes from here, is of course up to us. We can react like fundamentalists or we can take it in the light it was given- satire.

It doesn’t seem to me as though Maher really understands Buddhism. “Life sucks, and then you die” is a t-shirt slogan, not the teaching of the Buddha. What Buddhism teaches is that there is a way to escape the suffering and the fear of death. Maher: “And when we do suffer, instead of accepting it we try to alleviate it.” Heh. Maybe “try” is the critical word here–I’m pretty into Eckhart Tolle, and what he would say is, the trying to alleviate suffering–through food, and iPhones, and James Cameron movies–is always only temporary. If you are not conscious, if you are “lost in the dream of thought,” then you are suffering. It’s great if you don’t know it for a while, but eventually, you will. “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.” Huh, funny. If you are lost in the dream of thought, then you are in prison, regardless of what you may think.

Finally, medicine. If you are sick, there’s nothing wrong with taking medicine to get well, nor would Buddhism say otherwise. Maher is whacking a straw man on that one.

Yes, I like your critique, seems pretty much on target to me. Thanks.

Thanks for your feedback, everyone – including those of you who disagree with me. It’s differing opinions that best further dialogue, and that show the true diversity in the Buddhist-supportive community.

What Maher said was funny, but it’s like any news story in the newspaper or on TV, when you are personally involved in the story you wonder whether the reporter was ever at the scene and who he or she talked with to get it so wrong.
Maher is funny, but he is a funny asshole who doesn’t care about what he says about his targets. If we agree with his targetting someone then we think he is very sharp. When we are the target then we think he is an jerk for getting it so wrong. Maher is funny BECAUSE he doesn’t care if what he says has anything to do with the truth. He makes his jokes by creating false pictures that are so exaggerated that they never coincide with reality. His brand of illusory extremism in the name of comedy is like a magician’s trick.
The lesson in listening to Maher poking fun at Buddhism is to see: if that is how he addresses Buddhism, then isn’t that how he is addressing EVERY issue? So don’t be offended just by Maher’s words about Buddhism without also extending that same degree of credibility or incredulity to every thing else he says.

Two ironies came to me after thinking some more about this. The first is that as Maher was writing this, the people of Chile (and Haiti, for that matter) were suffering greatly.

The second is that Maher praises medicine, when in his own rants he has called people who get the H1N1 flu shot “idiots.”

And to add to Gregory Wonderwheel’s comments, I’d like to point a (gentle) finger at my fellow practitioners, who often tolerate the most backward and ignorant statements that the so-called New Atheists have made about other religions. The tendency is to conflate, say, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton (to use two not-at-all random examples) with Pat Robertson and Reverend Phelps. I think that in the interest of ecumenism we should do better.

well said, GW.

I’m disappointed in Bill Maher — I honestly thought he was smarter. But am disappointed in myself because I’ll laugh the loudest when he starts ripping on Sarah Palin’s religion.

You have to be responsible for yourself. That’s the biggest thing I take from atheism.

Can Buddhism help you make a better person of yourself? I think so, but you don’t need it to be a better person.

I believe Maher was once again pointing out that you don’t need religion in your life. You may choose religion and you may want religion but you don’t need religion.

I truly fail to understand why so many Buddhists in the West are political liberals. To me, the essence of Buddhism includes seeking individual enlightenment. Appropriating property through State power to apply to policies that create generations of dependency–as with so many social welfare programs have–seems antithetical to any true sense of helping the poor escape lives of just such dependency. It also insulates individuals from learning to be socially responsible for neighbors in need–after all, the “government will do it.”
For someone else to decide what I need, then tax me for the privilege, denies my rights of self determination.
As for Bill Maher being a “libertarian”–that is so much hogwash according to any reasonable definition of libertarianism I have seen.
Personally, I am very much libertarian in my political philosophy, which I believe is the most consistent position consistent with individual freedom and responsibility. I have also spent a great deal of time working with the poor and infirm where I have lived.
At present, the economy is a shambles and getting worse because of the policies of the liberal polticians in power. It will do no one any good if the economy collapses completely–or even if individual States go completely bankrupt as it appears California, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois are well on the way toward. In that event, everyone suffers needlessly.

Bill Maher is an entertainer, a professional who is paid to be provocative. As you say, when the power goes out, so does Maher. And I think he has some problems with Religion; not an outrageous condition in our culture.

But a couple of points: the reaction to Tiger Woods’ Buddhism is within our cultural meme of Judeo-Christianity. How else can our culture describe the Buddha but by relating him to Christ? I have to say that a fair amount of my cushion time is spent in the same way, by noting, relating and hopefully letting go ingrained concepts… like evil and guilt.

Personally I liked Maher’s “You want to know the surest way that you can spot a “sex addict?” He’s got a penis.” There is a reason why the nidana Sparśa has a man and woman in the sack. That’s what we do. It’s part of samsara.

Tiger’s very public situation is a great teaching moment. Thanks for the teaching.

Nope you’re right, I totally agree with you, and was thinking the very same things when I read this guys article. What the guy wrote was funny, but this kind of satirical humour should be based on the truth too. I dont mind seeing a few jokes/satire about Buddhism, and can find it funny, but only when the comedians know what they’re ranting about in the first place!

I was intrigued that Religulous had nothing whatever to say about Buddhism. Actually, of course, it’s not a religion at all, at least as far as its founder was concerned. But we’ve all killed him on the road, right?

Maher’s job, as a satirist, (think Mark Twain) is to poke holes in any belief system. What I appreciate about him is his consistency in being irreverent about everything. It does nothing to my Buddhist practice, or to the teaching.
Suzuki Roshi would’ve just laughed.

Just stumbled on this site, and I’m so glad. Maher’s comments on Buddhism stunned me; they were inaccurate, ignorant really. I agree that he is enmeshed in his own narcissism. The frustrating aspect to this is that the guy is clueless about himself & his inability to “get it.” His response was so typically materialistic American: feel bad? look out there and find a fix…a movie, food, a joint, a toy. He is suffering and runs from it in a multiplicity of ways. I’m not mad, not offended, just disappointed. He is so clearly out of touch w/his true self; what a shame. The guy is so funny! But he is growing bitter, mean really. I would not like to be in the path of his ire.

It’s really too bad Maher isn’t a Buddhist, because he sounds like he has the makings of a really good one.

I enjoyed reading many poignant marks.

But as no one has mentioned it yet, I just like to add that meditation really works. From my personal experience I think it is very hard to truly understand what buddhist teaching is about unless you had a long meditation retreat. Because in the end of the day the intellectual discourse itself often leads to an unexplicable amount of suffering, by experiencing conflict and ignorance. So I guess in a way the Buddhist thing to do really is just to teach Bill Maher and others meditation and peace from within for all will follow.