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In the past decade, it seems in the Western World (America especially!) Buddhism has really been claimed by many people.
There are Sanghas, monasteries, and temples cropping up all over the place. While it is truly beautiful that so many people are realizing there is more to life than meets the eye, how many people are Buddhist because they want to follow the path and end suffering or because they are looking for a new shiny label to slap on their reputation? Let’s look at some celebrities who claim they are Buddhist. First on the list is Steven Seagal. In the movie The Glimmer Man, Seagal plays a homicide detective who wears mala beads wherever he goes. One may think “that is odd, he has mala beads”. It may be thought it was all for the movie, but doing some research you will find that Seagal is a Buddhist and went to an Asian country as a teen to learn Buddhism and martial arts. Not only is he a 7th degree black belt and Aikido master, he is a Zen teacher and healer. Shambala Sun has this interesting interview with Seagal. Keanu Reeves is assumed to be Buddhist because of his study of Buddhism during the making of the film “Little Buddha”. He has neither publically denied or confirmed that he is in fact Buddhist. Kate Bosworth is said to be Buddhist but may only claim the title because her boyfriend, Orlando Bloom from Pirates of the Caribbean, is a devout Nichiren Buddhist. It is said that the flat they share in London has a Buddhist Meditation garden. And who can forget that Richard Gere is Buddhist. He has made many public appearances with HH Dalai Lama. He, along with Sharon Stone and Harrison Ford, assisted in financial support to help HH Dalai Lama make his American tour. Gere has a foundation to aid Tibetan causes called The Gere Foundation. It has been said that Richard Gere is heavily responsible for the spread of Buddhism in the west. Uma Thurman has been said to be a Buddhist. Her father is Robert Thurman, a former Buddhist monk, expert of Tibetan Buddhism and professor at Columbian University. Uma has said publicly that just because her father is Buddhist doesn’t mean that she is as well. One may be surprised to learn that Tina Turner is a Buddhist. She is a student of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) and is perhaps the most famous woman in Buddhism next to Pema Chodron. In an interview with CBS, Turner sited Buddhism gave “her the strength that she needed to get through the rough times.” It was also reported that Jennifer Lopez aka J. Lo has began studying Buddhism after making the film “Shall We Dance” with Richard Gere. Goldie Hawn has been Buddhist since the early 70s. She was raised Jewish and still holds Jewish beliefs. She has said in interviews that her Jewish religion and heritage comes before those of Buddhism. She has raised her children in the Jewish and Buddhist faiths. In an interview with Larry King Live she called herself a JuBu, a term coined by Roger Kamenentz. Here is a list of other well-known celebrity Buddhists:
There are good things and bad things about having celebrities show they are Buddhists. Celebrities can cause a surge in interest which brings more people to understand the religion. But there are some celebrities who have claimed Buddhism to make themselves look better (for example Paris Hilton’s latest claim to Buddhism to get out of jail!) What do you think? Is this helpful or harmful?
The copyright of the article Celebrity Buddhists in Buddhism/Taoism is owned by Jeanette Norman. Permission to republish Celebrity Buddhists in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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