Abstract

Capitalism and Buddhism present irreconcilably conflicting concepts. Capitalism encourages purchasing your desires while Buddhism says that the only way to end suffering is by eradicating all desires which would ultimately help you reach nirvana, which is the “end goal”. This research focuses on why people who were not born into Buddhism practice it and to what extent Capitalism plays a role in that conversion, if any. For this case-study, I work with the Venerable Nanda Hamuduruwo from the Long Island Meditation Center who has introduced me to several converts who deeply practice the religion and implement it into their daily lives. The Westernization of Buddhism has adopted a simpler version of it. Certain concepts such as meditation, yoga, crystal culture, and good/bad karma stem from Buddhism, but public discourse in New York tends to conflate these with market practices and other local capitalist activities, such as purchasing crystals to fit an aesthetic instead of using them to practice Buddhism according to its teachings. Are then the Long-Island converts sublimating the logics of Buddhism into those of capitalism and is this a microcosm of how paradoxes are resolved in our society: empty out the anti-capitalist into an aesthetic of opposition, protest, and alternative mode of living?