Long Island Buddhist Meditation Center

this is real Buddhism — based on the Buddha’s original teachings, as far as it’s possible for us denizens of the 21^st century to tell, and passed along by real Sri Lankan-​born and –raised and –educated monks.
Buddhism has undergone countless alterations in its travels over the course of its 2,500-year history; each successive culture it’s come into contact with has imparted to Buddhism bits and pieces of its own pre-​existing religious background, history, and cultural influence, to the point that two people who say the word «Buddhism» today can mean vastly different and even fundamentally opposite things (my last girlfriend and i found this out the hard way). Theravada Buddhism strives for purity: we adhere as closely as we know how to the words and teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha and his closest disciples, and don’t admit in much else in our efforts to live by the heart and core of the teachings. it’s not an easy path to tread, and is not calculated to appeal to the sensibilities of the population at large, which is why Theravada is less popular than Northern Buddhism (sometimes referred to as «Mahayana»), the school that encompasses such sects as Pure Land and Zen. while many Northern Buddhist teachings seem to essentially allow the practitioner to go on with their lives as before, living them more mindfully but with their fundamental worldviews largely unchanged, Theravada challenges the practitioner to see the world, the universe, all existence, and most importantly, themselves, in an entirely different way; it requires a complete reworking of one’s concept of what is and is not real and of importance, the result of which — and indeed, the *intended* result of which — is an alienation from the world as we saw it before. this is deep and difficult work (and can be lonely too, because of that alienation factor: to really get into Theravada is to swim against the stream you’ve been a part of and have probably taken for granted as constituting reality all your life), and and involves a lot more introspection and intellectual activity than most people are inclined to engage in… with the result that many less-​demanding forms of Buddhism have subsequently arisen to allow the masses to feel like they’re riding on the same oxcart when in fact their carts are built from pieces and parts produced all over the globe, the origins of only some of which can actually be traced back to the Buddha’s teachings.
(and i don’t mean to convey that if it can’t be traced back to the Buddha himself and his immediate disciples, it’s of no value by definition — that’s just not true (i can be too hard-​line sometimes). it just bothers me that there are people out there — and there are whole schools of them — who call themselves Buddhists while openly scoffing at the Buddha’s teachings, putting words in his mouth by making up new «discourses of the Buddha» to make it look like he taught what *they* think, and engaging in stunning and bewildering displays of logical acrobatics in their attempts to twist around what he actually did say to make themselves and others believe that he meant… the exact opposite of what he meant. (it can be simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking to see.).)
what we study and discuss at the Long Island Buddhist Meditation Center is the real deal: the Buddha’s teachings (and subsequent valid illuminations thereof), pure and simple (though not always easy). if this sounds like your kind of Buddhism, come join us! you’ll be very welcome. :)