How Buddhist is Boulder?
Aimee Heckel, The Daily Camera, June 12, 2016
Reputation is supported in some
ways, not in others
Boulder, CO (USA) --
Boulder is so Buddhist. It's hard to deny Boulder's reputation as a Buddhist
hot spot. It has a Buddhist-influenced (but secular) university, Naropa. In
February, it celebrates Shambhala Day, in coordination with the Tibetan lunar
calendar. The Huffington Post included Boulder's Buddhism in a 2009 "10
Pithy Observations About Boulder" story.
It is home to the first Shambhala city center in the world founded by
influential Buddhist Chogyam Trungpa. Today, there are about 225 of his centers
around the world. The Boulder Shambhala Center celebrates its 40th anniversary
in its current location this year.
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"We are very proud to say we are the largest of the city centers,
too," says Melanie Klein, executive director of the Boulder Shambhala
Center.
But for a relatively small city - and one the census reports is
about 91 percent white - this reputation is an anomaly.
Klein admits Boulder is "unusually Buddhist."
Peter Williams, of Boulder, a dharma leader and transpersonal psychotherapist
who studied at Naropa, says the number of resources for people to learn about
Buddhism and meditation in Boulder County is so far beyond that in Arizona,
where he used to live.
"There's so much going on here. On any given night, you could probably go
to 10 different meditation groups," Williams says. "It's easy to take
that for granted. When I was learning to meditate, there weren't sitting
groups. People just went on a retreat. That's how I learned."
Today, Williams leads a drop-in meditation group on Thursdays in downtown
Boulder. He also runs retreats, one-on-one meetings and eight-month meditation
immersion programs. He's one of the many local leaders on InsightColorado.org,
where visitors can find a list of weekly "sitting groups" and special
events.
So how Buddhist is Boulder?
There are a few insights to begin to quantify Boulder's Buddhist reputation,
but they don't explain the whole picture.
First, the number of congregations.
The Boulder Shambhala Center knows of about a dozen in Boulder County, plus an
additional five in Denver.
A study called the U.S. Religion Census showed that Boulder County was one of
the state's top regions for the number of Buddhist congregations reported (11
to 20). Even nationwide, this number stands out, apart from mostly bigger
coastal counties.
Yet despite its many congregations, Boulder County was not one of the most
populous counties by percent for Buddhists in Colorado.
A Religion Census map puts Boulder's Buddhist population at less than half a
percent and perhaps as low as 1/10 of a percent.
Another study by the Association of Religious Data Archives reported that in
2010 in Boulder County, with a population of more than 310,000, there were
seven Mahayana congregations with 264 adherents; two Theravada congregations
with 662 adherents; and nine Vajrayana congregations with 492 adherents.
That total: just over 1,400 active Buddhists, with 18 identified congregations.
About 0.7 percent of the U.S. population (or about 2.5 million) identify as
Buddhist.
Other factors to consider
Religious affiliation is tricky to measure, says Deborah Whitehead, associate
professor at the University of Colorado's Department of Religious Studies.
Take the Association of Religious Data Archives' number, for example, she says.
This estimate doesn't account for how many residents might self-identify as
Buddhist but not attend temple services or be affiliated with a Buddhist
organization, Whitehead says.
(After all, a 2013 Gallup poll found Boulder was the second-least
"religious" city in the United States. About 61 percent of Boulder
residents reported they were "not religious.")
Whitehead says the census numbers may be low due to the fact that interviews
were done only in English and Spanish.
"The widespread popularity of bestselling books by the Dalai Lama, Thich
Nhat Hanh and Pema Chodron, for example, show that there are many more millions
of Americans who 'study' Buddhism or are influenced by its ideas, but may not
call themselves 'Buddhist,'" Whitehead adds.
Buddhist practices are also widespread in the United States. Many meditation
apps and classes are offered. The Dalai Lama's Twitter feed boasts 12.8 million
followers.
Whitehead says these factors suggest that Buddhist teachings and practices are
"finding increasing acceptance in American culture."
Locally, Naropa University boasts about 7,000 alumni, and while the university
is not Buddhist and many students and instructors aren't either, contemplative
practices and mindfulness are an important component of the educational program,
says Charles Lief, president of Naropa.
Naropa was founded by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Trungpa. And the school itself
is named after a Buddhist sage.
"A lot of students stay in the region because they like it here, and that
continues to then influence the work that they're doing, whatever they're
doing," Lief says.
Numbers released by individual, local congregations also suggest census data
and other statistics aren't the end-all. The Boulder Shambhala Center reports
an active membership of more than 600 people — plus an additional 4,000 who are
involved peripherally, says Klein.
That doesn't include the thousands of people who have been involved over the
past 40 years who still live in the area but don't attend, she says.
The Shambhala Center alone reports more than three times the Association of
Religious Data Archives' total Buddhist population in the entire county.
"Anecdotally, I'll just be sitting around town wearing my director pin,
and people will stop to say, 'I go to this other place,'" Klein says.
"It's not usual to find that many people who are Buddhist as you are just
moving around town."