Blue Jean Buddha: Voices of Young Buddhists

by Sumi Loundon (Editor), Jack Kornfield, Sumi Loundon Kim

In an age when the Dalai Lama's image has been used to sell computers, rock stars have used tantra to enhance their image, and for many, Nirvana calls to mind a a favorite band, what does Buddhism mean to twenty-somethings?

Blue Jean Buddha offers real stories about young Buddhists in their own words that affirm and inform the young adult Buddhist experience. This one-of-a-kind book is about the experiences of young people in America-from their late teens to early thirties-who have embraced Buddhism. Thirty-three first-person narratives reflect on a broad range of life-stories, lessons, and livelihood issues, such as growing up in a Zen center, struggling with relationships, caring for the dying, and using marathon running as meditation. Throughout, up-and-coming author Sumi Loundon provides an illuminating context for the tremendous variety of experiences shared in the book.

Blue Jean Buddha was named a finalist in the 2002 Independent Publisher Book Awards (Multicultural Non-Fiction - Young Adult) as well in NAPRA's Nautilus Awards, in the Personal Journey/Memoir/Biography category.

Genres: Buddhism, Nonfiction, Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy, Memoir

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Aaron Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really don't like reading books about Buddhism. More often than not, Buddhists are far better speakers than they are writers -- but every once in a while there comes along a book whose simple eloquence raises it to a level of its own. Blue Jean Buddha is one such book. At first, I wasn't too impressed by the premise: a simple collection of essays by young Buddhists. Still, my friend really recommended it, and the number of rave reviews -- from Thich Nhat Hanh to Daisaku Ikeda -- piqued my interest enough that I bought the book and read it from cover to cover that very weekend.

Blue Jean Buddha is about Buddhists in their twenties and early thirties. It's the perfect book for anyone who's been wondering where all the other young Buddhists are. This collection of essays was lovingly compiled by Sumi Loundon, then a graduate student at Harvard Divinity School and a twenty-something Buddhist herself. She was inspired to seek out these voices when, while attending a retreat, she noticed she was practically the only one under the age of forty. This realization propelled her on a national search to explore the face of her generation.

The book is alive with the voices of youth, and yet you can't help but notice that so many of these young authors are truly extraordinary people in their own right. Some travelled halfway across the globe on pilgrimages to India or to ordain in Burma. Others have founded Buddhist-inspired enterprises and social action organizations. The most resonant stories, however, are those that examine the application of Buddhism to our daily lives. These stories reach into the ways that many young Buddhists transform their day to day rituals into opportunities for practice and reflection. In spite of the competition of school, relationships, work and family, these authors have each managed to cultivate a beautiful and personally meaningful practice.

In the last chapter, Loundon outlines some of the issues confronting this new generation of Buddhists. The issues are real -- isseus that all you Buddhists have to face them at one time or another. Where will our teachers come from? Will we overcome the divisions of previous generations? Can young Buddhists create something new and distinct, all the while harmonizing with the practice of their parents?

[Sharon Ginley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book consists of almost 30 essays written by young (20s and 30s) men and women that identify themselves as Buddhist, or at the very least students of Buddhism. They each provide their own take on how they integrate Buddhism into their contemporary lives. One talks about running as part of his Buddhist practice, others discuss personal relationships, career, and meditation. Many share stories of their family's relationship to their Buddhist practice. Others discuss how Buddhism shapes their social and political views and agendas.

This book is decidedly Western, although the author makes a point of including several Asian Buddhists. All the major branches of Buddhism are covered, both Theravada and Mahayana, and within the latter Zen, Tibetan, Nichiren, and other Buddhist schools are all represented. Some of the contributors were raised Buddhist, while others turned to Buddhism in their teens or early 20s. This book does not attempt to compare, contrast, or judge any of these traditions, nor does it attempt to teach them - you won't find an introduction to Buddhism here. Instead, this is many different people's views on the role Buddhism plays in their life, and how it integrates into a modern setting and lifestyle. In that sense, it will probably be of most value to those who are already practicing or at the very least exploring Buddhism.

That being said, I originally picked up this book because I was looking for something to recommend to teens interested in Buddhism. Although this would not be my first choice for that, I do think it would be a great book for older teens that have already begun to explore Buddhism through other means. Overall, a fascinating look at young and evolving Buddhism.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

A variety of essays by young people and their practice. Often insightful, regularly relatable, definitely falls into the Western Buddhism problem where a third of the people can just go off on a voyage to a Buddhist country like that's a thing normal people can accomplish. If you can get past some of the bougier essays, many of the rest have a poignant forthrightness to them I found well worth meditating on.

[Dan Mantena · Rating 4 out of 5]

my rating - overall Score: 3.8/5.0
- quality of writing (4/5)
- quality of the content (5/5)
- impact on my perspective (5/5)
- personal resonance (5/5)
- rereading potential (0/5)

When I think of Buddhism in the West, I immediately think of retired white people. I say that because most Buddhist centers in America are comprised mainly of this social group.

This book provides a different lens to the Buddhist community in the West by providing the life experiences of people in their 20s and 30s within a Buddhist perspective.

Many of the stories had a strong personal resonance with me, but the one theme that stood out for me is using Buddhism to support a socially engaged life. It was refreshing to see so many people choose a path that combined solitude and worldly engagement. Right livelihood does not mean we have to become a monk; it can be found in most jobs if it is based on the right intention of serving others and reducing suffering in the world.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

People of different ages and ethnicities sharing their experiences with buddhism. Some stories were more profound than others, some were more interesting, and some were more relatable; it really depends as it’s a book for everybody.

What I did wish for is that the book had a more profound glossary, as the glossary is very limited and it’s not very helpful because it’s at the very back of the book and not near the phrases/words you need to understand what the words mean.

After a while all the stories seemed to blend together, every person seemed to travel, find themself, or find their purpose. There were only a few outliers who truly struggled and who decided to make a difference.

I think it would be a good book for psychological reasons as well, because it delves into why people made certain choices in their lives based on what happened to them.

All in all a pretty good book but the graphic design inside could’ve been better and the glossary could’ve been improved.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved all the amazing perspectives in this book. Highly recommend.

[Agne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, this book is not great for beginners, as it has no useful information one can incorporate in their personal practice. However, it is still great for beginners, for people looking for testimonials and inspiration, or questioning whether they should even start checking the practice at all to see for themselves.
Overall, this book mostly contains positive testimonials from Buddhist practitioners and a few monastics. Obviously this book is older, but it is still accessible. What I did not like is repeating sentences in the text. I think people should be able to note and make their own judgment of which sentence, text part of quote they like. Seeing the same quote gets old pretty quick and annoying.

[John Eliade]

Buddhism changed my life by giving it a framework that made order out of the chaos. At the time I was alone. I knew not a single Buddhist for month after I started educating myself.

I wish I had this book from the beginning. This book made me (retroactively) feel way less alone. I've since met many young - and not so young - Buddhists and Buddhist-inspired seekers in the States. This book covers men and women from all walks of life - from students, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, to monastics - and their experiences of Buddhism from India, Korea, Nepal, and North America.

Some of the highlights were Elijah Ary's pretty engaging tale of a Canadian being identified as the rebirth of a Tibetan scholar, and the conflict between local identity and spiritual destiny. Another was Jae-ho Lee's tale of compassion in the face of impermanence. One of my favorite's was Sister Kristine's tale about ordination as a Vietnamese nun in America.

A lot of these tales deal with the different experiences of "ethnic" Buddhists who are born into the religion and converts to the religion (those who either left their old religion for... a different old religion, or who combined preferred facets of both, one particular story by the incredibly named Hanuman Goleman titled, I'm a Mutt refers to himself as a "Hin-Bu-Chris-Jew"). Another particularly incredible tale regarding growing up Buddhist was Joshua Schrei's Growing Up with the Dharma Bums.

Editor Sumi Loundon ends the book with a resounding reflection on the challenges, and development of Buddhism in America. It was a lot to chew on - all of it good! - and makes me excited to watch the scene play out in real time and be a part (or formerly, who knows when I'll be heading back to America!) of the Buddhist experience in the West. If you're interested in Buddhism in America, it's a pretty indispensable volume.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book Blue Jean Buddha, edited by Sumi Loundon, is a collection of stories written by today’s young Buddhists. The book is divided in four parts: lessons, life stories, livelihood, and reflections made by Sumi Loundon herself. All the stories in the book show how Buddhism is being experienced and practiced by young adults in this modern age.

I found this book extremely interesting. I’m a Catholic and have never really read anything about Buddhism. This book gave me some insight on what it means to be a Buddhist today. I liked the fact that it was a collection of stories written by different people and therefore I was able to read about different perspectives. I liked how the book was divided in four parts/themes because it gave structure to the book. I enjoyed reading most of the stories, however, the contributors to this book aren’t professional writers, so sometimes the way a story was written was quite dry. Nevertheless, for most of the stories I felt connected to the writer and was rooting for him or her in his or her’s journey through Buddhism.

I learned how Buddhist philosophy has become an extremely helpful foundation for many people today. Our world right now is filled with so much stress , hate, and materialism. The stories in this book taught me how Buddhism has helped so many calm their minds and find happiness. Before I was quite doubtful about the effects of meditation on a person. However, the book has stories written by troubled people (drug addicts, delinquents, people from broken families) who’ve tried meditation and now are dedicated practitioners because of its effects. After reading the stories of those who have tried it out and stuck to it, I’ve become quite convinced that meditation is an effective way to find inner peace.

[Phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just what it says, this book is a collection of stories regarding young people coming to terms with Buddhism. I must admit, I am definitely in the target demographic: A twenty-something convert Buddhist in America, dealing with my identity in a society largely unaware of Buddhism beyond a few stereotypes. So I'm biased. But for me, this book provided a nice spiritual support in my early practice. It's eerie how closely one story mimicked my own, and I'm sure most practitioners will see a bit of themselves in each of the stories. More importantly, this book, like Buddhism, follows a middle path: It's not simply a few hundred pages of people saying how wonderful Buddhism is and how perfect their life is now; and it's not some sort of manifesto for laid back Buddhism either. Instead, it takes aspects of both, and deals with everything from the choice of Buddhism as a practice to interfaith relationships to meditations on meaning in life. Your ability to connect to these stories as a young adult probably has a lot to do with the kind of enjoyment you'll get out of it, if any, so your mileage may vary. But it does what it sets out to do very well, so it earns its stars from me.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sounds like an interesting book. Lots of good reviews too...
About halfway now, enjoying it.
"Blue Jean Buddha offers real stories about young Buddhists in their own words that affirm and inform the young adult Buddhist experience. (snip) It is about the experiences of young people in America — from their late teens to early thirties — who have embraced Buddhism. Thirty-three first-person narratives reflect on a broad range of life-stories, lessons, and livelihood issues".

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compelling anthology of very short personal stories however the collection is too restrictive in terms of authors (all 20-somethings) to be particularly relevant to me. The editor chose on purpose to solicit the target age range on the basis that this was the 'defining time' in which spirituality is put to the test for the first time. Good work, not great for me, but worth reading if you're considering it.

[Staci Magnolia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collected stories from the lives of young Buddhists.
Decision making, love, adventure, careers -- Buddhism and it's foundation plays a large part in the life of these authors.
Very relate-able to young, aspiring Bodhisattvas.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book a lot. Hate to admit it, but I think this one was better than the new one (even though, or maybe because, I have an essay in the newer one). I do like how Loundon tried to have a diversity of voices in her books.

[Kayleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a nice compilation of different young Buddhist experiences in America in the last 10 years. It gave an idea of the rage of people and their subsequent backgrounds in Buddhism, and it was fascinating.

[Ymfoo1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting stories from individuals on their own experiences with buddhism.

[Tanya Hakala · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable look into what Buddhist folks of my age and younger are thinking about and experiencing. Surprising no one, I found the section on livelihood the most inspiring.

[Cherie · Rating 2 out of 5]

C I thought this would be full of voices of the Dharma Brats, but lots of different tales of young Buddhists….some were interesting, but some I wasn't as into and just skipped.