Nashville, TN—On a brilliant October 4th, in the Bible Belt, hundreds of people celebrated the Fifth Annual Buddhist Festival. One Dharma, The Insight Meditation Group, The Nashville Mindfulness Center (Zen), The Nashville Zen Center, and the Padmasambhava Budhist Center (Tibetan Vajrayana) introduced their practices, answered questions from the audience, and meditated and chanted with attendees.
Skip Ewing is a board member of the Buddhist Festival and founder and coordinator of the Nashville Mindfulness Center. Nashville is home to 700 Christian churches. Mr. Ewing estimates that last year 700-800 people came to the festival. He said, “Cultivating compassion, awareness and loving kindness—these energies are universally accepted. Although there are different opinions, in Nashville there is no negativity against Buddhism. Sometimes people who define themselves as Christians come and practice with us. Nashville is a beautiful place and we like it very much.”
Lee Olson volunteers at the Buddhist Temple (Nashville Insight Meditation) and also serves on the board for the festival. He has practiced Buddhism for 30 years. He said Win Myint from Burma started the Buddhist Temple in the eighties because he was impressed with the number of churches in Nashville and concluded the city would be fertile ground for the practice.
Lisa Ernst is the founder of One Dharma. She has lived in Nashville for 19 years and has witnessed a change in attitude, especially over the last five years. There is a lot more interest; sometimes 20 or more people come to Monday night practice. Barbara Hackett has been practicing with One Dharma for two years now. She belonged to the Unitarian Universalist Church for 30 years.
Cyndy Baran, an artist from Michigan, says that her friends and family largely support her Buddhist practice. She thought it was interesting that many Christian churches in Nashville have started formal meditation groups. In her opinion, Christianity is becoming more inclusive.
