Expert: John Willemsens aka Advayavadananda - 6/5/2010

Question
Namaste!
Buddhism is a religion witch talk about meditation and peace. I went to a veakh celebration with many Sri Lankan people and they celebrated with Sri Lankan culture. My question is: how should the buddhist cope with for example sri lankan culture when practising buddhism? I was angry when i saw sri lankan culture and very litle buddhist culture. how sould we westerners do who just want pure buddhism and no sri lankan nearly no culture?

Answer
Hello Hank,
There is no such thing as "pure Buddhism".
In the case of the popular Buddhism of Sri Lanka, it is a combination of Theravada Buddhism (three different schools) and the Sinhalese culture.
Maybe you can find in your area a Buddhist setting which is more effective as a corrective for you.
Kind regards,
Advayavadananda.