Understanding the Separation of Buddhists from our Reality.
Diversity has always been a factor in our world today that makes living sometimes more difficult than is necessary. Diversity can ignite conflict, violence, or spark mutual creativity and understanding. Many times it is difficult for people that are not Buddhist to understand why practitioners of Buddhism act the way that they do by seemingly cutting all ties to the material world. Because of the focus on spiritual growth and selflessness in Buddhism, practitioners of the religion are at odds with the values of the world around them. For people to live in harmony it is imperative that one understand why Buddhists give up material wealth, live a strict lifestyle, and cut ties with loved ones to participate in their religion the way that they do.
People that may look at the Buddhist religion from the outside world may not understand what their cause is, and why they do what they do. People may look upon it as a strict religion that consumes the lives of its practitioners as well as their family members that are separated from them. Zen Buddhism is a religion that requires complete dedication of its followers" lives to complete their spiritual devotion. It focuses on the idea of self, and isolation from family to aid in the need for their self reliance. In the book He's Leaving Home (1996), Kiyohiro Miura shows the slow destruction of a family as their son Ryota leaves home to become a Zen Monk. Ryota appears to be a child that resembles any other child. He enjoys video games, candy, music, bicycles, and all of the same material possessions that other children enjoy (25). Getting rid of ones desires is essential to becoming a monk as well as the need for material wealth to become unimportant. Ryotas" father did not believe that he would be fit to become a monk because he thought of a "Monk as someone with deep compassion for others, not concerned with physical comforts or possessions, willing to get down on his knees and scrub the floors" (Miura, 25).