50 celebrity Buddhists (video)

Ashley Wells, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen Bradford (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

20 famous Buddhist celebrities in Hollywood and beyond

(Top 10) June 19, 2022. Here are 20 famous Buddhist celebrities. Who is the most popular Buddhist? Here's a list of some little-known Buddhist celebrities. Which celebrities are Buddhists? Who's a famous Buddhist? 🤍 #celebrities

Music: "Mournful Departure" by Asher Fulero from the album Mournful Departure.

50 famous Buddhist celebrities

(The Daily Meditation) Aug. 9, 2017. Whoa, can you believe half of these celebrities are Buddhists? We knew Buddhism was becoming popular, but who knew?! There are lots of famous Buddhists, including musicians, actors, authors, sports stars, and models. And, of course, even more celebrities are meditating. Some of these Buddhist celebrities are shocking and nearly impossible to believe: Tiger Woods? Sure, he's Thai. But Pres. Bill Clinton? Does Chelsea know? Did you know these stars were Buddhists? Here's the list:

1. Jennifer Aniston, American actress, director
2. Sharon Stone, American actress, producer, fashion model
3. George Takei, American actor, “Sulu” on Star Trek
4. Sarah Jessica Parker, actress, producer, Sex and the City
5. Brad Pitt, actor, Mr. Angelina Jolie
6. Sting, English singer-songwriter, lead vocalist of The Police
7. Uma Thurman, American actress, whose professor dad (Robert Thurman) is a famous Buddhist and personal friend of the 14th Dalai Lama
8. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO
9. Fabien Barthez, soccer (football) star in France
10. Orlando Bloom, English actor
11. Kate Bosworth, American actress
12. Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer/songwriter/poet
13. Penelope Cruz, Spanish actress and model
14. Patrick Duffy, actor
15. George Dvorsky, transhumanist, futurist
16. Boy George, British singer-songwriter
17. Richard Gere, American actor
18. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Nigerian-English actor
19. Roberto Baggio, soccer (football) star in Italy
20. Mario Balotelli, soccer (football) star in Italy
21. Jet Li, actor
22. David Bowie, British musician, writer, actor
23. Jeff Bridges, American actor
24. John Cleese, British actor, comedy writer, Monty Python's Flying Circus
25. Goldie Hawn, American actress
26. Kate Hudson, American actress
27. Jackie Chan, actor
28. Miranda Kerr, Australian supermodel, Victoria’s Secret angel
29. K. D. Lang, Canadian singer
30. Jack Kerouac, author, poet, painter, On the Road
31. Tina Turner, American singer-songwriter
32. Dennis Weaver, American actor
33. Marcia Wallace, American actress
34. Naomi Watts, British-Australian actress
35. Tisca Chopra, Indian actress
36. Philip Glass, American composer
37. Mehmet Scholl, soccer (football) star in Germany
38. Steven Seagal, American actor and aikido expert
39. Angelina Jolie, American actress
40. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc.
41. George Lucas, American filmmaker, director of Star Wars
42. Alanis Morissette, Canadian singer-songwriter
43. Keanu Reeves, American actor, The Matrix
44. Alex Rodriguez, American baseball player
45. Russell Simmons, entertainment and fashion mogul
46. Tiger Woods, American golfing legend, womanizer
47. Michelle Yeoh, Malaysian actress
48. Bill Clinton, former U.S. president (1993-2001)
49. Allen Ginsberg, American beat poet
50. Oliver Stone, film director, whistleblower

List compiled by TheDailyMeditation.com in the article: thedailymeditation.com/50... The Daily Meditation (instagram.com/meditationpaul) is a resource for meditation, spirituality, and health. It delivers easy how-to guides, real world help, advice, and insights. It covers meditation, Buddhism, Hinduism, mythology, spiritual healing, psychics, and more.

Russell Brand and the Dalai Lama (comedy)

Xochitl, Wisdom Quarterly; Meridian-Trust.org; Key of Awesome/Barely Political

The 14th Dalai Lama with actor-comedian-former Mr. Katy Perry, Russell Brand, at Manchester Arena, in June 2012. He could be talking about quantum physics, but he would rather joke about drugs. Who are The 10 Most Hated Comedians, and is Brand one of them?

Brand is a professional comedian, but does he have a sense of humor? Recently he criticized and humiliated his ex-wife in public, stating how utterly deplorable it had been for him to engage in relations with her during their much discussed relationship. Is she so vapid or did her fundamentalist Christian background ruin her for men? The best and most self-exploiting divas were raised by those two super-corporations, Disney and the Church (Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus, Justina Timberlake, Selena Gomez, etc.)

Chanting "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" didn't save Amy

Amy Winehouse dies in spite of Soka Gakai chanting

Even though she chanted daimoku, she remained addicted, suicidal, and on a self-destructive path. Does that mean daimoku doesn't "work?" That depends what one means by "work." If we think namu-myoho-renge-kyo is a magic phrase that makes us happy and is a get-out-of-death-and-suffering-free card, no, it doesn't "work." Nichiren Buddhism is a life-long practice -- even if our life turns out to be heartbreakingly short. It's not a quick fix or magic cure. More

Just Chant This and That's It?

Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

Is it possible that Brahminical-style chants that mimic Sanskrit hymns (gathas) do not have magical power?

The Vedas gave the ancient Indus Valley Civilizations, which Adi Shankara's Hinduism claims as its inheritance, mantras for everything.

These enchantments first focused the minds of seers (rishis) and were then used by brahmins to enhance their temple-bound priesthood that the Buddha (and other spiritual wanderers or shramans) rejected.

But the technique is sound -- repetition that cuts off normal consciousness and gives way to an elevated state. Simply chanting never works anymore than saying "Abracadabra" or "Open Sesame."

But sincere, persistent, and devoted utterance of special sounds is widely accepted as being effective IF it is consistent and in integrity with one's life. Living one way and chanting another is working at odds with one's professed intention. For example, trying to quit drugs while chanting Nichiren Buddhism's hallmark hymn might really help.

But getting high to enhance the elevation brought on by dedicated chanting is only mocking the process. Or, worse, using the chant as a quick shortcut to material riches -- why, IF that worked, who wouldn't do it? Nichiren goes much deeper than a pretty mantra and a cultish appearance.

• Maybe it worked: Did Amy Winehouse die of alcohol withdrawal?
• What is Nichiren and "Value Creation"? (sgi-usa.org)

Tina Turner chants on CNN's Larry King

• PHOTOS: Drugs ruin a person's youthful looks
• Too much of a good thing: When sex lasts too long
• Amy's parents, public braced for death for years
• Amy Winehouse joins unfortunate 27 Forever Club
• Three-way Los Angeles AdultCon cancels convention
• Squatting (adverse possession) to get a home
• Squatter gets $330,000 house in Texas for $16

Actor Jim Carrey: "I'm a Buddhist..."

Wisdom Quarterly with original text by Justin Harp (digitialspy.com, Dec. 1, 2010)

"This is where I hang out with Buddha and Krishna...Jesus." "Are you a Buddhist?" "I'm a Buddhist, I'm a Muslim, I'm a Christian... It all comes down to the same thing -- you're in a loving place or you're in an unloving place" (CBS interview).

"I read something from Buddha* that said that all spirituality is about
relieving suffering. And I suddenly realized, 'That's what I'm doing!'"

Jim Carrey [who split with girlfriend Playboy playmate Jenny McCarthy (pictured below), author of Love, Lust & Faking It, and for a time must have felt like that Gnarls Barkley video] has insisted that he is constantly driven to seek out enlightenment.

In an interview with Parade, the [gay comedy] I Love You Phillip Morris [which comes out today] star revealed that he has often bounced between bliss and suffering in his lifetime.

"There's always some sort of deep undercurrent running under things for me," he said.

Looking like a yogi (Rex Features)

The actor added: "I've had peaks of kind of enlightenment where I felt like, 'Oh, wow. I've got to figure it out. This is it! Okay. I have peace. I have bliss.'

"And then, boom, off the wave, into the surf, and you're struggling again. I definitely have those scared to death moments, but they're what make you interesting."

Carrey also explained that he believes his life's path is up to a higher power [karma, Oneness, Eckhart Tolle?].

Getting back to his mystical experience of non-duality

He explained: "What's important to me is the long haul. It's a strange thing, but sometimes I think that God is somehow fashioning my life so that I do stay interested and stay hungry."

• *COMING SOON: What could Jim Carrey have read that put him on the path to "relieve suffering"? Wisdom Quarterly reveals and explains the sutra at the root of the Buddha's statement.

• Living Luminaries: Jim Carrey's Awakening
• Last Airhead: "Airbender," Christians, and Buddhists

Buddhists to Tiger Woods: See you Sunday!

(TMZ) Tiger Woods does his best work on Sundays -- which works out just perfectly for the Buddhist temple near Tiger's home. That is, if Tiger is truly serious about returning to his Buddhist roots. The Media Zone spoke to Howard Yeh of the [Chinese Mahayana] Guang Ming Temple in nearby Orlando, Florida. Yeh teaches an English speaking class that meets every Sunday in a group style atmosphere. [Never mind that Tiger is Thai Theravada, right? I mean, TMZ, everyone knows all Buddhism is the same-same. Wink.] The class focuses on helping people with their daily life practices. Yeh told TMZ, "We welcome everyone. We get a lot of walk-ins... He can just come right in." Looks like the Dharma is your court, Tiger. Source

• "Sex Addiction Sunday" (Feb. 28, 10:00 PM) on Loveline
• Pornstar mistress wigs out over Tiger's apology
• A Tiger golfs with Buddha (essay) (WSJ)
• I'm a Buddhist but I lost my way (thedailyvoice.com)
• Dalai Lama now knows who Tiger Woods is:
• The Dalai Lama, who met with President Obama last week over the fierce objections of the Chinese government — which has called the spiritual leader “a jackal clad in Buddhist monk’s robes” — also said that “all religions have the same idea” about adultery [and abuse in any relationship].
• Tiger Woods’ resurfacing is all about sex rehab
• Tiger Woods photographed swinging
• Tiger Woods: I'm recommitting myself to Buddhism
• Tiger Woods back to sex rehab!

Kate Moss: Celebrity Buddhist

By Dharmachari Seven

"Everything is uncertain. Don't cling to anything" -- famous words of a Thai meditation teacher.

In 2006, Fametastic speculated about the waifish supermodel's relationship (Kate Moss is back together with Pete Doherty) and her possible motives: "She's hoping that getting her [rockstar] boyfriend off drugs will improve her karma rating."

Apparently the woman voted voted best dressed in the world has been drawn to Buddhist philosophy and its teachings since she was photographed ingesting cocaine -- which might explain her figure -- the year before.

According to Grazia Magazine: “Kate feels Buddhism will get her through the dark times.”

“She’s been reading up about karma and is fascinated by the idea that your behavior comes back on you.”

“She’s thinking about doing charity work to get good karma in her life.”

The Dharma seems to have helped because the following year Kate Moss, who once dated Johnny Depp, and Pete Doherty were unofficially married in a Buddhist ceremony while on vacation in Thailand, although her rep issued a statement denying it, saying:

"Contrary to various entirely false media reports today, there has not been any kind of marriage ceremony in Thailand. She is on holiday." Photographs of the ceremony say otherwise.

The Sun reports a Thai priest announced them man and wife as water was sprinkled over their heads and friends cheered, even though the marriage is not legally binding. The real wedding is set for later with friends saying they've been asked to keep the date free but haven't been told why.

According to the BBC, the ceremony did take place: Wedding services including Buddhist prayers, the pouring of blessed water, and entwining of flower garlands are popular among visitors to the Thai island.

But as such ceremonies are not legally binding, British nationals must still undertake a civil service in the UK. Despite the marriage denial, bookmakers who took bets on the couple getting married this year have said the duo are "living on borrowed time."

David Williams, of Ladbrokes, said the bookmaker has closed its book on the pair tying the knot. But he added that the firm is offering odds of 4/1 that the couple will divorce before 2008. [Doherty's out, and Kate's now engaged to Jamie Hince.]

Moss and Doherty's rocky relationship has been staple fodder for the tabloids since they met in 2005. The ex-Libertines singer Doherty was serving a two-year supervision order for drug offences. And Moss's modelling career was flourishing despite being photographed allegedly using cocaine in a music studio.

EnjoyFashion explained her enduring fame in this way: Kate Moss became one of the most popular models of the 1990s, appearing in hundreds of magazine spreads and in popular advertisements... But she also gained a reputation for a stormy personal life, culminating in rehab in 1998 and then a further brouhaha in 2005 when a British tabloid printed pictures of her sniffing cocaine.

Kate's a mother (with Jefferson Hack) who during her pregnancy posed nude for Sigmund Freud's 81-year-old grandson (Lucien). He created a near life-size portrait called "Naked Portrait 2002," which went on to sell for $6.5 million at Christie's auction house.

So is Moss really a Buddhist and what kind? According to Female First Magazine, Grazia Magazine, and interviews, yes! WQ is willing to go out on a limb by speculating that she prefers the Thai form of Theravada Buddhism, whose doctrine adheres as closely as it can to the original words of the Buddha.

Thailand is famous for the generosity (dana) of its people and the insight (vipassana) of its forest tradition monks. And Ajahn Chah, the country's most renowned monk, was famous for saying exactly the sort of thing a supermodel would want to hear:

"People who suffer will accordingly gain wisdom. If we don't suffer, we don't contemplate. If we don't contemplate, no wisdom is born. Without wisdom, we don't know. Not knowing, we can't get free of suffering -- that's just the way it is. Therefore, we must train and endure in our practice. When we then reflect on the world, we won't be afraid like before. It isn't that the Buddha was enlightened outside of the world, but within the world itself."

"If your mind is happy then you are happy anywhere you go. When wisdom awakens within you, you will see Truth wherever you look. Truth's all there is. It's like when you've learned how to read -- you can then read anywhere you go."

"Everything is uncertain. Don't cling to anything."