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AJewish Buddhist is a person ofJewish ethnicity who practices a form ofBuddhism, with or without simultaneously observingJudaism.^[1]

Some practice forms ofdhyana,Buddhist meditation,chanting, orspirituality.^[2] An individual may identify with both Judaism and Buddhism in terms of their religious practices. In many instances, the person may be ethnically designated as Jewish while practicing Buddhism as their primary religion. In the 1994 bookThe Jew in the Lotus,Rodger Kamenetz introduced the termJewBu orJUBU.^[3][4][5] Similarly, many also use the termsBuJews orBuddJews to refer to themselves.^[6]

In her 2019 book on the subject entitledAmerican JewBu, Emily Sigalow surveys the demography ofAmerican Buddhism, estimating ethnically Jewish Buddhists comprise between 16.5% and one-third of all non-Asian American Buddhists.^[7]

At the 1893Parliament of the World's Religions, a Jewish man named Charles Strauss declared himself a Buddhist following talks delivered by Buddhist delegatesSoyen Shaku andAnagarika Dharmapala.^[8][9]

In the late 1960s, following the rise ofZen within theBeat Generation, many Jews began to explore Buddhism. Key figures included Shinge-shitsu RokoSherry Chayat, a Zen Buddhist;Joseph Goldstein,Jack Kornfield, andSharon Salzberg—founders of theTheravada-basedInsight Meditation Society; and Sylvia Boorstein, who teaches atSpirit Rock Meditation Center. They primarily practice Vipassana meditation as taught Thai teachers.^[10][11][12] Another generation of Jewish Buddhist teachers emerged in the early 2000s.

• Buddhism in Israel
• List of American Buddhists
• Jews and Buddhism
• List of converts to Buddhism
• Buddhism and Judaism

• Kamenetz, Rodger (1995),The Jew in the Lotus, [San Francisco, Calif.]: HarperSanFrancisco,ISBN 978-0060645748
• Bader, David M. (2002),Zen Judaism: For You a Little Enlightenment, Harmony,ISBN 978-0609610213
• Tatz, Akiva (2005),Letters to a Buddhist Jew, Targum Press,ISBN 978-1568713564
• Boorstein, Sylvia (1998),That's Funny, You Don't Look Buddhist,HarperOne,ISBN 978-0060609580
• Drescher, Frank (2017),Jewish Converts to Buddhism and the Phenomenon of "Jewish Buddhists" ("JuBus") in the United States, Germany and Israel, Grin Publishing,ISBN 9783668514034
• Lew, Alan (2005),Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice for Real Life,Little, Brown and Company,ISBN 978-0316739108
• Musch, Sebastian.Jewish Encounters with Buddhism in German Culture. Between Moses and Buddha(1890-1940). Palgrave 2019.ISBN 978-3-030-27468-9.

• The “Oy Vey” School of Buddhism
• AFC News Source – Jews by birth who practice Buddhism
• Story of a Jewish Buddhist
• You don't look Buddhist
• A frank encounter between religious Jews and Tibetan Buddhists
• Excerpt fromLetters to a Buddhist Jew by Akiva Tatz

• Buddhism and Judaism
• Lists of Buddhists
• Lists of Jews
• Religious syncretism

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