{"id":898,"date":"2009-11-02T16:10:50","date_gmt":"2009-11-02T16:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2009\/11\/bill-w-and-buddha-connections-between-meditation-and-the-twelve-steps-of-aa.html"},"modified":"2009-11-02T16:10:50","modified_gmt":"2009-11-02T16:10:50","slug":"bill-w-and-buddha-connections-between-meditation-and-the-twelve-steps-of-aa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/bill-w-and-buddha-connections-between-meditation-and-the-twelve-steps-of-aa.html","title":{"rendered":"Bill W. and Buddha: Connections Between Meditation and the Twelve Steps of AA"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Rosemary McGinn<\/i><\/p>\n

I’ve always wanted to eavesdrop
\non a conversation between Siddhartha Gautama<\/a> and Bill Wilson<\/a> (the founder
\nof Alcoholics Anonymous<\/a>). I think they’d get along great: Both of these men found paths
\nout of suffering in their own experience and went on to share them with
\nmany people. They both struck chords that have resonated for millions
\nof people over the years. <\/p>\n

The Twelve-Step <\/a>way of life
\nand Buddhism<\/u><\/a> share many similarities and connections, even beyond the
\napparent compulsion to number important things. They’re loaded with
\nsimilar paradoxes: Buddhists take vows, but dwell on and in the impermanence
\nof all things. Sober alcoholics “count days” of sobriety, yet survive
\none day at a time.  <\/p>\n


\nHere’s what struck me the
\nmost when I started hanging around with Buddhists, though: both Bill
\nand Sid got that we can’t do it alone. Or rather, that we don’t
\nhave<\/i> to.  Thich Nhat Hanh<\/a> wrote, “The Buddha said that Right
\nView is to have faith and confidence that there are people who have
\nbeen able to transform their suffering.” Bill Wilson started off the
\nTwelve Steps with the word “we”, and marked the beginning of AA
\nnot from his own sobriety date, but from the date when he and AA’s
\nco-founder got together to help a third alcoholic. <\/p>\n

Why bother? Why not just get
\nthe home versions of the Twelve Steps and of the dharma? I’m sure it’s
\npossible – people who are not fortunate enough to live in New York
\nCity do it every day. But we are encouraged by both gentlemen to take
\nrefuge in the communities of those like us – because that’s where
\nhope comes from. When I look around my zendo<\/a>, I see people who have
\nbeen able to transform their suffering – and that makes it easier
\nfor me to sit for another 25 minutes. When I look around my home Twelve-Step
\ngroup, I see people who have come a million miles from their histories
\nof hardship and trauma – and that makes it easier for me to show up
\nat the next meeting. <\/p>\n

If I didn’t have these powerful
\nexamples, I doubt I’d get very far, because I want guarantees. I want
\nto be sure of the results before I take a step or make a commitment.
\nMy default is to wait for my fear to go away before doing the things
\nI’m afraid of.  I’d learn to swim when I’m not afraid of the
\nwater any more, I thought.  I’d apply for that job, I’d sign
\nup for a new class in a new place, I’d go on a retreat with people
\nI don’t know, I’d ride my bike down that unfamiliar street – when
\nI’m “comfortable”, when it “feels safe”. That’s how I used
\nto run my life. <\/p>\n

Obviously, guarantees are not
\nforthcoming, so it’s a good thing I’ve found Bill and Sid to help
\nme along. I’ve learned to “make a ziff” – or “act as if”
\n– acting my way into right thinking rather than thinking my way into
\nright action, as they say in the Twelve-Step rooms. The Noble Eightfold
\nPath holds a lot of this, too: Right Speech, Conduct, Livelihood, all
\nlead us to awakening and serenity, rather than vice versa.  <\/p>\n

But I wouldn’t have the courage
\nto do any of this if I didn’t have teachers, veterans, and peers around
\nme in both circles. Today, I know that I don’t need blind faith in
\neither the Steps or the dharma: I have proof. All I need to do is look
\naround.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rosemary McGinn I’ve always wanted to eavesdrop on a conversation between Siddhartha Gautama and Bill Wilson (the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous). I think they’d get along great: Both of these men found paths out of suffering in their own experience and went on to share them with many people. They both struck chords that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism","category-everybody-hurts"],"yoast_head":"\nBill W. and Buddha: Connections Between Meditation and the Twelve Steps of AA - One City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/bill-w-and-buddha-connections-between-meditation-and-the-twelve-steps-of-aa.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill W. and Buddha: Connections Between Meditation and the Twelve Steps of AA - One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Rosemary McGinn I’ve always wanted to eavesdrop on a conversation between Siddhartha Gautama and Bill Wilson (the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous). I think they’d get along great: Both of these men found paths out of suffering in their own experience and went on to share them with many people. They both struck chords that…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/bill-w-and-buddha-connections-between-meditation-and-the-twelve-steps-of-aa.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-02T16:10:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ethan Nichtern\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bill W. and Buddha: Connections Between Meditation and the Twelve Steps of AA - One City","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/bill-w-and-buddha-connections-between-meditation-and-the-twelve-steps-of-aa.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bill W. and Buddha: Connections Between Meditation and the Twelve Steps of AA - One City","og_description":"by Rosemary McGinn I’ve always wanted to eavesdrop on a conversation between Siddhartha Gautama and Bill Wilson (the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous). I think they’d get along great: Both of these men found paths out of suffering in their own experience and went on to share them with many people. They both struck chords that…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/bill-w-and-buddha-connections-between-meditation-and-the-twelve-steps-of-aa.html","og_site_name":"One City","article_published_time":"2009-11-02T16:10:50+00:00","author":"Ethan Nichtern","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/bill-w-and-buddha-connections-between-meditation-and-the-twelve-steps-of-aa.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/bill-w-and-buddha-connections-between-meditation-and-the-twelve-steps-of-aa.html","name":"Bill W. and Buddha: Connections Between Meditation and the Twelve Steps of AA - One City","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-11-02T16:10:50+00:00","dateModified":"2009-11-02T16:10:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#\/schema\/person\/52c98770e14a482ace0de36ea672938f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/bill-w-and-buddha-connections-between-meditation-and-the-twelve-steps-of-aa.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/bill-w-and-buddha-connections-between-meditation-and-the-twelve-steps-of-aa.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/bill-w-and-buddha-connections-between-meditation-and-the-twelve-steps-of-aa.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bill W. and Buddha: Connections Between Meditation and the Twelve Steps of AA"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/","name":"One City","description":"The Interdependence Project","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#\/schema\/person\/52c98770e14a482ace0de36ea672938f","name":"Ethan Nichtern","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/13e\/13ee2d28169053f9c0745fa2e72f15b7x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/13e\/13ee2d28169053f9c0745fa2e72f15b7x96.jpg","caption":"Ethan Nichtern"},"description":"Ethan Nichtern is the author of the acclaimed book One City: A Declaration of Interdependence (Wisdom Publications, 2007) and is currently finishing a novel. His writing has been featured in numerous print and online publications. He is the founding director of the Interdependence Project and the host of the I.D. Project\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s popular weekly podcast (available on iTunes). He is currently on the part-time faculty of Eugene Lang College at New School University in NYC, where he teaches Buddhism. Ethan lectures regularly at universities and venues around the country on Buddhism, meditation, contemporary culture, and activism.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/author\/enichtern"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}