Last semester I completed a Comparative Religious Ethics course, and my final project was a seminar paper comparing Buddhism and the Rastafari religion. This is an odd comparison, but one that makes sense in my spiritual microcosm. I am a striving (and mostly struggling) practitioner of Zen Buddhism, making it an obvious choice for the comparison. But, I have also taken an interest in Reggae music after randomly choosing a Reggae Internet radio station for calming background music. It has blossomed from background melodies to the forefront of my musical universe. The soulful reggae melodies that I have grown to cherish are often accompanied by passionate lyrics celebrating the Rastafari culture, a movement that I knew nothing about. An excerpt from my paper summarizes the origin of the Rastafari movement:

Born out of the slums of Jamaica in the 1930’s the religious and political movement played an important role in raising racial and anti-colonial consciousness in Jamaica. The Rastafari movement is a powerful counteraction to the beliefs of the slave owners who proclaimed that African culture was inferior and that the country of Africa itself was an inferior territory; a “dark continent filled with uncivilized languages, cultures and custom.” Rastafari is a religion fueled by resistance against oppression, exploitation and racial oppression, as well as a reclamation of black pride and African culture. With over a million practicing Rastafari’s throughout the world, the history and faith of this religion extends well behind the music, fashion and marijuana culture stereotype commonly accepted in American culture.

One of the many things that I respect about the culture is that the Rastafari lifestyle strives for harmony with the natural world. They believe in maintaining the purity of the body and harmony with nature through their rituals of diet, medicine and hygiene. I have always believed in the spirituality of nature, so this aspect of the culture speaks loudly to me. Our world is struggling under the duress of manmade complexities. And I do believe our salvation lies in nature. Any lifestyle that embraces a more natural way of living very much appeals to me. My happiness and inner peace has always been tied to my connectivity to nature. This research was a pleasant reminder that I have been neglecting a natural remedy that has never failed to heal me.

My journey into the Rastafari religion has inspired me to look closely at my own spirituality. It has inspired me to strengthen my commitment to Zen. As a result I have been intensely disciplined about my daily zazen practice. I have been incorporating a more natural way of living: in my health, diet and through connectivity to nature. Zen and the Rastafari religion are similar as they both emphasize the individual pursuit to spirituality over that of the laws and structures of religion. With both Zen Buddhism and Rastafari, the journey to salvation begins and ends with the practitioner. And the convergence of both cultures in my research forced me to look deeply into myself. And I am better for it.

If you are interested in reading more on the research, my paper is available in its entirety on Research Gate.

And, you can also check out my Modern Reggae Jams playlist on Spotify to hear the songs that inspired my research…