Girish Mahajan (Editor)

List of converts to Buddhism

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List of converts to Buddhism

The following people are all converts to Buddhism, sorted alphabetically by family name.

Contents

From Islam

  • Wong Ah Kiu (1918–2006), Malaysian woman born to a Muslim family but raised as Buddhist; her conversion from Islam became a legal issue in Malaysia on her death
  • Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lankan cricket player who converted from Islam to Buddhism at the age of 16, previously known as Tuwan Muhammad Dilshan
  • Kenneth Pai, Chinese American writer of Hui descent
  • Suraj Randiv, Sri Lankan cricket player, previously known as Mohamed Marshuk Mohamed Suraj
  • Mehmet Scholl (1970–), German footballer
  • Princess Sri Sulalai (1770–1837), royal concubine of King Buddha Loetla Nabhalai, the King of Siam (Thailand)

    • From Judaism

  • Peter Coyote (born 1941), American actor and author
  • Surya Das (born 1950), lama who founded Dzogchen Foundation and Centers
  • Tetsugen Bernard Glassman (born January 18, 1939), American Zen Buddhist roshi and co-founder of the Zen Peacemakers
  • Jack Kornfield (born 1945), teacher in the vipassana movement of American Theravada Buddhism
  • Sharon Salzberg (born 1952), meditation teacher and co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society

    • From Hinduism

  • B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956), converted from Hinduism
  • Ashoka the Great (277–232 BCE), converted from Hinduism, Indian emperor and early convert to Buddhism
  • Aśvaghoṣa (80?–150 CE?), Indian Buddhist figure, philosopher- poet
  • Balachandran Chullikkadu (born 1957), Malayalam language poet from Kerala
  • Jagdish Kashyap (1908–1976), Buddhist monk
  • Laxman Mane (born 1949), Dalit author and social worker
  • Udit Raj (born 1958), prominent Indian social activist and Buddhist polemicist
  • Rahul Sankrityayan (1893–1963), Hindi author and translator
  • Iyothee Thass (1845–1914), Siddha practitioner and leader of the Dravidian movement

    • From other or undetermined

  • Robert Baker Aitken (1917–2010), co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha
  • Reb Anderson (born 1943), Zen teacher
  • Alistair Appleton (born 1970), British television presenter
  • Stephen Batchelor (born 1953), writer
  • Orlando Bloom (born January 13, 1977), actor who played Legolas in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
  • Kate Bosworth (born 1983), American actress
  • John Cage (1912–1992), American composer
  • Arabella Churchill (1949–2007), English charity founder, festival co-founder, and fundraiser
  • Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer/songwriter/poet
  • John Crook (1930–2011), British ethologist
  • Ernest Fenollosa (1853–1908), American professor of philosophy and political economy at Tokyo Imperial University
  • Richard Gere (born 1949), actor and activist for Tibetan causes
  • Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), poet
  • Natalie Goldberg (born 1948), writer
  • Herbie Hancock (born 1940), jazz pianist who has also released funk and disco albums
  • Joseph Jarman (born 1937), jazz musician and Jodo Shinshu priest
  • Miranda Kerr (born 1983), model
  • k.d. lang, Canadian singer
  • Jet Li (born 1963), actor
  • Courtney Love, American singer-songwriter
  • Menander I (died c. 130 BCE), Greco-Buddhist king (from pre-Christian Hellenistic religion)
  • Dennis Genpo Merzel (born 1944), abbot of Kanzeon Zen Center
  • Ole Nydahl (born 1941), lama teacher
  • Tenzin Palmo (born 1943), nun of Drukpa Kagyu lineage
  • Steven Seagal (born 1951), action-film actor who was proclaimed a tulku
  • Oliver Stone, American film director
  • Sharon Stone, American actress, producer, and former fashion model
  • Ajahn Sumedho (born 1934), most senior representative of the Thai Forest Tradition in the Western hemisphere; abbot of the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK
  • Tan-luan (6th to 7th century), Chinese Buddhist monk important to Pure Land Buddhism (from Taoism)
  • Robert Thurman (born 1941), Buddhist priest and writer who has been called "the Billy Graham of Buddhism"
  • Tina Turner (born 1939), American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress who has won eight Grammy Awards
  • Philip Whalen (1923–2002), Beat generation poet and Zen monk
  • Adam Yauch (1964-2012), aka MCA, American rapper (member of Beastie Boys), songwriter, film director, and human rights activist

    • References

    List of converts to Buddhism Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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