The Making of American Buddhism

Abstract

Abstract The Making of American Buddhism tells the story of how Japanese Americans in the 1950s made possible American Buddhism. Using the Berkeley Bussei, a Buddhist magazine published from 1939 to 1960, as a case study, the book demonstrates how Japanese American Buddhists argued that Buddhism was both what made them good Americans and what they had to contribute to America—a rational and scientific religion of peace. Such rhetorical constructions of Buddhist modernism were common at midcentury, and this study centers American Jōdo Shinshū Buddhists in this history. Boldly claiming an American Buddhist identity, even in the face of racial and religious discrimination, they created communities, published magazines, and hosted scholarly conventions and translation projects. In short, Nisei Buddhists built religious infrastructure. Without this infrastructure, the Buddhist modernists and Beat Generation writers who are often credited with popularizing Buddhism in the later twentieth century would not have had places to publish their ideas and communities in which to learn Buddhist practice. D. T. Suzuki, Alan Watts, Jack Kerouac, and Gary Snyder, all of whom make appearances in the Berkeley Bussei, were supported by or connected to the Nisei Buddhist community. This book recenters their experiences and the unseen labor that ultimately made possible American Buddhism.