American Buddhists Research Articles

“Beyond This World of Transiency and Impermanence”: Japanese Americans, Dharma Bums, and the Making of American Buddhism during the Early Cold War Years

This article examines the growing interest in Buddhism in the United States during the Cold War, analyzing discussions and debates around the authenticity of various Buddhist teachings and practices that emerged in an interracial Buddhist study group and its related publications. Japanese American Buddhists had developed a modified form of Jōdo Shinshū devotional practice as a strategy for building ethnic community and countering racialization as religious and racial Others. The authenticity of these practices was challenged by European and European American scholars and artists, especially the Beats, who drew upon Orientalist representations of Buddhism as ancient, exotic, and mysterious. In response, Japanese American Buddhists crafted their own definition of “tradition” by drawing from institutional and devotional developments dating back to fourteenth-century Japan as well as more recent Japanese American history. The article contextualizes these debates within the broader discussion of cultural pluralism and race relations during the Cold War.

Buddhism and ecology: A virtue ethics approach1

Introduction: Whether Buddhism has a compelling ecological dimension or not has been a much discussed question in recent years. I think I should put my cards on the table at the outset and say that I count myself among the sceptics in this respect. I see little evidence that the Buddha or his followers, at least down to modern times, have been greatly concerned with questions of ecology. If anything, there is more evidence of a negative presupposition about the value and status of the natural world in Buddhism. In contrast to Christian teachings, the world was not created by God who, as the book of Genesis tells us (vv.9ff), saw that his creation was 'good', and being good, worthy to be preserved. On the contrary, in Buddhism there seems to be an acceptance, even an expectation that the world will decline. This is thought of as a basic characteristic of the cosmic order: the eventual destruction of the environment is a basic feature of saṃsāra, and exactly what we should expect. Efforts to prevent it may therefore be seen as naive and deluded and contrary to a proper understanding of Dharma, or natural law. Against this background I see no obvious basis on which to address specific ecological questions, such as whether the world is a better place with the black rhino in it than without it. In general, Buddhism seems not to regard the conservation of nature as anything more than a prudential matter, and we are given no explicit reasons as to why we might have have a moral obligation to preserve it. It has to be recognized, furthermore, that the concerns of ecology are essentially modern ones, and the ecological problems we face today such as greenhouses gases and global warming are only intelligible against the background of a scientific understanding of the world. Until Buddhism updates its ancient cosmology it is not clear how it will take part in a dialogue which is conducted in the vocabulary of modern science. Although there are certainly many Buddhists today who have an excellent knowledge of science, it seems to me that the intellectual core of the tradition still conceives of the natural world in pre-modern terms. For the present at least, therefore, I do not see Buddhism as in a position to offer convincing answer to modern ecological problems. I agree with Ian Harris that Buddhism’s ecological credentials are far from being conclusively established, and I also share the view that much recent interest in this area is driven by Westerners pursuing a green agenda. The American Buddhist and writer on ecology Stephanie Kaza herself disarmingly admits ‘At this point it is unclear whether ecological practices are primarily motivated by Buddhist tradition or by American environmentalism.’ Lest this prologue sound unduly negative, let me hasten to add that as we are all aware Buddhism is not a monolithic structure, and some strands or traditions may be more or less resourceful than others in addressing environmental issues. For example, Schmithausen has contrasted what he calls the ‘pro-civilization strand’ with the ‘hermit strand.’ There are also certain underlying features of Buddhist moral teachings that may be conducive to the development of an environmental philosophy. What I wish to do in this paper is to explore one of these by drawing on the Western tradition of virtue ethics and providing an introductory sketch of how it might provide a foundation for ecology in Buddhism.

Republicanism, Religion, and the Soul of America by Ellis Sandoz and A Nation of Religions: The Politics of Pluralism in Multireligious America by Stephen Prothero, Editor

Republicanism, Religion, and Soul of America Ellis Sandoz. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2006. Eric Voegelin Institute Series in Political Philosophy: Studies in and A Nation of Religions: The Politics of Pluralism in Multireligious America Stephen Prothero, Editor. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. For conservatives, major institutional failures signal forgetful neglect of an esteemed past. In contrast, progressives envision more splendid futures and often celebrate changing present as prefigurations. Taken together, these two books evoke a dialectic between these two stances toward religion and state. The preferred past of Ellis Sandoz is constituted by biblically faithful Protestants, their thinking also shaped by English common law and education in ancient classics. The evolutionary present of Prothero and contributors is populated by American Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and immigrant Christians from many continents. As these rapidly growing groups balance conflicting imperatives of resistance and assimilation, they work political and legal systems to secure a respected standing. Do they dilute American unity or give it a more perfect expression? Or both? That is politics of change that these books help us grasp. For many decades, Ellis Sandoz has been a disciple of political theorist Eric Voegelin (1901-1985). After studying government with Voegelin at Louisiana State University and then in Munich, Sandoz eventually became Director of Voegelin Institute for American Renaissance Studies at LSU. Voegelin had been a 1938 refugee from Germany. In Nazism, he saw satanic demon of modernity and resolved in America to preach its causes (materialism, atheism, utopianism). His term for mindset that abetted massive slaughter of populations under Nazism and Soviet Communism was gnosticism, understood as hubristic conceit of believing that one can understand and transform all. His antidote for such delusion is constitutional democracy that remains in touch with Transcendent Being, one which steadily reminds mere human of fallibility and history's contingencies. Sandoz, as carrier for this Voegelin legacy, thus has animosity toward any Enlightenment project with nihilistic tendency to question the human capacity for self-government under Providential guidance (xi-xii). But he is no end-time triumphalist, who expects New Jerusalem if only we align our institutions with God's will or pledge to rid world of evil. His dour pessimism prevents such fantasy: Human beings are virtually ungovernable-an inference that we are obliged to accept as an axiom of politics, past, present, and future (186; author's italics). Despite this view, which will strike progressive minds as too deeply grumpy, Sandoz is a convincing expositor of important and undeniable strands in American political and religious history. Reflecting decades of working with source materials and commentary literature from most eminent university presses, he offers inconvenient truths about the soul of America-to proponents of wholly secular public square. The book's major arguments are comprised by chapter one, Republicanism and Religion; chapter two, Foundations of American Liberty and Rule of Law; chapter three, Education and American Founding; and chapter four, Americanism: The Question of Community in Politics. Chapter nine, Truth and Experience of Epoch in History nicely synthesizes arguments of earlier chapters and reaffirms, Sandoz's dedication to Voegelin, Havel, and Solzhenitsyn as prophets of failures emanating from forgetfulness, lust for power, rebellion-or plain crookedness (200). The remaining chapters are topical exegeses of Voegelin's theories or biography. In 1998, Library of Congress created an exhibition titled Religion and Founding of American Republic. …

Towards First Rate - Ideas

Recently, my 21 year old son and I returned to California to visit my father, sister and extended Shinagawa clan during the winter holiday season. Three months earlier, my mother had passed away after several years of illness fighting off the twin demons of tuberculosis and pneumonia. My father was recovering slowly from the loss of my mother and my sister was doing her best to keep up his spirits. During the illness and after my mother's passage, a reverend of the local Japanese American Buddhist church helped enormously with the pain, sense of loss, and the need to let go. My father and sister were so impressed with the compassion and dedication of this reverend that they resolved to attend the Buddhist church services from there on out.

Caring Elders: Reflections on the Uses of Buddhist Memorial Observances

ABSTRACT Written from the Jodo shinshu tradition founded by Shinram (1173–1262) perspective, this article offers insights into Buddhist memorial observances. Memorial services are critical to the grieving process upon the death of a loved one. For the Japanese American Buddhist community in Hawai'i and in North America, these services ritualize the sentiments of reverence, appreciation, and respect for elders.

Cultural Identity and Burmese American Buddhists

(2002). Cultural Identity and Burmese American Buddhists. Peace Review: Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 415-419.

Limited Engagements: Revisiting the Non-encounter between American Buddhism and the Shin Tradition

An apparent discrepancy exists between (on one hand) recent interests among non-Asian American Buddhists (that is, persons of European extraction, hereafter referred to as NAABs) in inventing a democratic, egalitarian form of the and (on the other hand) the simultaneous, continuing disinterest regarding conversation with the large Shin Buddhist tradition in Japan. The discrepancy is not best explained by Asian ethnicity in the familiar sense. A better analysis considers the peculiar minority position of any relatively religion in the USA. The sector of Americans who are currently communalist are Judeo-Christian and are not shopping for Buddhism; on the other hand the NAAB sector, which is looking for non-Christian alternatives, may express a surface interest in egalitarianism but at the same time favors individualistic, non-communalistic forms of religious practice. In the absence of deeper cultural shifts, the pattern suggests that social or engaged Buddhism in the USA will remain quite limited in scope.

Review Essays

Book reviewed in this article:THE NEW TESTAMENT AND HOMOSEXUALITY: ARE WE GETTING ANYWHERE?BIBLICAL ETHICS AND HOMOSEXUALITY: LISTENING TO SCRIPTUREEdited by Robert L. BrawleyHOMOSEXUALITY AND CHRISTIAN COMMUNITYEdited by Choon‐Leong SeowLOVE BETWEEN WOMEN: EARLY CHRISTIAN RESPONSES TO FEMALE HOMOEROTICISMBy Bernadette J. BrootenHOMOEROTICISM IN THE BIBLICAL WORLD: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVEBy Martti NissinenRECLAIMING THE SACRED: THE BIBLE IN GAY AND LESBIAN CULTUREEdited by Raymond‐Jean FrontainMOSES, MONOTHEISM, AND MEMORYMOSES: A LIFEBy Jonathan KirschFREUD AND THE LEGACY OF MOSESBy Richard BernsteinLIKE UNTO MOSESBy James NohrnbergMOSES THE EGYPTIANBy Jan AssmannPaperback Reprint !The Coptic Gnostic LibraryA Complete Edition of the Nag Hammadi CodicesREASSESSING RELIGION'S PLACE IN A LIBERAL DEMOCRACYRELIGION AND CONTEMPORARY LIBERALISMEdited by Paul J. WeithmanRELIGION IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE: THE PLACE OF RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS IN POLITICAL DEBATEBy Robert Audi and Nicholas WolterstorffRELIGION IN PUBLIC LIFE: A DILEMMA FOR DEMOCRACYBy Ronald F. ThiemannCHRISTIAN JUSTICE AND PUBLIC POLICYBy Duncan B. ForresterNew reference sources from OxfordORALITY AND LITERACY IN ANCIENT ISRAELSCRIBES AND SCHOOLS IN MONARCHIC JUDAH: A SOCIO‐ARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACHBy David W. Jamieson‐DrakeORAL WORLD AND WRITTEN WORDBy Susan NiditchSTORIES IN SCRDPTURE AND INSCRD7TIONS: COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN NORTHWEST SEMITIC INSCRIPTIONS AND THE HEBREW BIBLEBy Simon B. ParkerSCRIBES AND SCHOOLS: THE CANONIZATION OF THE HEBREW SCRIPTURESBy Philip R. DaviesTHE SCHOOL TRADITION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT: THE BAMPTON LECTURES FOR 1994By E. W. HeatonEDUCATION IN ANCIENT ISRAEL: ACROSS THE DEAFENING SILENCEBy James CrenshawRELIGIOUS PLURALISM, IDENTITY, AND GLOBALIZATION IN THE AMERICASBLESSED ANASTACIA: WOMEN, RACE, AND POPULAR CHRISTIANITY IN BRAZILBy John BurdickLIVING IN THE NEW JERUSALEM: PROTESTANTISM IN GUATEMALABy Virginia Garrard‐BurnettBORN AGAIN IN BRAZIL: THE PENTECOSTAL BOOM AND THE PATHOGENS OF POVERTYBy R. Andrew ChesnutRELIGIOUS POLITICS IN LATIN AMERICA, PENTECOSTAL VS. CATHOLICBy Brian H. SmithLATIN AMERICAN RELIGION IN MOTION: TRACKING INNOVATION, UNEXPECTED CHANGE AND COMPLEXITYEdited by Christian Smith and Joshua ProkopyRENDERING UNTO CAESAR: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE STATE IN LATIN AMERICABy Anthony GillOUR LADY OF THE EXILE: DIASPORIC RELIGION AT A CUBAN AMERICAN CATHOLIC SHRINE IN MIAMIBy Thomas A. TweedBUDDHISM IN THE WEST: AN EMERGING GENRETHE FACES OF BUDDHISM IN AMERICAEdited by Charles S. Prebish and Kenneth K. TanakaLUMINOUS PASSAGE: THE PRACTICE AND STUDY OF BUDDHISM IN AMERICABy Charles S. PrebishAMERICAN BUDDHISM: METHODS AND FINDINGS IN RECENT SCHOLARSHIPEdited by Duncan Ryūken Williams and Christopher S. QueenTHE AWAKENING OF THE WEST: THE ENCOUNTER OF BUDDHISM AND WESTERN CULTUREBy Stephen BatchelorBUDDHISM AND AFRICAEdited by M. Clasquin and J. S. Krüger

How the Swans Came to Lake Michigan: The Social Organization of Buddhist Chicago

An analysis of the social organization of Buddhist groups and networks in metropolitan Chicago sheds light on the social organization of Buddhism and other new religions in American cities generally. Following an overview of the history and geography of Buddhist Chicago, this essay examines the dynamics underlying the emergence of local Buddhist groups and networks under two main headings: religious identities and sociological factors. First, Buddhism's various branches, traditions, and lineages are discussed; sociological factors discussed include organizational types, ethnic/racial distinctions, sociological functions played by Buddhism for “culture Buddhists” and “convert Buddhists,”and the role of local social dynamics in the emergence, proliferation, and interaction of Buddhist groups. As the field of American Buddhist studies enters a period of renewed productivity, this essay offers a conceptual framework for understanding major issues that can benefit both researchers within the field and interested social scientists outside of it.

Luminous passage: the practice and study of Buddhism in America

In Luminous Passage, a well-known Buddhologist and longtime observer of Buddhism in the United States presents the first comprehensive scholarly study of American Buddhism in nearly two decades. Charles S. Prebish revisits the expanding frontier of the fastest growing religion in North America and describes its historical development, its diversity, and the significance of this ancient tradition at century's end. More than anything else, this is a book about American Buddhist communities (sanghas) and about life within those communities. Prebish considers various Buddhist practices, rituals, and liturgies, as well as the ways these communities have confronted the changing American spiritual landscape. In profiling several different sanghas Prebish reveals the ways that Buddhism is being both reinvented and Westernized. He includes the first exploration of the American Buddhist 'cybersangha', a community that has emerged from recent developments in information-exchange technology, and discusses the growing community of 'scholar-practitioners'. The interactions of Buddhist identities that are related to ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, social engagement, and the healing professions are also examined. This book fully captures the vibrancy and importance of Buddhism in American religious life today. Finally, Prebish appraises the state of Buddhism at the millennium. Placing the development of American Buddhism squarely in the midst of the religion's general globalization, he argues for an ecumenical movement which will embrace Buddhist communities worldwide.

Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West

In this book, Lopez eloquently argues that the Western romance of isolates Tibet from the quotidian world and denies Tibetans their agency in constituting such a world. Although, as Lopez observes, the of may have more recently drawn Western support to the cause of Tibetan independence, imagery ultimately serves to undermine the realization of this goal. It is this assertion that gives rise to the book's title. prisoners of Shangri-la are the Tibetans, Tibetophiles and Tibetologists who, having crafted, disseminated and, at times, striven to enact these are the architects of their own imprisonment. Throughout the seven chapters of the book, Lopez directs his examination to the confluence of fact and fiction that has formed and is forming the Western image of Shangri-la. first six chapters are assays of myths that contribute to this image: the Western preference for designating Tibetan Buddhism by the non-indigenous construct lamaism, the emergence of the text known as The Tibetan Book of the Dead in the Western spiritual canon, the authorizing principle behind the self-proclaimed autobiographical works of an Englishman-cum-Tibetan lama known as Lobsang Rampa, the Western insistence upon and devoted pursuit of esoteric, extra-Tibetan meanings of the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum, the orientalist approach to interpretations of Tibetan religious art, and the politics of knowledge involved in the fashioning of Tibetan Buddhist programs within Religious Studies Departments in several North American universities. In a sense, these myths, which Lopez entitles respectively The Name, The Book, The The Spell, The Art and The Field, are presented as signposts along the Tibetan magical mystery tour. As an American Buddhist scholar trained within The Field, Lopez identifies himself as an erstwhile tour participant while deftly deconstructing the very signposts that have attracted many Westerners to the tour itself. nuanced explorations in these chapters contribute to a Western ethnohistory of and are the strength of this very well-written book.The question to ask, Lopez tells us, is why Western concerning Tibet persist and how they continue to circulate unchallenged (p. 9). He endeavours to answer it by exploring the authoritative nature of the myths. To this end, Lopez provides examples ranging from the mantle of science worn by psychologists who equated the experiences produced by psychotropic drugs with the after death visions described in Tibetan texts, to a delightful account of his straight-faced (and context-free) assignment of Lobsang Rampa's book, Third Eye, to his undergraduate students and their resistance to Lopez's subsequent efforts to impugn the autobiographer's authority. …

The Middle length discourses of the Buddha: a new translation of the Majjhima Nikaya

BHIKKHU BODHI is an American Buddhist monk, originally from New York City. He received monastic ordination in 1972 in Sri Lanka, where he lived for over twenty years. He is the author, translator, or editor of many significant publications including A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Samyutta Nikaya), and In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pail Canon. He is presently working on a complete translation of the Anguttara Nikaya. He lives and teaches at Chuang Yen Monastery in upstate New York. He also teaches at Bodhi Monastery in New Jersey.

A Buddhist Reflection on the Task of Elders

Many Japanese American Buddhist families in the San Jose, California area observe a series of late life celebrations in honor of their elders. The sixty-first, the seven-tieth, the seventy-seventh, and eighty-eighth birthdays are celebrated with special flourish. These celebrations mark milestones in life and underscore the respect and gratitude elders are accorded by the family and community. At these gatherings the talk among family and guests invariably turns to the life of the elder and they wonder how the elder was able to survive and even flourish amid the hard- ships and setbacks during his or her long life. Indeed, long-lived elders do seem to have a presence of being that can only come from many years of living. The idea of kyogai, “one's station in life,” is especially revered in the elder. Ordinarily, kyogai refers to one's place in society. Kyogai also suggests the spiritual maturity of being able to live with equanimity and ease in a transient and interdependent world. For Shiryu Morita (1912– ), a leading Japanese sho-artist or calligrapher and student of Buddhist thought and practice, kyogai is both a spiritual and an aesthetic quality. I reflect on Morita's notion of kyogai within the context of the Buddha's attitude toward aging and elders. I offer my reflections as a Buddholo- gist interested in elder ethics and as a Buddhist priest concerned with caring for and empowering elders. I begin with a description of the Buddha's attitude toward aging and elders outlined in the Sutta-Nipata, an early Buddhist document. The “Salla Sutta” in the Sutta-Nipata outlines the Buddha's attitude toward old age, elders and elder tasks. Old age is linked to the question of death and the unease of living in a transient world, in the passages cited below (p. 68).1

Sacred Deviance and AIDS in a North American Buddhist Community*

This essay presents a community AIDS narrative concerning an alleged case of intentional HIV transmission between spiritual teacher and student. Analysis focuses on the relation between legal and popular representation of criminal intent, the denial of AIDS risk, and the neighborhood of belief. In this framework, alternative application of traditional criminal law and HIV‐specific penal statutes are considered as both prosecution strategies and opportunities for public spectacle.

Being in the World: A Buddhist Ethical and Social Concern

Rosemary Ruether, a Christian feminist and liberation theologian, gives a comprehensive survey of the possible options for community in Christianity. In the latter half of her paper, she outlines the vision of community that speaks to her at the present time in her religious development. She is responded to by two North American Buddhists, Buddhists by choice. As Buddhist converts, both respondents speak to those aspects of the Buddhist vision of community that inspire them. In so doing, David Chappell suggests aspects of the Buddhist vision that Christianity might well wish to take seriously. Rita Gross, editor of the Theological Encounter papers, makes a feminist contribution to Buddhist thought, suggesting that Buddhism fully informed by feminist values would take community more seriously as the matrix of spiritual well-being.

Religious Community Related to Stages of Personal Growth: A Response to Rosemary Ruether's Paper

have always agreed, is borne out Buddhism: . .. the goal of feminist spirituality is not to create its own religion, but rather to be a reforming and transforming influence on existing religious tradition. The categories are there, at the most basic and fundamental level of the Buddhist vision: three refugesBuddha, Dharma, Safgha. We are not inventing something new, something un-Buddhist. We are really seeing what has always been there, the refuge of Safigha, particularly as focus of personal nurture and supportive community. When the refuge of Sangha is really seen, really appreciated, it cannot be a poor third. It is as important in spiritual life as the Buddha and the Dharma, and people will care about being good Safgha members as much as they care about study, practice, and devotion. These concerns are particularly relevant North American Buddhism, because North American society has both the problem of alienation and the resource of feminist reconstruction more abundantly than any other society and because North American Buddhists really can make a fresh start. As I have argued so often, Western Buddhists have both the freedom and the awesome responsibility to receive Buddhist transmission without taking on the sociological inadequacies of Asian culture or perpetuating those of Western cultures. I do not know how relevant these comments are Asian Buddhists, just as Rosemary Ruether feels she cannot speak Asian Christians, I do not feel I can speak Asian Buddhists, especially on topics as subtle and as conventionally unspoken as the ones that are brought up in this response. However, I do feel that I can speak generally and abstractly Buddhism. In this speaking I hope that I am doing precisely what Rosemary Ruether calls when she says that it is for Buddhist, Jewish, and Moslim women to develop this possibility these religious traditions.

Dancing in to empty space: The role of dance in contemporary American Buddhist Studies

Dancing in to empty space: The role of dance in contemporary American Buddhist Studies

Questionnaire to Measure Eastern and Western Thought

A questionnaire was developed to reflect traditional Eastern and Western world views. The Eastern perspective is conceived of as the basically monistic view of existence shared by Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Hinduism; the Western view, on the other hand, is seen as based on the dualistic outlook of reality underlying both Judeo-Christian and much of Greek thought. Test-retest reliability over 2 wk., based on responses of 83 college students, is .76. A study involving 4 American Buddhists, 69 Transpersonal psychologists. 29 business executives, 17 legal administrators, and 173 college students with various majors suggests that the questionnaire has considerable predictive validity.