The Direction of Buddhism in America today.docx

7/27/2019 The Direction of Buddhism in America today.docx

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The Direction of Buddhism in America today

* Carl Bielefeldt is professor of religious studies and co-director of the Centerfor Buddhist Studies at Stanford University:For more than a century, Buddhism has been on a remarkable ride in America. It hasgone from the marginal religion of Chinese and Japanese immigrants on the WestCoast (plus a few eccentric Euro-Americans who dabbled in Theosophy andspiritualism) to a religion practiced by millions of Americans throughout the countryand known, at some level at least, to millions more through books, magazines,television, and movies.American bookstores are filled with volumes on "Zen and the art of" this or that;Hollywood makes movies on the Dalai Lama and a Nazi's conversion to TibetanBuddhism; and TIME magazine runs cover stories on America's fascination withBuddhism. Buddhist ideas appear in New Age religions, psychology, medicine, andeven sports and business. Buddhist values are cited in social movements forfeminism, peace, ecology, and animal rights. Buddhist temples pop up in unlikelyplaces, from Hacienda Heights, California to the cornfields of Iowa. Buddhist studiesflourish in colleges and universities from Smith to Stanford. We even have a newfacial lotion called "Hydra-Zen," advertised as relieving skin stress, and a snackcalled "Zen Party Mix."Clearly the "Zen" in the face cream and snack food has nothing to do with religion aswe ordinarily understand it. We're dealing here with something else. An aura

surrounds words like "Buddhism" and "Zen." There is a set of associations withfamiliar American values, such as simplicity, naturalness, peace, and harmony.There are the favorite values of the health and food industries, such aswholesomeness, well-being, and natural goodness; and there are the aestheticvalues of the young urban sushi culture, such as tasteful understatement,sophisticated minimalism, and multicultural cosmopolitanism.We seem to be dealing not with a religion, but with something that might be calledAmerican "secular spirituality" -- a longing among many (especially the white middleand upper classes) who are still not satisfied with what they have and who wantsomething more; who have all they can eat, but are still searching for that special

flavoring, some "psycho-spice" of self-acceptance, perhaps, some rare "inner herb"of guilt-free self-satisfaction. This longing for something more, though in mostsocieties very often associated with religion, seems in our society to be associatedwith a suspicion of religion. We want something more than institutional religion --something more personal, more private, more narrowly focused on "me" and how Ifeel about myself -- what might be called "I-dolatry."Of all the religions in America (and ironically enough for a religion famous fordenying the self), Buddhism seems to have been the one best able to tap into thisdesire for spirituality -- to transcend its status as a religion and present itself as afree-floating spiritual resource not tied to a particular institution, community, dogma,

or ritual. We can add a dash of Buddhism whenever we need some spiritual flavor.We can market Buddhist cosmetics; we can have bars called "Buddha" and rock


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bands called "Nirvana"; we can have cartoons about Zen masters and jokes abouthow many it takes to change a light bulb -- all without imagining that we're beingsacrilegious or insulting anyone's religion. We can even adopt Buddhist values orpractices without converting to the Buddhist religion.Does this mean, then, that Buddhism is not really a religion analogous to Christianityor Judaism -- that it's not an institution (or set of institutions) with members, butsimply an intellectual style, point of view, or set of tastes, like, say, "feminism" or"postmodernism"? American Buddhists If so, what, then, are we supposed to thinkwhen we read that there are millions of Buddhists living in America? What about thehundreds of organizations that we find listed in directories of American Buddhistgroups? No one seems to know just how many millions of Buddhists there are inAmerica, in part because no one has figured out who "counts" as a Buddhist.Thomas Tweed, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina,suggests that we need to take into account a large number of people who fall into acategory he calls "nightstand Buddhists" -- people who read about Buddhism and are

attracted to what they read, some of whom may even describe themselves asBuddhist, but who don't belong to any Buddhist organization. We might also callthem "Buddhist sympathizers," and we might describe their nightstand reading as"public Buddhism" or "media Buddhism."News coverage of Buddhism seems extraordinary. Not only is there quite a bit of itrelative to other religions, but it tends to be highly positive. In international news,Buddhism is almost never blamed for the foibles of Asian societies. No oneassociates the state religion of Buddhism with the nasty politics in Burma; no oneimplicates the Buddhists of Sri Lanka in the bloody campaign against the HinduTamils. Rather, Buddhists tend to be [depicted as] peaceful victims of Asian politics -- Vietnamese monks burning themselves in protest against the government orTibetan nuns tortured and jailed for their demonstrations against Chinese rule.Compare this with the media images of fanatical Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus (not tomention Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland). The domestic news almostnever treats Buddhist groups as "cults" or plays up the (not uncommon) sexualmisadventures of Buddhist leaders. Rather, it tends to focus on "human interest"feature stories: the latest peace mission of the Dalai Lama or interviews withBuddhist superstars like Richard Gere. Compare this with dark media images ofblack Muslims and Hindu guru cults, or the evil empire of the Korean Christian

movement of Reverend Moon (not to mention lurid stories of televangelists and theirprostitutes or Catholic priests and their choirboys).To be sure, we still get occasional hints of something suspicious (as in the campaignfund-raising stories of Al Gore and the devious Taiwanese Buddhist nuns), but forthe most part, Buddhism seems to have slipped free from our old images of an alienOriental paganism, blending smoothly into the American scene as a familiar, if stillsomewhat exotic, feature of our cosmopolitan new multiculture. It is often said thatwe have adopted Asian Americans as our "model minority," and the media seem tohave adopted Buddhism as our model minority religion.The transformation of Buddhism from an alien Asiatic paganism to a modern,international spiritual resource capable of blending into the American scene owes


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much to the work of western academics. In the 19th century, while newly arrivedimmigrant Chinese were worshipping the Buddha in their temples in California,Caucasian Americans were beginning to read about the Buddha in books producedby scholars of classical Indian languages. Buddhist StatuesThe books often depictedthe Buddha's teachings as a rational system of philosophical and moral thought --

nontheistic; free from myth and ritual, superstition and magic; emphasizing ethicalconduct and psychological understanding -- this in marked contrast to Christianbeliefs in a creator god, an immaculate conception, a miraculous resurrection, andChristian emphases on church ritual, piety and faith, hellfire and brimstone. To besure, there were bits of the teachings that were difficult to swallow: reincarnation,and escape from reincarnation into what seemed the oblivion of nirvana. But withthese bits overlooked or explained away, for the most part Buddhism seemed safelyfamiliar and modern, surprisingly compatible with a scientific worldview and westernway of life -- in short, a religion ideal for disaffected Christians and Jews looking for aspiritual alternative.The academic study of Buddhism has come a long way since the 19th century, andwe now know enough to see clearly how little that early western image of Buddhismcorresponds to the actual history, teachings, and practices of the religion in Asia --how many of the difficult bits were overlooked or explained away in the projection ofmodern western ideals onto the religion. Still, the projected image remains in ourbooks and minds -- an image much more attractive and influential than all the moresophisticated studies we now produce, describing the often bizarre and alien viewsthat Buddhists actually held and detailing the history of a religion riddled with mythand ritual, superstition and magic.Recently, when Stanford's Center for Buddhist Studies organized a one-day retreaton Buddhism for the Continuing Studies Program, 100 people had signed up bynoon on the first day of registration, and the list had to be closed. Some were simplycurious about Buddhism; some were no doubt practicing Buddhists. But most seemto have been "sympathizers": people drawn to something they see in the religionwho feel some "affinity," some spiritual possibility. Many of them wanted to talkduring the discussion sessions not about the scholarly presentations on Buddhisthistory and culture, but about liberal American interests such as ecology and socialjustice. More than a few wanted to share their personal understanding of whatBuddhism really is and what Buddhist values are or ought to be. Such people arealmost all educated, affluent, and white. At the retreat, I did not see a single black or

Latino, and only one or two Asians, in the group. Terms like "nightstand Buddhist" or"Buddhist sympathizer" don't really capture the full range of these people'srelationship to Buddhism. We also need a subcategory like "freelance Buddhist" --those who identify themselves as Buddhist without belonging to any Buddhistorganization, and perhaps another category called "client Buddhist" -- those whomake use of Buddhist organizations without belonging to them.This last category is perhaps the most remarkable of all. At the Stanford retreat,about half the people came one hour early to participate in an optional instructionsession on meditation taught by Buddhist monks. These people were, for thatsession at least, operating as "client Buddhists." Because of Buddhism's odd status

as a "nonreligious" spiritual resource, Americans seem to feel relatively free to dropin on Buddhist events and participate in Buddhist practices. They would rarely think


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of dropping in at a synagogue for prayer if they weren't Jewish or taking theEucharist if they weren't Catholic, but joining in a Buddhist meditation retreat seemsto come quite naturally. They often tend to think of such participation along the linesof, say, going on a Sierra Club hike, doing massage therapy at a hot spring resort, orattending a golf clinic or an investment seminar. Some Buddhist groups, in fact,

depend on such drop-in clients for income and cater to them with specially preparedprograms. One of the best-known Buddhist monasteries in America, Tassajara,supports itself with a summer guest season, when it turns itself into a spiritual resort.In institutional terms, Buddhists are a disorganized lot. There is no national Buddhistorganization; there is very little interest in anything like an ecumenical movement.Some groups have ties to church organizations in Asia; some have networks ofaffiliated communities in this country. But for the most part, American Buddhism issplintered into many different groups and factions, each with its own organizationalstructure, teachings, and practices. These can be very different. Buddhist probablydisagree on more than they agree on. No one "speaks for" or "represents" Buddhism

in this country.Within this generally messy situation, we can make some distinctions of type. First,all commentators on the sociology of American Buddhism are quick to point out thatwe are dealing here with two distinct kinds of communities. Some use theunfortunate terms "American Buddhists" and "ethnic Buddhists," or the fighting words"white" and "yellow" Buddhists. Let's call them "convert" and "hereditary" Buddhists.Whatever we call them, the distinction between the two types is striking."Hereditary Buddhists" are mostly (so far) members of Asian immigrant groups ortheir Asian-American offspring. Buddhists from China and Japan, of course, havebeen living in America since the 19th century, but especially since the relaxation ofquotas on Asian immigration in the 1960s, the number and variety of AsianBuddhists in America have grown dramatically. We now have representatives fromvirtually all the Buddhist cultures of Asia -- Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand,Tibet, and Mongolia -- as well as newer Buddhist groups continuing to enter fromJapan and Taiwan. Of course, there is much variation in the types of Buddhismfound in these communities, but sociologically speaking, they typically have deeproots in and reflect the ways of the old country. They serve to provide not onlyreligious services, but also a sense of cultural continuity and a cultural center ofgravity. Membership in the Buddhist organizations of such groups is typically not a

matter of conscious choice or the result of a spiritual quest but a more or lessunconscious cultural practice. In this sense, hereditary Buddhists are more like themajority of traditional, mainstream Christians and Jews than white convert Buddhists.And in fact, the functions of their religious organizations often look very familiar:worship services, church holiday festivals, church youth groups, fund-raisers, andmaybe a scripture study class, as well as confirmation of the kids, pastoral care forthe troubled, and funerals for the dearly departed.The food may be sushi instead of hot dogs, the games may be mahjong instead ofbingo, but the functions are more or less like that old-time religion that manynightstand Buddhists and white Buddhist converts are looking to escape. For the

most part, laity in immigrant Buddhism, like laity in Asia, don't engage in meditation --a practice for the ascetic monks who are imitating the Buddha's lifestyle of


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renunciation. They don't expect to become enlightened beings like the Buddha; theyjust want the Buddha to help them make it through this life and into bettercircumstances in the next. This kind of old-time Buddhism doesn't often get into theAmerican media and doesn't attract many converts from outside the ethnic group.There are, however, a few interesting groups that have managed to bridge the ethnicdivide. Most notable is the Nichiren Shoshu of America (NSA) or Soka Gakkai, theAmerican offspring of a large Japanese Buddhist lay movement. The Americanorganization is very large, with centers throughout the country, and the ethnicmakeup is diverse, mixing together not only Japanese and Euro-Americans but alsomany African-American converts. NSA is almost the only form of Buddhism that hassignificantly penetrated into the America that lies beyond the affluent, educatedclasses. Perhaps in part for this reason, it is typically ignored or dismissed by otherBuddhists. More commonly, in those congregations where the clerical leadership hasattracted a convert following from outside the ethnic group, it is quite usual forparallel programs to develop -- one for the ethnic community, based on traditional

Asian Buddhist lay beliefs and practices, another for the mostly Euro-Americanconverts that emphasizes their interest in the philosophical doctrines and spiritualpractices traditionally left to the religious specialists or professionals.The three basic forms of American Buddhism -- Zen, Vajrayana, and Vipassana --represent only a small fraction of the various forms of Buddhism actually present inAmerica. In fact, they exclude most of the forms followed by the immigrant Buddhistpopulation that makes up the majority of Buddhists in this country. But they are theforms that have most appealed to convert Buddhists and the Buddhist sympathizersfrom whom most converts are drawn. Of these three forms, Zen is undoubtedly thebest known. Zen Buddhism developed in medieval China and then spreadthroughout East Asia to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. It is by far the oldest and mostsuccessful form of Buddhism in America, introduced around the turn of the 20thcentury, discussed in both popular and academic books, and, at least since the Zenboom of the 1960s, widely practiced in many centers throughout the country. Inrecent decades, there have been popular Zen teachers from China, Korea, andVietnam, but American Zen is dominated by styles imported from Japan (hence, theJapanese name "Zen"). The American versions are typically a package of traditionalforms of monastic practice wrapped in western philosophy and psychology. Thispackage was first developed by Japanese intellectuals in early 20th-century Japan,in response to their study of western ideas. Thus, the religion was already

"prepackaged" for export to the West -- a fact that does much to explain its popularityhere.Some of the Zen organizations are very small -- just little meditation clubs meeting atsomeone's home. Some are quite large and include a network of residentialmeditation centers, monasteries, and businesses. Whether large or small, the focusis typically on lay meditation practice. In its early years, Zen groups often formedaround Asian meditation teachers who were given almost complete authority overthe group. But as they have matured and leadership has fallen to the convertsthemselves, the groups have increasingly taken on a more Protestant style:egalitarian and antiauthoritarian, with relatively little distinction between clerical and

lay roles. In the process, women have increasingly moved into leadership roles.


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To the right of the Zen groups are the organizations devoted to Vajrayana Buddhism.These represent a more recent development, largely of the last two or threedecades. They are the result of the Tibetan diaspora, after the flight of the DalaiLama to India in 1959, that led to the appearance of Tibetan monks in the West.Although this Tibetan Buddhism has attracted more or less the same segment of

American society looking for more or less the same spiritual results, its religious styleis rather different from Zen. Because it has arrived quite suddenly and recently,brought by monks steeped in the old ways of Tibetan culture and largely innocent ofmodern western values, it still retains more of the "raw" flavor of Tibetan religion. Ittends to have a more "Catholic" feel, with a sharper division between monks andlaymen; a greater emphasis on ritual practices of worship, chanting, initiation rites,healing, and empowerment ceremonies; and a less critical acceptance of traditionalBuddhist scholasticism and the mystical theologies and cosmologies developed inmedieval India and Tibet.While modern Japanese Zen has the advantage of looking familiar, Tibetan

Vajrayana has the lure of the exotic. Where Zen has appealed to Americans as akind of this-worldly asceticism, Tibetan Buddhism has the attraction of other worlds --of a distant pure land of Shangri-la beyond the Himalayas and the reach ofinternational capitalism, an ancient magical realm of the spirit that preceded themodern disenchantment of the world. How this style of Buddhism will adapt toAmerica, after Americans have become bored with Tibetan politics and leadership ofthe groups has passed to the American converts, remains one of the moreinteresting questions in the future of Buddhism in America.If Tibetan Vajrayana is to [the] right of Zen, Vipassana is to the left. This style is alsoquite recent and growing rapidly. Its name comes from a Pali word meaning"observation" or "discernment," and it refers to certain forms of Buddhist meditation.The Vipassana movement represents a modern adaptation of traditional meditationpractice to lay life. The movement began in Burma around the beginning of the 20thcentury. It is promulgated in America not by Burmese, but by American converts tothe movement -- especially by the Insight Meditation Society.Vipassana is the style of American Buddhism that has gone the farthest in breakingits ties with the Asian Buddhist tradition and adapting the religion to a secularAmerican context. Although there are some residential Vipassana centers, thecharacteristic emphasis is on individual meditation practice in the home,

supplemented by short retreats at the centers -- very much a "do-it-yourself" form ofspirituality. Vipassana groups typically do not have a clerical leadership. They lackmost forms of traditional Buddhist worship and depend little on the categories andvocabulary of traditional Buddhist theology. Instead, they often draw heavily on theconcepts and techniques of American psychology -- especially the types known astranspersonal psychology and the Human Potential Movement.Of all the forms of Buddhism in America, Vipassana comes closest toinstitutionalizing the notion of Buddhism as a nonreligious spiritual resource. And infact, Vipassana teachings are now beginning to find their way into such best-sellingbooks as Daniel Goleman's EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE and Jon Kabat-Zinn's

FULL CATASTROPHE LIVING. In such books, Buddhism, even Vipassana itself,has almost completely disappeared, submerged in a spiritual soup in which the


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Asian religion of Buddhism has been so fully blended into American culture that wemay no longer be able to speak of it either as "Asian" or as "religion." It will beinteresting to watch what will happen to this "nonreligious" Buddhist spirituality as theVipassana movement grows into national organizations.-----------------* Donald K. Swearer is the Charles & Harriet Cox McDowell Professor ofReligion at Swarthmore College:Buddhism in America is characterized by a very broad sectarian, ethnic, and culturaldiversity. Distinctions such as convert versus immigrant Buddhism or Americanversus Asian Buddhism necessarily gloss over this diversity. Even within a singleBuddhist sectarian tradition, such as Japanese Jodo Shinshu (the BuddhistChurches of America), individual churches will vary considerably depending on thenature of the congregation. Among South and Southeast Asian Theravada groups,

those that have been here the longest, such as the Washington, D.C. BuddhistVihara (Sinhalese/Sri Lanka) (http://www.buddhistvihara.com), have tended to adaptto the American cultural environment more than recent arrivals, such as the Thai,Lao, and Khmer. Among first-generation Southeast Asian immigrants, many of whomcame as refugees, Buddhist temples serve as important social/cultural centers, "safespaces" in an alien cultural environment.The Buddhist traditions that have most influenced the development of AmericanBuddhism during the past fifty years are Zen, Tibetan Buddhism as mediatedthrough such popularizers as Trungpa Rinpoche, and more recently TheravadaVipassana meditation. The diversity of Buddhist expressions in America in particular,and the West more generally, is a unique chapter in the history of Buddhism.Buddhist sectarianism and its development in different cultural traditions are nothingnew, so in a sense, we're witnessing a new version of an old story. How this diversitywill sort itself out in the coming decades remains to be seen. Culturally distinctiveforms of immigrant Buddhism will gradually change and adapt if they are to survive,but these distinctive traditions will not be replaced by a lowest-common-denominator,"shopping-basket" Buddhism either.Whatever its forms, Buddhism will become an increasingly important part of theAmerican landscape. Religious ecumenism in this country will be seen more and

more not simply in terms of Protestant, Catholic, and Jew, but Buddhism, Hindu,Muslim, Santeria, and other traditions as well. Interreligious dialogue, I hope, willpromote better understanding among diverse religious traditions that are beingwoven into the American social fabric.-----------------* Wendy Cadge is a Ph.D. candidate in the sociology department at PrincetonUniversity:The divide between Asians and non-Asians is often described as one of the main

characteristics of Buddhism in America. While this has often been the case, thecurrent picture is considerably more complex.


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The majority of Asian Buddhists attend Asian temples and non-Asian Buddhists go tomeditation centers, but there are important exceptions to this pattern. Across theUnited States, Asians and non-Asians share space in Theravada Buddhistorganizations. (This is the kind of Buddhism that comes out of Southeast Asia, and itis different from Tibetan Buddhism or the Mahayana Buddhism of China and Japan.)In his book OLD WISDOM IN THE NEW WORLD: AMERICANIZATION IN TWOIMMIGRANT THERAVADA BUDDHIST TEMPLES, Paul D. Numrich describes aThai temple in Chicago and a Sri Lankan temple in Los Angeles where "parallelcongregations" of Asian and non-Asian Buddhists gather in the same place underthe guidance of the same monks, though at different times to practice differentrituals. Such parallel congregations are not uncommon. At Wat Thai in Washington,D.C., for example, Vietnamese Buddhistmeditation classes in English, offered threenights a week, are attended by 30 non-Thai people. At Thai temples in NorthCarolina and Washington State, Asians and non-Asians are beginning to attendmeditation classes and weekend services together, and teachings are given in both

Thai and English. Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, a community of white monasticsin Redwood Valley, California, is supported by lay Asian and non-Asian Buddhistsalike, as is Metta Forest Monastery, a Thai temple near San Diego led by American-born Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Asian and non-Asian monks live together at some U.S.Buddhist temples. At Ammayatarama Buddhist Monastery in Seattle, for example,two Thai monks and two American-born monks are in residence.And across the country some Asians do visit the meditation centers that are attendedprimarily by non-Asian Buddhists. In Massachusetts, the Vipassana MeditationCenter has begun to facilitate the visits of non-English speakers by offering retreatsin Khmer, Hindi, and Chinese.In interviews, both Asians and non-Asians often report coming to Buddhist practiceand Buddhist organizations in the United States in response to stressful life events.Many Asians and non-Asians alike practice Buddhism privately at home, as well ascommunally in temples or meditation centers. While Asians are more likely to chantor pray and non-Asians are more likely to meditate, there is quite a bit of overlap intheir practices and their commitment to the Buddha, the dharma, the sangha, andthe four noble truths that underlies the practices. Further in-depth research aboutspecific Buddhist groups in the United States may uncover more similarities betweenAsian and non-Asian Buddhists than are evident in current thinking about Buddhism

in America.

-----------------* Jan Nattier is associate professor of Buddhism at Indiana University atBloomington:Buddhism -- like most other religions in America -- includes a tremendous diversity ofbeliefs, practices, and cultural styles.American Buddhism includes the wealthy and the poor, single people and

multigeneration families, immigrants with advanced technical degrees, and refugeeswho can barely communicate in English. It includes those whose Buddhism


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emphasizes the importance of living a moral life and those who view moral rules astoo constraining, those who consider contributing to the monastic community("making merit") to be a central Buddhist practice and those who focus exclusivelyon meditation. It includes those who believe that our actions (in Buddhistterminology, our "karma") determine what our next incarnation will be and those who

believe that this life is all there is. American Buddhism, in short, resembles Americanreligion in general: its most striking feature is its variety.But what sets Buddhism apart from other American religions -- at the presenthistorical moment, at any rate -- is that the overwhelming majority of its membersbelong to two rather unusual groups. On the one hand are recent converts toBuddhism who are mostly of non-Asian ancestry; on the other are recent Asianimmigrants to America, many of whose families have been Buddhist for generations.American Buddhists at the dawn of the twenty-first century are thus almost all new inone way or another: either they are Americans who are new to Buddhism or they areBuddhists who are new to America.It has not always been this way. As recently as 1960, the overwhelming majority ofAmerican Buddhists -- at that time a tiny minority on the American religious scene --were second- and third-generation Asian Americans, mostly of Japanese ancestry.But with the liberalization of American immigration policy in 1965 and the youthrebellion that swept the globe in the late 1960s, this situation underwent a dramaticchange. Buddhists from Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, and East Asia poured into theUnited States in record numbers.Meanwhile, the anti-establishment attitudes that spread across college campuses inthe late 1960s led to scathing critiques of many of the central features of westerncivilization, leaving young Americans far more receptive than before to thingsnonwestern (including nonwestern religions, above all Buddhism). AmericanBuddhism as we know it today is largely a product of these two simultaneous culturalchanges, which brought thousands of Asian Buddhists into America and thousandsof non-Asian Americans into Buddhism.These two contingents, needless to say, have not always seen eye to eye. Newconverts to Buddhism -- like new converts to any religion -- have for the most partbeen young, single, and idealistic, and they have often viewed those who areBuddhist by heritage as less religiously devoted than themselves. Post-1965

immigrants to America, by contrast, have generally arrived not as individuals but asfamilies. They are less prone to single-minded religious fervor and more concernedwith passing on their cultural heritage to the next generation, including not onlyBuddhism but other values and practices as well. To the extent that they are awareof these new (first-generation) Buddhists at all, heritage Buddhists have tended toview their single-minded religious enthusiasm as excessive. In particular, the newadherents' sometimes self-righteous pronouncements on what true Buddhism shouldbe do not sit well with families that have been Buddhist for generations. NewBuddhists, for their part, have often been impatient with the more worldly concerns ofheritage Buddhists struggling to adapt to a new language, a new educational system,and a new job market in their adopted land.


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But to portray these two groups as polar opposites is to tell only part of the story, forthere is great diversity within them as well. New Buddhists include not only thosewho focus on meditation (drawing primarily from Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, and theTheravada school of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia) but also those who focus onchanting (a practice disseminated in the United States primarily by a Japanese lay

organization known as Soka Gakkai International). While participants in the formerare generally well educated (and overwhelmingly, though not exclusively,Caucasian), Soka Gakkai members come from all educational and economic levelsand a wide range of ethnic backgrounds. A visitor who attends a Zen meditationsession on Thursday and a Soka Gakkai meeting on Friday would see almost nosimilarity between them.The diversity among heritage Buddhists is at least as great. A temple built by SriLankan professionals may hold its services in English and offer separate sessionsfor meditation and the study of Buddhist scriptures. A temple founded by Laotianrefugees, by contrast, may feature traditional merit-making ceremonies, classes in

English (and in Lao, lest the children forget their heritage), and job-networkingservices. Members of a Thai temple chant Buddhist texts in the traditional Palilanguage, while Japanese Buddhists sing hymns accompanied by an organ.Temples that include recent immigrants from a single country but of widely differentsocial backgrounds have sometimes suffered from schism as a result of the verydifferent needs and religious preferences of their membership.Will these differences continue? There is every reason to think so, for there are deepdivides even in religions that have been established in this country for centuries. Justas a working-class Pentecostal and an upper middle-class Episcopalian understandChristianity in very different ways, and just as a Reform Jew and a member of aHasidic community envision very different types of Judaism, so Buddhists of diversesocial, ethnic, and sectarian backgrounds are likely to continue to participate in andcreate quite distinct communities. But there is a difference. The major monotheisticreligions of the Middle East -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- all share, on somelevel, the idea that there is a single correct way to be a Jew or a Christian or aMuslim. And both Christianity and Islam make the additional claim that all peopleshould adhere to these teachings. But with Buddhism this is not the case. On thecontrary, a central theme in Buddhism from its earliest days is that differentteachings and practices are appropriate for different people. In addition, the fact thatBuddhism assumes multiple lifetimes implies that there is no ultimate urgency to "get

it right" this time around. Though the prospect of a nearly infinite series of rebirths isgenerally viewed with dread rather than fascination in Asian Buddhist societies, thisscenario still serves to undercut the tendency toward one-lifetime fundamentalism. Ifan individual does not succeed in achieving liberation from the cycle of death andrebirth in this lifetime, he or she will have another chance in the next.While this implies a certain doctrinal flexibility, it does not mean that particularBuddhist communities see no difference between themselves and other Buddhistgroups. Individual differences -- ranging from the language in which services areconducted to the form of ritual and social activities to styles of dress and even tastesin food -- are stark. A Cambodian Buddhist who happens upon a service being held

by Japanese American Buddhists would see little that strikes her as Buddhist, while


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a Thai Buddhist layman would find the imagery of a Chinese Buddhist temple foreignindeed.Given this great diversity, there have been some attempts in recent years to findareas of consensus among Buddhist groups: to participate in an annual ecumenical

ritual, for example, or even to establish a list of common beliefs and values that canbe shared by all. Ironically, though, much of the drive for such ecumenism has comenot from Asian-American Buddhists but from new Buddhists of non-Asian ancestry.And these ecumenical moves -- while often based on a genuine desire to establish abroader community -- have been accompanied by criticisms of many of the practicesof particular Asian Buddhist groups as mere cultural baggage. It is worth consideringthe possibility that such attempts at establishing unanimity reflect a western(especially Christian) need for consensus, not traditional Buddhist values.Be that as it may, one thing seems certain: that American Buddhism will continue tochange. As refugees and immigrants from Asia become acclimated to their new

environment, certain changes in the style of Buddhist practice are inevitable. (Eventhe custom of holding meetings on Sundays, for example, is unknown in AsianBuddhist societies and is borrowed from Christian practice.) Likewise, as newBuddhists grow older and begin to raise children, the question of whether and how topass on their Buddhist values to a new generation will arise. (The fact that many ofthese Buddhists see their practice more as a form of individual self-transformationthan as a religion has made them reluctant, in many cases, to give their children anyreligious education at all; for the same reason, they are not always happy with theterm "convert" that I have used above.)In sum, the fact that both new arrivals and new Buddhists are faced with significantchallenges of adaptation makes it virtually certain that the beliefs and practices ofboth groups will continue to change. Is this a problem? Not necessarily, for one ofthe core teachings of Buddhism -- found in all Buddhist cultures, including those ofNorth America -- is that all conditioned things are subject to change. With admirableconsistency, Buddhists have applied this dictum to the institutional forms of their ownreligious tradition, even predicting (in a number of scriptures contained in theBuddhist canon) that Buddhism as we know it will eventually disappear. No suchdisappearance seems evident on the American scene at the moment, however. Amore likely scenario, for the immediate future, is that a colorful -- and constantlychanging -- array of Buddhist groups will continue to enrich the American religious

landscape.

-----------------* Charles S. Prebish is professor of religious studies at Pennsylvania StateUniversity:To make sense of the many and seemingly conflicting Buddhisms currently onAmerican soil, five key issues need to be examined:1. Ethnicity: Of the estimated 3 to 4 million Buddhists in the United States, the vast

majority are Asian Americans. Only 800,000 are American converts. In recent years,


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the relationship between the two Buddhist communities has become extremelytenuous, and any potential for future cooperation remains highly uncertain.2. Practice: There is no disagreement among researchers that Asian immigrantBuddhist communities and American convert communities engage in significantly

different Buddhist practices. With the exception of those who have taken up thepractices of Soka Gakkai, American converts' almost exclusive focus on meditationhas created conflict with and concern in some Asian immigrant communities. Agrowing chasm is emerging, one that also reinforces problematic ethnic distinctions.It is still necessary, though, to ask what constitutes a truly balanced and completeBuddhist practice? Stephen Batchelor, the author of BUDDHISM WITHOUTBELIEFS, is one of the few scholar-practitioners who identifies Buddhist spiritualpractice and applied Buddhist ethics as interpenetrating and complementary. "Ethicsfrom this perspective," he says, "is seen as a set of values and precepts that supportone's practice." He offers the most reasonable methodology for a Buddhist practicethat is integrated and comprehensive.3. Democratization: The democratization of Buddhism in America is evident in threeessential aspects of American Buddhist communities. First, it is apparent in changingpatterns of authority in various Buddhist sanghas, highlighted by a reevaluation ofthe nature of the relationship between monastic and lay communities. Second, it canbe witnessed in changing gender roles, especially the prominence of women inAmerican Buddhism. Finally, it can be seen in the manner in which individualspursuing a nontraditional lifestyle, particularly with regard to sexual preferences, arefinding a meaningful role in American Buddhist communities. As a result of thisdemocratizing process, American Buddhism has moved away from the hierarchicalpatterns of Asian Buddhism toward an egalitarianism that is more consistent withAmerican democracy.4. Social engagement: Socially engaged Buddhism applies to a wide variety ofhuman rights issues, such as antiviolence and environmental concerns, and to thelives of individual Buddhists living "in the world." Perhaps the greatest challenge forsocially engaged Buddhism in the West is organizational, but an exciting array ofactivities can already be documented in the records of individual American Buddhistcommunities. The socially engaged Buddhist movement in the United Statesrepresents a radical yet creative re-visioning of traditional Buddhist approaches tosocietal issues, and as it gains in maturity, it promises to permeate the American

Buddhist environment.

5. Adaptation: Some North American Buddhists are concerned about the implicationsof modifying or altering Buddhist tradition in the name of adaptation. Victor SogenHori, a Canadian Rinzai Zen priest and academic professor, for example, hascriticized the ritual life, methods of teaching and learning, social organization, andmeditation practice in Japanese and American Zen. He concludes that "the call foran Americanization of Buddhism is unnecessary. Every attempt by Americans tocomprehend Zen intellectually and to implement it in practice has already contributedto its Americanization. What Americans have been practicing for the last severaldecades is already Americanized Zen."


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Finally, many Buddhist leaders emphasize the importance of ecumenism inAmerican Buddhism. The underlying hope seems to be that an ecumenical attitudewill function as a protective umbrella under which issues of ethnicity, practice,democratization, engagement, and adaptation may be addressed in a constructiveand productive fashion. There have been some preliminary attempts at implementing

this approach, but so far most have not been very successful.Because America affords the first occasion in history for every Buddhist school fromevery Asian tradition to exist together in one place at the same time, it is likely thatthe following issues will emerge as key factors in the development of AmericanBuddhism in the next century:1. Dharma without dogma2. A lay-oriented sangha3. A meditation-based and experiential tradition4. Gender equality5. A nonsectarian tradition6. A simplified tradition7. An egalitarian, democratic, and nonhierarchical tradition8. A psychologically astute and rational tradition

9. An experimental, innovative, inquiry-based tradition10. A socially informed and engaged traditionTheologian Harvey Cox has written: "Few faiths ever escape modification when theycollide or interact with others. Most profit from such encounters." As we try tounderstand how Buddhism will become American, we impatiently expect that theprocess is already complete. But American Buddhism is still growing, changing, andadapting. The most astute contributors to the new literature and emerging

commentary on American Buddhism counsel that it is through the process itself thatacculturation and adaptation occur.www.PBS.orghttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week445/cover.html

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The Direction of Buddhism in America today.docx