Synopses & Reviews
With a history stretching back to ancient India, Buddhism has influenced American culture since the American Transcendentalist movement in the 1830s and ´40s. Only in the past few decades, however, has this transplanted philosophy begun to blossom into a full-fledged American religion, made up of three broad groups: a burgeoning Asian immigrant population, numerous native-born converts, and old-line Asian American Buddhists. In
Buddhism in America, religious historian Richard Seager offers a perceptive and engaging portrait of the communities, institutions, practices, and individuals that are integral to the contemporary Buddhist landscape.
The book begins with a brief survey of Buddhist beliefs the story of the Buddha´s life, the meaning of enlightenment, realization, the cultivation of nonattachment, and other core concepts and Buddhist history in both Asia and the United States. In part 2, Seager presents six well-crafted profiles of Buddhist traditions that have been brought to the United States from Japan, Tibet, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere. This section highlights challenges and problems that have come with transporting and adapting an Asian religion to late twentieth-century America: Who can teach and who can lead? What are the proper roles of laypeople and monks in a society lacking a strong monastic tradition?
The last section takes up the general theme of Americanization, looking at recent developments in three important areas gender equity, progressive social change, and intra-Buddhist and interreligious dialogue. Arguing that the gulf between recent converts and new immigrant communities is the most prominent feature of the contemporary scene, Seager assesses American Buddhism as a whole and looks into its future: Will the dharma, traditional Buddhist teachings, be watered down to suit the lifestyles of middle-class, consumerist Americans? Will this highly decentralized religion develop strong national associations, as Catholicism and Judaism have? What institutions universities, monasteries, or dharma centers run by and for laypeople will be most effective in preserving and developing an American Buddhist tradition? This lucid survey lays the foundations for understanding one of the United States´ most vital new religions.
Review
"The first comprehensive treatment of Buddhism in America to take seriously the experiences of immigrants, Buddhism in America is a fascinating road map to the contemporary Buddhist landscape, with Seager as the expert guide." Stephen Prothero, author of The White Buddhist
Review
"[Columbia University] Press continues to bring excellent scholarship to the general reader with this outstanding study of American Buddhism." Jana Reiss, Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Beginning with a brief introduction to Buddhist beliefs and history in both Asia and the United States, Seager then presents six profiles of Buddhist traditions exported to the United States from Japan, Tibet, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere. The last section considers Americanization and recent developments in gender equity, progressive social change, and intra-Buddhist and interreligious dialogue.
About the Author
Richard Hughes Seager is associate professor of religious studies at Hamilton College and is the author of The World´s Parliament of Religions: The East-West Encounter, Chicago, 1893 and Dawn of Religious Pluralism: Voices from the World´s Parliament of Religions.
Table of Contents
One: Background
1. The American Buddhist Landscape
2. Very Basic Buddhism
3. The Three Vehicles
4. The American Setting
Two: Major Traditions
5. Jodo Shinshu: America's Old-Line Buddhists
6. Soka Gakkai and Its Nichiren Humanism
7. Zen and Its Flagship Institutions
8. The Tibetan Milieu
9. The Theravada Spectrum
10. Other Pacific Rim Migrations
Three: Selected Issues
11. Gender Equity
12. Socially Engaged Buddhism
13. Intra-Buddhist and Interreligious Dialogue
14. Making Some Sense of Americanization