Week 3: Mahayana in the US: Asian-American Buddhism and Zen

Mahayana is the "northern" route in the evolution of Buddhism which develops first in China, then from there, about 500 years later, into Korea and finally Japan. Fifteen or so centuries later, Buddhism arrives in the US in the middle of the 19th century through Chinese and Japanese immigrant communities primarily in Hawai'i (an independent country "annexed" by the US in 1898) and California (annexed in 1848...see a pattern here?) where Chinese labor was used extensively in the construction of railroads, and Japanese later immigrating to develop Californian agriculture. While this immigration was severely restricted by later laws (1882, 1917) the existing communities were able, against formidable odds such as Japanese-American internment during WWII, to establish a robust system of Buddhist institutions, largely in the Mahayana tradition, and specifically Chinese and Japanese "Pure Land" approaches.

Mostly though not completely ignoring these communities, starting in the 1950s Japanese Zen gained an substantial White following, notably (or "notoriously", depending on your perspective) through the "Beat Zen" of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and others. This view of Zen has persisted in US popular culture—one can order "Zenburgers", and no, they aren't vegetarian— while at the same time more orthodox Zen approaches have proliferated and established long-standing institutions, including some of the best-known U.S. Buddhist efforts in social work. In practice, the "Beat Zen" approach is gradually being replaced by various orthodox lineages, as well as interest in Zen's Chinese predecessor, Chan.

Suggested reading:

Link to slides from talk (pdf file)

Link to rough outline for the talk (pdf file)

Other resources

Lion's Roar and Tricycle are both belatedly catching up to the fact that elite White convert sanghas have ignored the Asian-American experience,

Podcasts