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Buddhism: The American Experience

The Scene TodayDuring the 1990s, Phil Jackson coached the Chicago Bulls to six National Basketball Association championships in what was likely the most impressive team sports achievement of the decade. In that same decade Richard Gere emerged as a film superstar, making no less than thirteen films, including the highly acclaimed “Pretty Woman.” Tina Turnerʼs “Whatʼs Love Got To Do With It,” was only one of her ten albums of the 1990s. What do these three profoundly different individuals, from highly diverse backgrounds, and in very different professions, have in common? Theyʼre all Buddhists . . . and they have been for a very long time.

No matter where one looks today in America, Buddhism seems to be emerging from between the cracks. Not long ago, Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys sponsored a series of “Concerts for a Free Tibet” as an expression of his personal commitment to Buddhism. Detective Tim Bayliss, played by Kyle Secor, on TVʼs popular “Homicide” series was a practicing Zen Buddhist. And even Lisa Simpson stumbled upon the Springfield Buddhist Temple in an episode of “The Simpsons.” That Americans are becoming important in Buddhismʼs globalization can be seen in movies like the 1994 film “Little Buddha,” in which an American boy is identified as the reincarnation of a Tibetan Buddhist monk or “lama.”

Twenty-five years ago there was one college level course devoted to the study

of “American Buddhism.” Now there are at least dozens, and possibly even hundreds. Twenty-five years ago there

were no more than a few hundred thousand Buddhists in the United States. Now there are at least several million, and perhaps as many as six million.

Before we begin our journey through the complex religious phenomenon of Buddhismʼs growth and development in its new American setting, we need to consider at least a bit of some preliminary information on the Buddhist religion. Who was the Buddha? What did he preach? What was his religious community like? How did it grow after his death? Only then can we begin to see how it got here, how it has changed us . . . and how we have changed it.

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