Describing the Elephant: Buddhism in America

The expanding volume of publications on Buddhism in America in the last two and a half decades bears witness to the emergence of an exciting new subŽeld within American religion, on the one hand, and within Buddhist studies, on the other. For Americanists, it reects a growing recognition of the ways in which non-Western religions are altering the American religious landscape. As such, it is part of an emerging awareness of the increasingly pluralistic and multicultural nature of American society at the turn of the millennium. For Buddhologists, the spread of Buddhism in America opens a new chapter in the long history of the geographical and cultural diffusion of the religion since its founding in India some 2,500 years ago. This new subŽeld thus holds the prospect of studying what promises to be a momentous development in the history of Buddhism, and it affords an opportunity to study the acculturation of the tradition as it is actually occurring. Clearly this is a Želd where both Americanists and Buddhologists have much to contribute and much to learn from one another. For Americanists and Buddhologists alike (not to mention Buddhists), it also raises questions of what it means to be a “Buddhist” and what it means to be an “American.” The overwhelming majority of the books on Buddhism in America is produced by and geared toward an American audience with a personal interest in Buddhism. Indeed, Buddhist publication has become a minor industry in the last two decades. These works include translations of Buddhist texts authoritative for traditions being transplanted to the West and presentations of Buddhism by contemporary Asian and American Buddhist teachers, not to mention an array of journals and newsletters whose production ranges from slick and professional to homey and in-house. Although many of these publications speak to the concerns of an American audience and represent important primary documents for the study of Buddhism in America, most lack the kind of critical, analytical, and historical perspective that is the hallmark of more self-consciously academic