Richard Hughes Seager is professor of religious studies at Hamilton College and the author of Encountering the Dharma; 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.
摘要
Over the past half century in America, Buddhism has grown from a transplanted philosophy to a full-fledged religious movement, rich in its own practices, leaders, adherents, and institutions. Long favored as an essential guide to this history, Buddhism in America covers the three major groups that shape the tradition—an emerging Asian immigrant population, native-born converts, and old-line Asian American Buddhists—and their distinct, yet spiritually connected efforts to remake Buddhism in a Western context.
This edition updates existing text and adds three new essays on contemporary developments in American Buddhism, particularly the aging of the baby boom population and its effect on American Buddhism's modern character. New material includes revised information on the full range of communities profiled in the first edition; an added study of a second generation of young, Euro-American leaders and teachers; an accessible look at the increasing importance of meditation and neurobiological research; and a provocative consideration of the mindfulness movement in American culture. The volume maintains its detailed account of South and East Asian influences on American Buddhist practices, as well as instances of interreligious dialogue, socially activist Buddhism, and complex gender roles within the community. Introductory chapters describe Buddhism's arrival in America with the nineteenth-century transcendentalists and rapid spread with the Beat poets of the 1950s. The volume now concludes with a frank assessment of the challenges and prospects of American Buddhism in the twenty-first century.
目次
Introduction ix Part One: Background Introduction 3 Chapter 1. The American Buddhist Landscape 9 Chapter 2. Very Basic Buddhism 18 Chapter 3. The Three Vehicles 27 Chapter 4. The American Setting 39 Part Two: Major Traditions Introduction 57 Chapter 5. Jodo Shinshu: America's Old-Line Buddhists 73 Chapter 6. Soka Gakkai and Its Nichiren Humanism 92 Chapter 7. Zen and Its Flagship Institutions 112 Chapter 8. The Tibetan Milieu 135 Chapter 9. The Theravada Spectrum 158 Chapter 10. Other Pacific Rim Migrations 180 Part Three: Selected Issues Introduction 207 Chapter 11. Gender Equity 217 Chapter 12. Socially Engaged Buddhism 233 Chapter 13. Intra-Buddhist and Interreligious Dialogue 248 Chapter 14. Making Some Sense of Americanization 264 Profiles 281 Chronology 299 Notes 305 Glossary 315 Resources for the Study of American Buddhism 321 Index 333