Charles Prebish's Articles on Lions Roar

Charles Prebish, a leading chronicler of Buddhism in the West, surveys some of the many choices open to the would-be Buddhist practitioner. "Things sure have changed." In the Summer of 2001, while visiting my boyhood home in a predominantly Jewish suburb of Chicago, I decided to drive by my old high school. Directly across the street, much to my surprise, was a rather prosperous looking Korean Zen center. It was located only a few doors from what used to be a small restaurant where I spent many happy lunch-hours wolfing down cheeseburgers and sneaking Marlboros. Not far away were the Chicago Zen Center, the Kubose Dharma Legacy, the Lakeside Buddhist Sangha, the Dhammaka Meditation Center of Chicago, the Chicago Shambhala Center and the Buddhist Council of the Midwest. This was a far cry from my early days of mapping American Buddhist communities in the 1970’s. Then I was always very careful to telephone groups before I visited to make sure they were still there. As often as not, I got the "Sorry, this number has been disconnected" message. Back then, dharma-hopping from community to community was almost a sport, and it seemed like Buddhist groups came and went faster than franchise restaurants. To be sure, the world of Buddhist practice in America has changed a lot since 1970. Now when I want to locate a center I simply consult one of the many on-line Buddhist community locators. The challenge now is not to count how few Buddhist centers and teachers there are, but how many. So how does the beginning, would-be Buddhist practitioner sort out what’s available today? What traditions and practice lineages can be found? Which communities have lasted the longest? Which teachers, Asian and Western, have had the most impact on American Buddhism? Do Asian immigrant Buddhists and American convert Buddhists go to the same centers? Are there any special resources and communities for Buddhists chanters, or gay Buddhists or social activists? With the exception of those American converts who have taken up the chanting practice of Soka Gakkai, the consensus is that American converts to Buddhism gravitate toward the various meditative traditions of Zen, Vajrayana and Vipassana, while Asian immigrant Buddhists maintain practices coincident with ritual activity or Pure Land observance, depending on the nature of the parent tradition. But prospective Buddhist practitioners can find virtually every Buddhist sect, from every Asian Buddhist tradition, present on the North American continent. In fact, the field of American Buddhism is so large now that a single magazine piece can only offer an overview, so please excuse any omissions. Ethnic Buddhists. The oldest Buddhist tradition in the United States is Buddhist Churches of America, a Japanese Pure Land sect that has been here for more than a century. With headquarters in San Francisco, BCA at last count had about 50,000 members, almost exclusively Japanese-Americans, who constitute what Richard Seager calls "America's old-line Buddhists." There are currently about 60 temples, of which 44 are in California and 5 in Washington state. There are many other ethnic Asian Buddhist communities in the United States, most notably Chinese monastic communities such as the Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, California, which is the largest Buddhist monastic complex outside of Asia, and the Buddhist Association of the United States, founded in 1964 in New York. Ethnic Theravada communities from Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam are generally located in major cities and provide a rich resource base for the religious practice of their constituents. Zen. Don Morreale reported in his Complete Guide to Buddhist America that the number of North American Buddhist meditation groups grew from 429 in 1987 to 1,362 in 1997. No growth was more dramatic than that of the Zen tradition. Although Zen exploded onto the American Buddhist scene following the popularity of the Beat movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s, Zen has been present on American soil almost as long as Pure Land. Following the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, a veritable parade of Zen teachers appeared over the next several decades, including Shaku Soen, D.T. Suzuki, Nyogen Senzaki, Shaku Sokatsu and Sokei-an. By mid-century, both the Soto and Rinzai lineages were thriving, and shortly thereafter, they were joined by the Sanbyo Kyodan tradition, which utilizes both Rinzai and Soto techniques. The list of Zen teachers who have established themselves here in the last fifty years is long and significant, populated by many exemplary teachers from China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, with large followings from coast to coast. Zen schools such as the Kwan Um School of Zen, founded by Seung Sahn Sunim in Providence; Dai Bosatsu Zendo, founded by Eido Tai Shimano Roshi in the Catskills; the Diamond Sangha, founded by Robert Aitken Roshi in Hawaii in 1961, and the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, founded by Jiyu Kennett Roshi in northern California, have been enormously successful. However, no Zen communities have had as much impact as those begun by Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi at the Zen Center of Los Angeles, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi at the San Francisco Zen Center, and Philip Kapleau at the Zen Center of Rochester. Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi arrived in Los Angeles in 1956. By 1967 he had established the Zen Center of Los Angeles, which by 1980 had over 200 students. He founded an association of his students known as the "White Plum Sangha," which became formally incorporated after his death in 1995. Wendy Egyoku Nakao Sensei is the current abbot of ZCLA. Many of Maezumi Roshi's dharma heirs in the White Plum Sangha have established their own centers throughout the United States and Europe. Most notable of his dharma descendants are Roshi Bernard Tetsugen Glassman (Maezumi Roshi's most senior student), founder of the Zen Peacemaker Order; Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi, founder of the Kanzeon Sangha in Utah; Jan Chozen Bays Roshi, founder of the Zen Community of Oregon, and John Daido Loori Roshi, the recently deceased founder of Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, New York. In 1995, I visited Zen Mountain Monastery for the first time. Although I'd known Daido Roshi somewhat, we'd never spent any significant time together. Much to my surprise, Daido spent the entire day with me, walking the many acres of ZMM, leafing through the library in the abbacy, sitting in the zendo, playing with the computers, and talking Buddhism. In all my travels, I'd never been treated more hospitably in any Buddhist center. Several years later, during a forum at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., I reminded Daido Roshi of that magnificent day. I told him how much his warmth and guidance had meant to both my study and my practice, and how much I'd clung to the recollection of that visit. Daido looked a bit perplexed, scratched his bald head, and leaned over and whispered to me, "Chuck, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I don't remember your visit at all." Although he later explained that he simply has a bad memory, I learned a lot about my own craving and grasping and expectations that day. Authentic teachers always find simple ways to teach important lessons. Shunryu Suzuki Roshi arrived in San Francisco in 1959 and established the San Francisco Zen Center in 1961. Tassajara Hot Springs—the first Buddhist training monastery outside of Asia—opened in 1967. Upon Suzuki Roshi's death in 1971, his dharma heir Zentatsu Richard Baker was installed as abbot, one of the first Western students trained by an Asian master to become a Roshi. Among Suzuki Roshi's famous students are Dainin Katagiri Roshi, who died in 1009, Tenshin Reb Anderson, and Sohun Mel Weitsman. Zoketsu Norman Fischer and Zenkei Blanche Hartman have also served as abbots of SFZC. Philip Kapleau, the first American student of Hakuun Yasutani Roshi, founded the Rochester Zen Center in 1966 after returning from a long training period in Japan. Kapleau Roshi was one of the first Western Zen teachers to emphasize an Americanization of Zen, eschewing Asian dharma names and Asian dress. Bodhin Kjolhede became his dharma successor in 1986, but his most famous disciple, Toni Packer, left his center and its Harada-Yasutani lineage to found her own Springwater Center. Rochester Zen Center now has affiliates in Canada, Mexico and Europe. Tibetan Buddhists. The earliest noteworthy Tibetan Buddhist to arrive in the United States was Geshe Ngawang Wangyal, a Gelugpa teacher who came to the United States in 1955 and established the Lamaist Buddhist Monastery of America in New Jersey. It was renamed the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center in 1986. Geshe Wangyal is perhaps best known through his famous students Robert Thurman and Jeffrey Hopkins, each of whom is a highly respected "scholar-practitioner" in the American Buddhist community. Other well-known Gelugpa centers include Osel Shen Phen Ling in Montana and the Vajrapani Institute in California, both founded by Lama Thubten Zopa. The Dalai Lama's personal monastery, Namgyal, founded a North American branch in Ithaca, New York in 1992. The Sakya and Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism can also be found in the United States. As early as 1960 the Sakya teachers Deshung Rinpoche and H.H. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya arrived in Seattle, and by 1971, Lama Thartse Kunga had established the Ewam Choden Tibetan Buddhist Center. A Sakya monastery in Seattle was opened in 1974, followed by two Sakya centers on the other coast: the Sakya Institute for Buddhist Studies and Meditation in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1980), and the Sakya Phuntsok Ling Center in Silver Springs, Maryland (1986). The first Nyingma teacher in America was Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche, who arrived in the U.S. in 1968. He established the Tibetan Nyingma Meditation Center in Berkeley in 1969. In 1973 he founded Nyingma Institute, also in Berkeley, and two years later began work on an extensive...

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