One year after his death, Funie Hsu reflects on how we can honor the legacy of Aaron Lee, known to many as the "Angry Asian Buddhist." From the Winter 2018 issue of Buddahdharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly. These words are here because of Aaron. He forged the path for their publication in this Buddhist journal, creating a place for them in the wider public discourse [...]
Advice for Modern America, from When Buddhism Was Seen as a National Threat
For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, Buddhism was considered a threat to America. Hondo Lobley interviews scholar Duncan Williams about what we might want to remember from that time. Introduction by Funie Hsu. The history of American Buddhism is a story of immigration. Our understanding of the historical relationship between American Buddhism and immigration is [...]
We’ve Been Here All Along
Funie Hsu says it’s time we recognize the contributions of Asian American Buddhists and address the racism and cultural appropriation that marginalizes their ongoing role in transmitting the dharma in the West. Somewhere in the soil of California’s Central Valley lies buried treasure. Scholar and Soto Zen priest Duncan Ryuken Williams tells the story of ten-year-old Masumi [...]
