Buddhism in America (Columbia Contemporary American Religion Series) - Hardcover

Seager, Richard Hughes

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0231159722 ISBN 13: 9780231159722

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2012

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

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.

Review

Praise for the first edition: "This well-informed book provides a comprehensive survey of a variety of Buddhist traditions in the contemporary U.S.... [Its] strength, apart from being a mine of information, is Seager's insistence on taking a historically informed and comparative perspective."-- "Religious Studies Review""Columbia University Press continues to bring excellent scholarship to the general reader with this outstanding study of American Buddhism."-- "Publishers Weekly""This book cries out for use as a textbook for classes on Buddhism in America."-- "The Journal of Religion""Unbiased and insightful, Buddhism in America offers a view of how far the Buddhist movement has come in little more than a century and a peek at where it is going at the dawn of a new millennium."-- "Tricycle"

Praise for the previous edition:

"This well-informed book provides a comprehensive survey of a variety of Buddhist traditions in the contemporary U.S.... [Its] strength, apart from being a mine of information, is Seager's insistence on taking a historically informed and comparative perspective."--"Religious Studies Review

""This book cries out for use as a textbook for classes on Buddhism in America."--"The Journal of Religion

""Unbiased and insightful, "Buddhism in America" offers a view of how far the Buddhist movement has come in little more than a century and a peek at where it is going at the dawn of a new millennium."--"Tricycle"

Praise for the previous edition:

"This well-informed book provides a comprehensive survey of a variety of Buddhist traditions in the contemporary U.S.... [Its] strength, apart from being a mine of information, is Seager's insistence on taking a historically informed and comparative perspective."--Religious Studies Review

"This book cries out for use as a textbook for classes on Buddhism in America."--The Journal of Religion

"Unbiased and insightful, Buddhism in America offers a view of how far the Buddhist movement has come in little more than a century and a peek at where it is going at the dawn of a new millennium."--Tricycle

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0231159722
• ISBN 13: 9780231159722
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384