Selected Bibliography
This bibliography includes selected scholarly and secondary texts of interest to students of American Buddhism, but does not list all sources cited in the endnotes.
Baas, Jacquelynn. Smile of the Buddha: Eastern Philosophy and Western Art from Monet to Today. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.
Baas, Jacquelynn and Mary J. Jacob. Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
Badiner, Alan Hunt. Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1990. Excerpted essays on the relationship between Buddhism and environmentalism by Asian teachers, American social activists, and proponents of eclectic spiritual philosophy.
Begley, Sharon. Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves. New York: Ballantine, 2007.
Bethel, Dayle M. Makiguchi the Value Creator: Revolutionary Japanese Educator and Founder of Soka Gakkai. 1973; New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1994. Study of the impact of Makiguchi’s ideas on the origins and evolution of Soka Gakkai in Japan, with some attention to the life and work of Josei Toda and Daisaku Ikeda.
Bhushan, Nalini, Jay L. Garfield, and Abraham Zablocki. TransBuddhism: Transmission, Translation, Transformation. Amherst; Northampton: University of Massachusetts Press; in association with the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute of Smith College, 2009.
Buddhist Churches of America. Buddhist Churches of America. 2 vols. Chicago: Nobart, 1974. Seventy-fifth anniversary publication chronicling the history of the BCA from 1899 to 1974.
Butterfield, Stephen T. The Double Mirror: A Skeptical Journey in Buddhist Tantra. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1994. Memoir of events in the American Tibetan practice community circa 1970 to 1990 by a disaffected student of Chogyam Trungpa.
Cadge, Wendy. Heartwood: The First Generation of Theravada Buddhism in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
Chen, Carolyn. Getting Saved in America: Taiwanese Immigration and Religious Experience. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.
Coleman, Graham, ed. Handbook of Tibetan Culture: A Guide to Tibetan Centres and Resources Throughout the World. Boston: Shambhala, 1994. Brief histories of Tibetan schools, biographies of leading teachers, and an extensive listing, with short notations, of Tibetan and Tibet-related religious and cultural organizations worldwide.
Dresser, Marianne, ed. Buddhist Women on the Edge: Contemporary Perspectives from the Dharma Frontier. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1996. More than twenty-five essays written in a variety of styles, dealing with a cross-section of issues encountered by convert Buddhist women in the United States.
Eck, Diana L. and The Harvard Pluralism Project, eds. On Common Ground: World Religions in America CD-ROM. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. Introduction to issues related to American religious pluralism and to a wide range of traditions including Buddhism, with brief accompanying texts, all in a multimedia CD-ROM format.
Ellwood, Robert S. Alternative Altars: Unconventional and Eastern Spirituality in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979. Dated but useful interpretation in the context of the general interest in Buddhism in and around the 1960s.
Fields, Rick. How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America, 3rd rev. ed. Boston and London: Shambhala International, 1992. Classic chronicle of the development of Buddhism in the United States, told from the perspective of 1960s-era converts.
——. Taking Refuge in L.A.: Life in a Vietnamese Buddhist Temple. New York: Aperture Foundation, 1987. Descriptive account with interview material related to daily life at Chua Vietnam, a major immigrant temple in Los Angeles, with photographs by Don Farber.
Furlong, Monica. Zen Effects: The Life of Alan Watts. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986. Sympathetic but skeptical account of Watts’s life and career, with particular attention to developments in the United States in the 1950s and ’60s.
Gate of Sweet Nectar: Feeding Hungry Spirits in an American Zen Community. DVD. Produced by Peter N. Gregory and Lesley J. Weaver. Los Angeles: Zen Center of Los Angeles, 2004.
Goldberg, Natalie. Long Quiet Highway: Waking up in America. New York: Bantam, 1993. Memoir of years spent in and around San Francisco Zen Center, Minneapolis Zen Meditation Society, and the Santa Fe Buddhist scene, by a well-known convert community writer.
Goldstein, Joseph. One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2002.
Huang, C. J. Charisma and Compassion: Cheng Yen and the Buddhist Tzu Chi Movement. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2009.
Hurst, Jane D. Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism and the Soka Gakkai in America: The Ethos of a New Religious Movement. New York: Garland, 1992. Sociological and historical look at the SGI movement on the eve of its break with Nichiren Shoshu.
Kashima, Tetsuden. Buddhism in America: The Social Organization of an Ethnic Religious Institution. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1977. Sociological and historical study of the evolution of the Buddhist Churches of America since the late nineteenth century.
Knitter, Paul F. Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian. Oxford: Oneworld, 2009.
Kornfield, Jack. The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology. New York: Bantam, 2008.
Kotler, Arnold, ed. Engaged Buddhist Reader: Ten Years of Engaged Buddhist Publishing. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1996. More than forty excerpts from the writings of Asians and Americans on Buddhist social activism.
Layman, Emma McCloy. Buddhism in America. Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1976. Early journalistic exploration of a wide range of Buddhist traditions in the United States.
Learman, Linda. Buddhist Missionaries in the Era of Globalization. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005.
Levine, Noah. Dharma Punx: A Memoir. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003.
Lopez, Donald S. Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
——. Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Discussion and interpretation of the way Tibet has been imaginatively perceived in the West and the impact of this romantic view on contemporary religious, academic, and political issues.
Loundon, Sumi. Blue Jean Buddha: Voices of Young Buddhists. Boston: Wisdom, 2001.
McMahan, David L. The Making of Buddhist Modernism. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Metraux, Daniel. The History and Theology of Soka Gakkai: A Japanese New Religion. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1988. In-depth treatment of Nichiren Shoshu and Soka Gakkai philosophy and practice.
Mitchell, Donald W. and James Wiseman, eds. Gethsemane Encounter: A Dialogue on the Spiritual Life by Buddhist and Christian Monastics. New York: Continuum, 1998. Papers and presentations, along with some descriptive material, from the Buddhist-Christian dialogue and encounter at Gethsemani monastery in June 1996.
Mohr, Thea, Tsedroen Jampa, and Bhiksuni. Dignity and Discipline: Reviving Full Ordination for Buddhist Nuns. Boston: Wisdom, 2010.
Moore, Dinty W. The Accidental Buddhist: Mindfulness, Enlightenment, and Sitting Still. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books, 1997. Popular account of an American searching out Buddhism in the mid-1990s, with occasionally useful vignettes of selected centers.
Morreale, Don, ed. The Complete Guide to Buddhist America. Boston and London: Shambhala, 1998. Guide to and descriptions of meditation centers, together with selected vignettes and articles on developments in American Buddhism, as seen from the perspective of the lay convert community.
Nordstrom, Louis, ed. Namu Dai Bosa: A Transmission of Zen Buddhism to America. New York: The Zen Studies Society, 1976. Selected texts, including historically useful memoirs, of leading figures in the Rinzai lineage associated with Eido Shimano of the Zen Studies Society.
Numrich, Paul D. North American Buddhists in Social Context. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2008.
——. Old Wisdom in the New World: Americanization in Two Immigrant Theravada Buddhist Temples. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1996. In-depth look at historical developments, ritual life, and social adaptation in Theravada temples in Los Angeles and Chicago.
Prebish, Charles S. American Buddhism. North Scituate, Mass.: Duxbury Press, 1979. Early exploration of American Buddhism as it emerged in the 1970s by an academically trained Buddhologist.
——. Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. Survey of Buddhist communities with in-depth analysis of selected issues in the development of distinctly American forms of Buddhism.
Prebish, Charles S. and Kenneth K. Tanaka, eds. The Faces of Buddhism in America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. Collection of essays by academics and practitioners on a range of convert and immigrant traditions.
Preston, David L. The Social Organization of Zen Practice: Constructing Transcultural Reality Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Sociological study of Zen Center of Los Angeles in the 1980s.
Prothero, Stephen. The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. Interpretation of the contributions of an American founder of Theosophy to modern Buddhism in South Asia.
Queen, Christopher, S. and Sallie B. King, eds. Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia. Albany: State University Press of New York, 1996. Essays dealing with the history, institutional expression, and teachings of contemporary social activists and movements, some bearing closely on socially engaged Buddhism in the United States.
Rapaport, Al, ed. Buddhism in America: The Official Record of the Landmark Conference on the Future of Meditative Practices in the West. Boston: Tuttle, 1997. Record of and addresses from a gathering of prominent figures in convert Buddhism held in Boston in 1997.
Rothberg, Donald. The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006.
Seager, Richard Hughes. The World’s Parliament of Religions: The East/West Encounter, Chicago, 1893. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995. Interpretation of one of the signal events in the history of American Buddhism in the nineteenth century.
Senzaki, Nyogen. Like a Dream, Like a Fantasy: The Zen Writings and Translations of Nyogen Senzaki, edited by Eido Shimano (Tokyo and New York: Japan Publications, 1978). Selected writings of one of the early Japanese Zen teachers in this country.
Shainberg, Lawrence. Ambivalent Zen: A Memoir. New York: Pantheon, 1995. Memoir reflecting events in the Zen world in New York circa 1970 to 1990.
Smalley, Susan L. and Diana Winston. Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2010.
Storlie, Erik Fraser. Nothing on My Mind: Berkeley, LSD, Two Zen Masters, and a Life on the Dharma Trail. Boston: Shambhala, 1996. A 1960s-era memoir of events related to the flowering of Buddhism in the Bay area, the development of the San Francisco Zen Center, and the founding of the Minneapolis Zen Meditation Center under Dainin Katagiri Roshi.
Tamney, Joseph B. American Society in the Buddhist Mirror. New York and London: Garland, 1992. Sociological interpretation of four eras during which native-born Americans turned to Buddhism.
Tanaka, Kenneth K. Ocean: An Introduction to Jodo Shinshu Buddhism in America. Berkeley: Wisdom Ocean Publications, 1997. Exposition of philosophy and practice in the contemporary Buddhist Churches of America and other Jodo Shinshu groups by an academically trained historian of Asian Buddhism.
Tonkinson, Carole, ed. Big Sky Mind: Buddhism and the Beat Generation. New York: Riverhead, 1995. Anthology of Buddhist-related Beat poetry with historical and biographical introductions.
Tsomo, Karma Lekshe, ed. Buddhism Through American Women’s Eyes. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1995. Thirteen first-person accounts of life in the dharma by some of America’s leading Buddhist woman.
——, ed. Sakyadhita: Daughters of the Buddha. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1988. Abridged speeches from the International Conference on Buddhist Nuns in Bodhgaya, India in 1987, including the remarks of a number of prominent American women.
Tuck, Donald. Buddhist Churches of America: Jodo Shinshu. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1987. Interpretive account with particular attention to Protestantization.
Tweed, Thomas A. The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844–1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992. Analysis of the extent and quality of the Buddhist vogue in America in the nineteenth century.
Tweed, Thomas A. and Stephen Prothero, eds. Asian Religions in America: A Documentary History. New York and London: Oxford University Press, 1998. Anthology of material on Asian religions in the United States from the antebellum era to the present.
Tworkov, Helen. Zen in America: Five Teachers and the Search for an American Buddhism. New York: Kodansha International, 1989. In-depth examination of five prominent American Zen teachers—Robert Aitken, Jakusho Kwong, Bernard Glassman, Maurine Stuart, and Richard Baker.
Williams, Duncan Ryuken and Christopher S. Queen, eds. American Buddhism: Methods and Findings in Recent Scholarship. Surrey, U.K.: Curzon Press, 1998. Essays on contemporary developments in selected Asian and convert communities.
Wilson, Jeff. Mourning the Unborn Dead: A Buddhist Ritual Comes to America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Wuthnow, Robert and Wendy Cadge. “Buddhists and Buddhism in the United States: The Scope of Influence.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 43, no. 3 (2004): 363–380.
Selected Print and Online Journals, Magazines, and Newsletters
URLs are accurate as of May 26, 1999.
Buddhist-Christian Studies. Journal of the Buddhist-Christian Studies Society devoted to historical, philosophical, and theological issues. c/o David Chappell, Department of Religion, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2530 Dole Street, Honolulu, HI 96822.
Inquiring Mind. National journal of the vipassana meditation movement. P.O. Box 9999, North Berkeley Station, Berkeley, CA 95709.
Journal of Buddhist Ethics. Academic journal devoted to Buddhist ethics, but with attention to related topics. http://jbe.la.psu.edu/
Living Buddhism (formerly Seikyo Times). General readership publication of Soka Gakkai International-USA addressing issues in American society. Subscriptions Department, SGI-USA, 525 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA, 90401.
Mandala. News magazine of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. FPMT International Office, P.O. Box 800, Soquel, CA 95073. http://www.fpmt.org/Mandala/
Mindfulness Bell. Journal of the Order of Interbeing and Thich Nhat Hanh’s Community of Mindful Living. P.O. Box 7355, Berkeley, CA 94707.
Mountain Record. Quarterly published by Dharma Communications, affiliate of the Mountains and Rivers Order and Zen Mountain Monastery. P.O. Box 156 MR, South Plank Road, Mount Tremper, NY 12457. http://www.zen-mtn.org/mr/journal.shtml
The Pacific World. Journal of the Institute for Buddhist Studies, primarily devoted to Shin Buddhism. 650 Castro Street, Suite 120–202, Mountain View, CA 94041.
Shambhala Sun. Buddhist-inspired bimonthly magazine historically associated with Shambhala International. 585 Barrington Street, Suite 300, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3J 1Z8. http://www.shambhalasun.com/
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Leading independent quarterly review of American Buddhism. 92 Vandam Street, New York, NY 10013. http://www.tricycle.com/
Turning Wheel. Journal of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship devoted to national and international news and articles related to BPF and engaged Buddhism. Buddhist Peace Fellowship National Office, Box 4650, Berkeley, CA 94704. http://www.igc.apc.org/bpf/tw.html
Western Buddhist Review. Articles and papers with a focus on the tradition within the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. http://www.fwbo.org/wbr/
World Tribune. Soka Gakkai International weekly newspaper devoted to organizational and world news. Subscriptions Department, SGI-USA, 525 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90401.
Videotapes
Videos include some titles devoted to Asian American political and social issues. Distribution information has been included when available. Major dharma centers offer a wide range of videos related to their teachers and traditions.
Blue Collar and Buddha. Produced by Taggart Siegel and Kati Johnston for Filmmakers Library, 1989, 57 minutes. Obstacles faced by Laotian Buddhists in establishing a community and temple in Rockford, Illinois in the 1980s. National Asian American Telecommunications Association, 346 Ninth Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103 (hereafter NAATA).
Becoming the Buddha in L.A. Produced by WGBH Educational Foundation, 1993, est. 57 minutes. Introduction to Buddhism in Los Angeles, with special attention to convert, Cambodian Theravada, and Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. The Pluralism Project at Harvard University, 25 Francis Avenue, 201 Vanserg Hall, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Cambodians in America: Rebuilding the Temple. 1992, 58 minutes. Cambodian refugees work to establish their religious lives. WGBH Educational Fund, Boston, MA.
Creating Enlightened Society. Produced by Kapala Recordings, 1997, 75 minutes. Restored footage of Chogyam Trungpa teaching in Boston in 1982 from Shambhala International’s Vajradhatu archive. Kapala Recordings, 1084 Tower Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 2Y5.
Exploring the Mandala. By Pema Losang Chogyen, n.d., 10 minutes. Computer-simulated three-dimensional mandala created by a monk from Namgyal monastery and researchers at Cornell University’s computer graphics program. Snow Lion Publications, P.O. Box 6483, Ithaca, NY 14851–6483.
Embodying Buddhism. Produced for Thinking Allowed, a series of KCSM-TV, San Mateo, CA, n.d. Sylvia Boorstein on the Four Noble Truths and mindfulness meditation. Thinking Allowed, 2560 9th Street, Suite 123, Berkeley, CA 94710.
Heart of Tibet. Produced by Martin Wassell and directed by David Cherniak, 1991, 60 minutes. The life and work of the Dalai Lama, with particular attention to his 1989 United States tour. Mystic Fire Video, P.O. Box 422, New York, NY 10012–0008 (hereafter Mystic Fire).
Human Rights and Moral Practice. Directed by Robin Gathwait and Dan Griffin, n.d., 35 minutes. The Dalai Lama speaks on moral responses to contemporary issues at the University of California at Berkeley. Mystic Fire.
Maceo: Demon Drummer from East L.A. Directed and produced by John Esaki, 1993, 30-minute and 44-minute formats. A Chicano inspired by drumming in L.A. Buddhist temples is recruited by Ondekoza, a world-famous taiko troupe. NAATA.
Meeting at Tule Lake. Directed and produced by Scott T. Tsuchitani, 1994, 33 minutes. Seven internees recall their experiences at the Tule Lake camp. NAATA.
Memorial Video of the Life of Venerable Master Hua and the Cremation Ceremony. Produced by the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, n.d., est. 60 minutes. The life, work, and death of the founder of DRBA as told by his followers. City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, P.O. Box 21, Talmage, CA 95481.
Now I Know You: A Tribute to Taizan Maezumi Roshi. Produced by Dharma Communications, 1997, 60 minutes. Maezumi Roshi, his death and funeral, and his successors in the White Plum Sangha. Dharma Communications, P.O. Box 156 DC, Mount Tremper, NY 12457.
Ossian. Produced by the Public Broadcasting Service, 1990, 30 minutes. Documentary about a four-year-old American boy recognized as a tulku, shot in a Nepal monastery, with attention to his daily life with his teacher, other monks, and his mother. Mystic Fire.
Oryoki: Formal Monastic Meal, Master Dogen’s Instructions for a Miraculous Occasion. 1995. Instructional guide to oryoki, with dharma commentary by John Daido Loori. Dharma Communications, P.O. Box 156 DC, Mount Tremper, NY 12457.
Peace Is Every Step. Directed by Gaetano Kazuo Maida, n.d., 60 minutes. Thich Nhat Hanh’s life and work from Plum Village to Washington, D.C. and his work with American veterans. Mystic Fire.
Reflections: Returning to Vietnam. Produced by KCSM-TV60, San Mateo, CA, 1992, 3° minutes. Vietnamese refugees reflect on exile twenty years after the fall of Saigon. NAATA.
Shadow Over Tibet: Stories in Exile. Produced by Rachel Lyon and Valerie Mrak, 1994, 57 minutes. Struggle of Tibetans in exile to preserve their culture, seen through the experiences of a refugee in Chicago and of the Dalai Lama. NAATA.
Sun Rising East: Zen Master Seung Sahn Gives Transmission. 1993, 34 minutes. Record of a dharma transmission made in 1992 and the twentieth-anniversary celebrations of the Kwan Um school. Primary Point Press, 99 Pound Road, Cumberland, RI 02864.
Tibet in Exile. Produced by Barbara Banks and Meg McLagan, n.d., 30 min. The plight of Tibet, focusing on exile communities in Nepal and India. The Video Project, 200 Estates Drive, Ben Lomond, CA 95005.
Timeless Wisdom: Being the Knowing. n.d., 60 minutes. Two western monastics, Thubten Chodron, an American Tibetan nun, and Ajahn Amaro of Abhayagiri Forest monastery, discuss aspects of Buddhist teachings in Seattle. Snow Lion Publications, P.O. Box 6483, Ithaca, NY 14851–6483.
Touching Peace. Directed by Gaetano Kazuo Maida, n.d., 90 minutes. Thich Nhat Hanh teaching before an audience of 3,500 in Berkeley, California. Mystic Fire.
Wataridori: Birds of Passage. Directed by Robert A. Nakamura and produced by Visual Communications, 1976, 37 minutes. Tribute to the Issei with attention to the internment camp experience. NAATA.
World Buddhism in North America: A Documentary. 1989, 120 minutes. Selected presentations and commentary on the Americanization of Buddhism from the Conference of World Buddhism in North America, Ann Arbor, MI, 1987. Zen Buddhist Temple, 1710 W. Cornelia, Chicago, IL 60657.
Zen Center: Portrait of an American Zen Center. Written and produced by Anne Cushman and directed by Lou Hawthorne, 1987, 53 minutes. Life in ZCLA in the mid-1980s, during a period of crisis.
Selected Internet Resources
There is a great deal of information about American Buddhism on the Internet, although Web resources overwhelmingly reflect the interests and concerns of convert Buddhists. The following are only a few of the many sites that can be accessed. URLs are accurate as of May 26, 1999.
Access to Insight. Texts and traditions in Theravada Buddhism, including modern material and directories of temples and centers. http://world.std.com/%7Emetta
Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library: The Internet Guide to Buddhism and Buddhist Studies. Wide range of scholarly material, including some related to selected American centers, lineages, and teachers. http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-Buddhism.html
Quiet Mountain Tibetan Buddhist Resource Guide. Comprehensive index to Tibetan Buddhist centers in the United States, organized by major schools. http://quietmountain.com/