Diversification in the Buddhist Churches of America: Demographic Trends and Their Implications for the Future Study of U.S. Buddhist Groups

Scholars of U.S Buddhism often divide Buddhist groups into categories using a system called "Two Buddhisms." These groups are "Heritage," founded by immigrants, and "Convert," founded by Americans of European descent. As cultural pressures force U.S. Buddhist groups to...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Spencer, Anne C. (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Publié: 2014
Dans: Journal of global buddhism
Année: 2014, Volume: 15, Pages: 35-61
Accès en ligne: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Volltext (kostenfrei)
Informations sur les droits:CC BY-NC 4.0
Description
Résumé:Scholars of U.S Buddhism often divide Buddhist groups into categories using a system called "Two Buddhisms." These groups are "Heritage," founded by immigrants, and "Convert," founded by Americans of European descent. As cultural pressures force U.S. Buddhist groups to adapt, the resulting changes challenge our existing categorization systems. This paper uses 2011 survey data to show that the Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) is becoming demographically more diverse and its practices more Americanized. With these adaptations, the BCA no longer fits easily into either Heritage or Convert categories, suggesting that the Two Buddhisms system in its current form is inadequate for evaluating U.S. Buddhist groups. To aid the future study of U.S. Buddhism, I use the data from the BCA to provide an alternative, more nuanced, rubric for assessing the adaptation of Buddhist groups which will enhance the existing Two Buddhisms system.
ISSN:1527-6457
Contient:Enthalten in: Journal of global buddhism
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1306197