American Buddhism Keeps Asian Influence, Adapts to West

Mike O’Sullivan | Los Angeles

This week's visit of the Dalai Lama to the United States is focusing attention on American Buddhism, which is growing because of the influx of Asian immigrants and conversion of Westerners to the faith. American Buddhism retains its Asian flavor, but is adapting to Western ways.

Boys aged five to 14 have their heads shaved as they start a five-day retreat. A rite of passage in many parts of the Buddhist world, it gives them an introduction to Buddhist teaching and offers a brief taste of the life of a monk. Here at the Hsi Lai Temple in Los Angeles, the congregation is predominantly Chinese American, but these children get their instruction in English.

A class of 31 boys receives instruction at the Hsi Lai Temple in Los Angeles, California, with their heads temporarily shaved as monks, in a retreat to introduce them more deeply to Buddhist life before they return to their regular lives, July 2011.

The Hong Kong-born director of outreach, Miao Hsi, explains that American Buddhism is largely divided on ethnic lines.

"That is why there is Chinese Buddhism, there is Tibetan Buddhism, there is Japanese Buddhism, and so on," said Miao. "So I think that right now, we have some form of American Buddhism as well."

An American-born priest at the International Buddhist Meditation Center in Los Angeles, Kusala Bhikshu, said Buddhism has a history of more than 100 years in the United States.

"And it now has dug its roots into the soil of America, so there are people [like] myself being born in Iowa - people who were born in America - who are coming as a convert to Buddhism, some becoming ordained as Buddhist monks or nuns, and bringing those teachings to everyday Americans."

The Dalai Lama may be the world's best-known Buddhist, and he enjoys wide respect among Americans. He has drawn some notable followers, including actor Richard Gere. His message of compassion has attracted other Americans.

There are Tibetan Buddhist facilities around the United States. Kusala Bhikshu said his Los Angeles center brings together several Buddhist schools. He studied under a teacher from Sri Lanka and was ordained in the Vietnamese tradition. His center was founded by a monk from Vietnam, and is located in a Korean-American neighborhood.

He noted that Buddhism's rich body of teaching varies from one tradition to another. Here at the Hsi Lai Temple, they say that despite the diversity, the core of the teaching is the same: a respect for the tradition, a desire to adapt it to the American context, and a search for harmony among people of all faiths.

"Every being is connected. It is like we are connected to this world," said Miao. "So I think we should be working towards harmonizing with one another. Harmony and peace would be something that we should all work toward."

Buddhists say there is a bridge that links the many strains of American Buddhism. It is the American-born children, who share a Buddhist faith and American culture, regardless of where their parents were born.

Printing and Buddhism in China

The Diamond Sūtra, The World’s Earliest Dated Printed Book from AD 868

Woodblock printing in China is strongly associated with Buddhism, which encouraged the spread of its teachings. In the Tang Dynasty, a Chinese writer named Fenzhi first mentioned in his book Yuan Xian San Ji that the woodblock was used to print Buddhist scriptures during the Zhenguan years (627~649 ACE).

An early example of woodblock printing on paper, was discovered in 1974 in an excavation in Xi’an (then called Chang’an, the capital of Tang Dynasty), Shaanxi, China, whereby individual sheets of paper were pressed into wooden blocks with the text and illustrations carved into them. It is a Dhāraṇī sūtra printed on hemp paper and dated to 650 to 670 ACE, during Tang Dynasty (618–907). Another printed document dating to the early half of the Chinese Tang Dynasty has also been found, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra printed from 690 to 699.

A woodblock print of a Dhāraṇī sūtra dated between 704 and 751 ACE was found at Bulguk-sa, South Korea in 1966. Its Buddhist text was printed on a 8-× 630 cm (3.1" ×-250") mulberry paper scroll in the early Korean Kingdom of Unified Silla. Another version of a Dhāraṇī sūtra, printed in Japan around 770 ACE, is also frequently cited as an example of early printing. One million copies of the sūtra, along with other prayers, were ordered to be produced by Empress Shōtoku. As each copy was then stored in a tiny wooden pagoda, the copies are together known as the Hyakumantō Dhāraṇī (百万塔陀羅尼, One Million Pagodas Dhāraṇī).

The world’s earliest dated (868 ACE) printed book is a Chinese scroll about sixteen feet long and containing the text of the Diamond Sūtra. It was found in 1907 by the archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein in Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, and is now in the British Museum. The book displays a great maturity of design and layout and speaks of a considerable ancestry for woodblock printing. The colophon, at the inner end, reads: Reverently [caused to be] made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 13th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong [i.e. 11 May, 868 ACE] .

In late 10th century China the complete Buddhist Tripiṭaka of 130,000 pages was printed with blocks, which took between 1080 and 1102, and many other very long works were printed. Early books were on scrolls, but other book formats were developed. First came the Jingzhe zhuang or “sūtra binding”, a scroll folded concertina-wise, which avoided the need to unroll half a scroll to see a passage in the middle. About AD 1000 “butterfly binding” was developed; two pages were printed on a sheet, which was then folded inwards. The sheets were then pasted together at the fold to make a codex with alternate openings of printed and blank pairs of pages. In the fourteenth century the folding was reversed outwards to give continuous printed pages, each backed by a blank hidden page. Later the bindings were sewn rather than pasted. Only relatively small volumes (juan) were bound up, and several of these would be enclosed in a cover called a tao, with wooden boards at front and back, and loops and pegs to close up the book when not in use. For example one complete Tripiṭaka had over 6,400 juan in 595 tao.

Amongst White Clouds

I highly recommend this video, although while watching it you will see a few of the sub-titles will flash so fast you can't read them, this doesn't take away from the experience of it nor from the insight we gain from such a wonderful documentary. Be forewarned that the video is almost 1.5 hours in length, so watch it when you have time to enjoy the ride.

American director Edward A. Burger takes us on his unforgettable journey into the hidden lives of China’s forgotten Zen Buddhist hermit tradition.

Amongst White Clouds is a look at the lives of zealot students, gaunt ascetics and wise masters living in isolated hermitages dotting the peaks and valleys of China’s Zhongnan Mountain range. The Zhongnan Mountains have been home to recluses since the time of the Yellow Emperor, some five thousand years ago.

Many of China’s most realized Buddhist masters attained enlightenment in this very range! And now? It is widely thought that this tradition was all but wiped out by the twists and turns of history. Amongst White Clouds shows us this is not the case.

One of only a few foreigners to have lived and studied with these hidden sages, Burger reveals to us their tradition, their wisdom, and the hardship and joy of their everyday lives.

With both humor and compassion, these inspiring and warm-hearted characters challenge us to join them in an exploration of our own suffering and enlightenment in this modern world. (Excerpt from amongstclouds.com)

Yangtze

I traveled to China during the SAR's Epidemic in 2004 because I had a trip scheduled down the Yangtze River. It was one month before the initial flooding of the river due to the Three Gorges Dam initial closing. I felt it important that I view the three gorges as it was in all the famous paintings from the past. There were no tourists (almost) during this trip. The picture shows our boat that we booked, (it is the boat in the background) and there were only 13 guests on the boat. They asked if any of us wanted to upgrade our rooms, I ended up booking the Presidential Suite which was the lower 3 windows plus the entire front of the boat for $40. I must say that sitting out on my private patio and soaking in my hot tub made the trip all the more interesting. 

Emei Shan 2003

April 10, 2003: (this trip to PRC was taken at the height of the SARS Epidemic and very few Westerners were in China)

A tour guide from CITS and a driver picked us up 8:00 am to go to the Panda Base in Chengdu in the morning. Luckily the driver had a Chinese version of a Mitusbishi Pajero SUV and we had room to store our bags comfortably. We spent the morning touring the grounds and looking at the Giant Pandas and the Red Pandas.

We drove to the city of Emei in the late morning and arrived at about 2 pm. We had the driver look for a restaurant to have lunch at. The pickings looked quite slim in Emei and when we were about to go to the Hotel we spotted a quaint place on the corner of a main road going back towards the center of town. Our guide got out and said that this was a place that served “hot pot” finger food. We spent about five minutes trying to decipher what she meant by finger food, finally it was ascertained that it was a hot pot restaurant that specialized in fungus or as we in the West call it, mushrooms!

The lunch was good and we got our own private room and ate lots of really good food. Mount Emei is located in the southwest corner of the Sichuan basin. The mountain is well known in China as a scenic spot and draws many local tourists each year. As we entered the City of Emei there was a sign at the main traffic circle under a large statue of Quan Yin (Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva) that said Emei Shan was the number one tourism spot in all of China. Christine doubted this saying that lots of places in China say the same thing.

Emeishan has a Buddhist heritage that can be traced back to the Eastern Han Dynasty under the reign of Emperor Ming (58-75). One day a hermit called Pugong was collecting medicinal herbs in Emeishan when he suddenly saw a man with a halo around his head flying over on the back of a white elephant. Awe-stricken, Pugong followed the man to the summit where he found nothing but fleeting purplish clouds. Then he went to the Western Region (Xinjiang region, from where Buddhism spread from India to China) to consult an abbot who told him that the man he saw was the holy person of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. Back to Emeishan, Pugong converted his residence into a temple for worshipping Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. This became the first temple ever built in Emeishan. There used to be more than 70 temples in Emeishan when Buddhism was prevailing in China. To date, a dozen of them are still functioning.

We checked into our room at the Huasheng Hotel which is located at the base Emeishan, before making a late afternoon visit to Bao Guo Si (Temple of Dedication to the Nation). We chose Bao Guo Sí because it was close to the base of the mountain. We loaded back into the SUV and headed up the main road towards the mountain. At the gateway, we were pleased that even though there were a large number of vendors, anxious to get us to buy their assortment of souvenirs, maps, snacks, they seemed more subdued and reverent than at other places we have visited in China. Bao Guo Si’s most renowned treasure is an 8 foot tall porcelain Buddha which was said to have been made in the 15th century. Apart from that, the most notable thing about this temple is its beautiful setting at the foothills of Emei Shan. The cool, misty climate, together with the surrounding ancient trees, all add a very mysterious and holy feel about the whole place. Perhaps it was such an environment which created a perfect venue for sages and mystics to settle here, and thus leading to the evolvement of Emei Shan as a pilgrimage site.

Upon leaving on the drive back to the hotel it was decided that tomorrow we would visit the summit and visit the two temples Woyun Sí “Above the Clouds Temple” and Jinding Sí “Golden Peak Temple” there at the summit of the Mountain. Jinding Sí is located on a shear cliff a little more than 10,000 feet above sea level. Then we would go back down the mountain to Wangnian Sí because it is said to be the most beautiful of all the temples.

April 11, 2003:

After spending a night at the Hua Sheng Hotel, our driver took us to the local bus station where we could catch a tour bus up to the summit cable car. No private vehicles are allowed on the mountain unless you are a resident and all of the taxis are LPG powered to try and preserve the mountains heritage. We got on the bus at 9 am and drove up the mountains to a car park near Jieyin Dian. Like many tourist attractions in new pseudo-capitalistic China, there is an entrance fee to the foothills of the mountain (RMB 30 - a huge sum for any Chinese citizen), and individual charges for different points of interest, including each of the temples. We had to get off the bus to purchase our ticket, then we waited in line to have our picture taken by a computer.

At the end of the line we received our ticket with our picture on it that was good for the whole day at anywhere on the mountain. We then drove further up the mountains to a car park near Jieyin Dian. This spot is at 8,580 feet and is in the cloud layer most of the time. Being shrouded in the dense mist makes it extremely cold. Peasants surrounded us the moment we left the car, urging us to rent their thick, bulky military coats lest we freeze to death at higher levels. Nevertheless, we fought our way through the army of peasant-touts without buying anything and took a short but strenuous walk up to the cable car station. Here, the sight was beholding – lush green foliage and maple trees - no wonder they say the gods live here. Along the path on the left were the vendor stalls, selling snacks, religious object d'art and traditional Chinese medicinal drugs (including items like dear antlers, ginseng root and many kinds of bark, etc). On the other side of the path were monkeys sitting on tree limbs and railings when they were available. At one point a monkey snatched a platic orange soda bottle out of the hand of a tourits who screamed really loudly. I was wondering what the monkey was going to do with the soda figuring he couldn't open it. Well, he chewed a hole in the side of the bottle and had a nice drink.

All the way up the steep climb we encountered many Chinese organized tour groups, devoted elderly pilgrims, peasants on the way to their remote villages, porters carrying loads of bricks, an occasional Western or Hong Kong backpacker, and also huagan porters. A huagan is a simple bamboo sedan chair carried by peasant porters to carry pilgrims up the mountain. It’s amazing seeing how such feudal occupations have managed to survive in modern day China.

Soon we joined the hordes of other tourists (mostly Chinese from all over China - there were few westerners in Sichuan) in the line for the cable car to Jinding, or Golden Summit. Now we have reached the Jin Ding - as far as one can go at Emeishan. Here, at 10,071 feet, the sky is a brilliant azure blue and the sun is bright and warm, it was no longer cold even at this altitude. I had to take off my sweater and it felt good to have the warm sun on my face. At the peak are two temples, Woyun Sí and Jinding Sí. They are quite different and each was unique in its own way. The first temple is Woyun Sí and is home to Buddhist Nun’s who practice Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism as well as various martial arts such as Taiji. We first visited the old run down Ch’an temple. The entire temple is made of wood, which is quite rare for a temple in China. It is also interesting that it is still standing and hasn’t burned down.

After a quick tour of Woyun Sí we exited at the back of the temple and before us was the beautiful temple of Jinding perched almost precariously on the perpendicular granite cliff top, and whose golden roof tiles reflected bright light in the mid-day sun as though it was a star on top of the mountain. Around the base of the temple was the famous Sea of Clouds, which blocked our view of everything below, except for an occasional foliage-covered peak that protruded from it. And in the horizon, were the faint snow-capped mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and Gong’gashan (the peak of the Great Snow Mountains). The Mountains were everywhere so it is no wonder why this land was so isolated and sheltered from invasions over the centuries. And indeed the great Chinese poet Lipo (ACE 701 - 762) said in a famous poem:

Oh how dangerous, how high!
How hard is the road to Shu!
It is as hard as the road to Heaven...

The Temple of Jinding is perched on a famous perpendicular cliff known as She Shen Yan (Suicide Cliff), well above the clouds and all the open space below. It is said that the sight here is so beautiful and hypnotizing that many have jumped from here, thinking that nirvana and heaven is before them. Railings have been put up to hold back the curious visitor, but frankly, the railings are low enough that those who are emotionally-stirred could still leap forward into the space beyond. At this summit is where a curious natural phenomenon called the Buddha’s Halo is observable. On sunny and clear afternoons, a bright circle of rainbow colors can sometimes be seen. According to our guidebook, this is caused by rays being reflected by water-laden air, and some of the devoted have mistaken these as manifestation of the Buddha welcoming them to nirvana. It is therefore not surprising that mishaps most often occur when the Buddha’s Halo, is observable.

Jin Ding Sí, with its gold roof shining the midmorning sun is home to many Buddha’s and Bodhisattva’s. In the main hall there were many pilgrims donating a small sum in exchange for a blessed handkerchief that was stamped with the temple seal and inscribed by one of the monks from the temple. I purchase several of these as gifts for members of the Zen Center and Christine got them to do a special one that said peace in response to the war that was going on in Iraq at the time. The Chinese visitor read the handkerchief of Christine’s and was so impressed had the monk duplicate one for him as well.

After this, we made our way down the steps towards the cable car. Then we walked down the many stairs to we returned to Jieyin Dian car park and decided to have our lunch in one of the small restaurants there. When we had finished lunch there were no busses available for immediate departure so we rented one of the special taxis to take us to Wang Nian Sí.

Whole World is a Single Flower 1996

It was about 9 pm on Monday September 30th, 1996 when I stepped into line for Korean Air Lines flight 15 headed for Hong Kong via Seoul, Korea. I began planning to go on this particular trip sometime back in 1994 after speaking with some of the sangha members who had visited China with Dae Soen Sa Nim in 1993. This was to be the 4th Triennial “The Whole World is a Single Flower Conference” at Nam Wah Sa “South China Temple” which was built by Hui Neng, the 6th Patriarch. The temple is located just outside of the city of Shaoguan in Southern China. We would also have the opportunity to visit Un Mun Sa, the temple originally built by Un Mun (Ch: Yunmen) in a neighboring province. Since my early days of involvement with Zen it had always been a dream to visit China and the opportunity of visiting ancient temples with the Founding teacher of our school was more than the fulfillment of that dream. By 1 am on Tuesday morning I had met up with the small contingent traveling from Los Angeles.

I received a phone call on my cell phone while waiting for the flight to depart from LAX. It was my son who called to inform me that I was a grandfather. The information was bittersweet, because I would never get to see this baby who was adopted the next day. My son and his girlfriend decided they were too young to raise a child. He was 18 and she only 17 years old. Several of the people waiting for the flight were from Los Angeles and a few had arrived from locations in the Central US. One of the people I met that night has become a close friend and business associate. After a 3-year wait the flight took off at 1:15 am.

Our flight landed in Seoul, Korea where the Los Angeles travelers had the opportunity to meet up with the other group of American’s arriving from the East Coast. We all meandered around the Seoul International Airport for the 2-hour layover and some of us socialized over some very expensive coffee while introductions were made and old friendships were renewed. By this time our group had grown to seventeen. I had really expected a much larger turnout, but later came to enjoy the intimacy of this small group. Eventually we boarded our flight for Hong Kong and a little over 3 hours later the plane made a very dramatic banking maneuver between some high-rise buildings and landed at Hong Kong Airport.

The bus ride to Wanchai, which was where our hotel was located, was quite interesting in that we saw many interesting things. Our tour guide, Zen Master Dae Kwang was exceptionally informative and managed to make the trip fun and enjoyable. Hong Kong is a very intriguing city; everyone seemed poised for some radical changes as it was being prepared to be given back to the Chinese by the end of that year. This edge of uncertainty made the city truly alive and grounded in the present; it is truly a melting pot of cultures. The streets are crowded, the buildings are tall, and about 30 percent of the city appears to be under reconstruction. With the crowds, the traffic and hustle and bustle of this fast growing metropolis, I was surprised at how safe the city actually is. We spent the next day and a half wandering through shops, riding buses, ferries and trains, sightseeing and eating some of the best food I have ever experienced.

The Hong Kong Sangha members were the most memorable and proved invaluable in our unsuccessful attempts at trying to barter for better deals or in finding a good restaurant to visit. This group proved to this tired old American what the true meaning of together action was. All of our Hong Kong hosts were tireless in their efforts to assist us and make our visit a most pleasant event.

One highlight of our stay in Hong Kong was morning practice at Su Bong Zen Monastery. The walk to the center through Hong Kong in predawn was probably an event few people ever have an opportunity to experience. After practice, Zen Master Dae Kwang led us through a few of the local parks where the older resident’s of Hong Kong were practicing Tai Chi as well as playing soccer. We received some strange looks from the locals as we marched single file through the back streets and cul de sacs of Hong Kong’s innermost communities.

At 5 am on Friday morning we assembled outside the Empire Hotel and boarded our bus that would take us to the border town of Shenzhen. At Shenzhen we processed through Chinese Customs and finally entered the Peoples Republic of China. The bus then took us through Shenzhen to the train station where we would ride the train 6 and half hours north to the City of Shaoguan. The train ride was electric, almost like going back one hundred years to a bygone era, and the scenery was the most dramatic I think I have ever seen. All the paintings and stories you have ever heard about China’s beauty and spender don’t add up to the actual experience.

Arriving at the Shaoguan train station was like a scene out of “Casablanca.” The lighting was a muted blue and rather dim to Western standards. But the feeling and the experience transported me to another world which exists beyond my own present idea of life and community, beyond my levels of comfort that exist in this mundane repetitive world I have come to accept as my universe. I was challenged to question my ideas. To put down my opinion at how things ought to be and just allow things to be. Yvonne Padilla, a fellow traveler and sangha member from Los Angeles asked me if I’d go for a walk with her around the town. It was late, maybe 11pm, the city was rather seedy looking and dark and no one else was up to leaving the Hotel, but I swallowed my fears and decided to go on this walk with her. I can’t say I was comfortable, we attracted a lot of attention from the locals; however, I will never forget my feelings nor the sights and the people we encountered that evening. China is a world away from America. Even though a lot of the younger people were wearing jeans and DKNY T-shirts, their manner and way of relating to one another was totally alien to me. I have spent six years of my life living in Europe and thought I understood foreign culture, but this shattered many of my illusions that night. It is quite different when you are the minority, suffice it say it was humbling.

Chinese Contemporary Buddhist Music

I have visited the Peoples Republic of China on four different occasions since 1996 and during these trips I must have visited more than fifty different temples. Each visit would envitably end up in the Gift Store where I would always buy too much stuff to bring back to the states. I still have stuff in boxes in my Garage. Anyway, in each of these temples there would be music playing very loudly, so I thought I 'd share a sample of the current music of Chinese Buddhism played in temples today in China.

customs gate

I was quite blessed to be able to spend three weeks with the Venerabale Maha Ghosananda and Zen Master Sungsan while we traveled through China in 1996. Maha Ghosananda was always pulling some treat or surprise out of his saffron robes, and always had this luminous smile on his face. Just being in his presence was a moving experience for me and I must say that I have very fond memories of the times as well as the silence we shared on this trip.

leaving china with mixed emotions
passing through customs at shenzhen
my bags are much heavier
now than before
from all of the gifts I have bought
the sign says;
Hong Kong Residents Only.
my group proceeds and I ask,
“shouldn’t we go that way?”
“oh no, this is the correct way.”
looking up and down at the
customs gates
all of them have signs which read,
Hong Kong Residents Only.
a chinese official tells us,
we must turn around and go back
because we’ve come the wrong way.
when we finally arrive at
Hong Kong Customs
turning around the corner
there is Maha Ghosananda
his paperwork is done
and his processing complete
Maha Ghosananda has taught us all today
only go straight
and pay attention to the signs.

October 7, 1996
Hong Kong Customs

photo: Maha Ghosananda, Dakchun fashi, and Dochong, JDPSN at Yunmensi PRC

photo2: Maha Ghosanada and Dochong, JDPSN in Hong Kong