American Buddhism Analysis

The article I have selected is from the peer reviewed Journal of global Buddhism. The paper is really fascinating in a myriad of ways, I had no idea that the "American Buddhist" was an amalgamation of so many different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The author, Anne C. Spencer, started this research as part of her graduate thesis at the research of Buddhist studies in Berkeley, California. She is currently a faculty member of the College of Idaho, in Caldwell, Id.

American scholars tend to divide American practitioners of the Buddhist religion into two camps, the heritage group and the convert group. The heritage group is made up of immigrants who have brought their Buddhist beliefs with them from countries that have a historical record of indigenous practice of the religion. Conversely, the convert group is made up of Americans and immigrants from other places without a native history of Buddhist practice who have since converted to the faith. Spencer very early on in her work notes that this two pronged understanding of American Buddhism has become outdated, she theorizes that the more widely spread Buddhism becomes in America, it gets further from the traditional roots and following of the original heritage class of Buddhist. …show more content…
This change is not limited to the scope of either group, just by existing, the convert group is part of this assimilation process. However, as the needs and norms of the heritage group change over time, they must adapt to meet those needs which usually involves more involvement with mainstream American