Asian Religions in America A Documentary History

by Tweed, Thomas A.; Prothero, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9780195113389
• ISBN10: 0195113381
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-12-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Asian Religions in America presents the breadth and depth of the American encounter with Asian religions through a wide range of documents -- written and visual, from both elite and popular culture -- dating from 1788 to the present. Selections discuss Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Shinto, Confucianism, and Taoism and their places in the American religious landscape. Entries are divided into four chronological periods: before 1840, 18401924, 1924-1965, and 1965 to the present The editors have provided an introduction that gives a brief overview of the key beliefs and practices of the major Asian religious traditions.

Table of Contents

Preface	xii
GENERAL INTRODUCTION	1	(12)
Thomas A. Tweed
INTRODUCTION TO ASIAN RELIGIONS	13	(12)
PART I ORIENTATIONS, 1784 TO 1840	25	(36)
INTRODUCTION	25	(4)
1. VIEWS FROM ABROAD	29	(14)
Amasa Delano
A Narrative of Voyages and Travels (1817)	29	(3)
Christian Disciple
An Account of the Sikhs in India (1814)	32	(3)
Robert Morrison's Letter from China (1809)	35	(3)
Adoniram
Ann Judson
A Mission in Burma (1832)	38	(5)
2. VIEWS FROM HOME	43	(18)
Benjamin Franklin's Oriental Tale (1788)	43	(1)
Joseph Priestley
A Comparison of the Institutions of Moses with Those of the Hindoos and Other Ancient Nations (1799)	44	(4)
John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (1813-14)	48	(3)
William Bentley on Asian Trade in Salem (1794-1804)	51	(3)
Hannah Adams
A Dictionary of All Religions (1817)	54	(3)
Charles A. Goodrich
Religious Ceremonies and Customs (1836)	57	(4)
PART II ENCOUNTERS, 1840 TO 1924	61	(98)
INTRODUCTION	61	(6)
3. EAST TO AMERICA: IMMIGRANT LANDINGS	67	(25)
Frederick Douglass
Our Composite Nationality (1869)	67	(3)
Fung Chee Pang
The Confucian Sage and the Mongolian Bible (1876)	70	(3)
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)	73	(2)
Frederick J. Masters
Pagan Temples in San Francisco (1892)	75	(3)
Shuye Sonoda
Buddhism in the Kingdom of Liberty (1899)	78	(4)
Saint Nihal Singh
The Picturesque Immigrant from India's Coral Strand (1909)	82	(4)
Swami Paramananda
Christ and Oriental Ideals (1923)	86	(2)
United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923)	88	(4)
4. ROMANCING THE ORIENT: LITERARY ENCOUNTERS	92	(18)
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Brahma and Plato (1857, 1850)	92	(3)
Henry David Thoreau
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849)	95	(3)
Bret Harte
The Heathen Chinee (1870)	98	(2)
Walt Whitman
Passage to India (1870)	100	(6)
T. S. Eliot
The Waste Land (1922)	106	(4)
5. JOURNEYS IN THE STUDY	110	(9)
Webster's Dictionary on Hinduism and Buddhism (1828, 1849, 1864)	110	(1)
Lydia Maria Francis Child
The Progress of Religious Ideas (1855)	111	(3)
James Freeman Clarke
Ten Great Religions (1871)	114	(5)
6. POSTCARDS FOR THE PEWS: MISSIONARIES AND THEIR CRITICS	119	(8)
M. L. Gordon
An American Missionary in Japan (1892)	199	(2)
Mark Twain
The United States of Lyncherdom (1901)	121	(2)
Myra E. Withee
Is Buddhism to Blame? (1902)	123	(4)
7. THE WORLD'S PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS	127	(18)
John Henry Barrows
Words of Welcome (1893)	127	(3)
Swami Vivekananda
Hinduism (1893)	130	(3)
Anagarika Dharmapala
The World's Debt to Buddha (1893)	133	(4)
Soyen Shaku
Reply to a Christian Critic (1896)	137	(8)
8. TURNING EAST: SYMPATHIZERS AND CONVERTS	145	(14)
Henry Steel Olcott
Old Diary Leaves and The Buddhist Catechism (1900, 1881)	141	(4)
Sister Christine
Memories of Swami Vivekananda (1945)	145	(3)
Paul Carus
The Dharma (1898)	148	(3)
Marie de Souza Canavarro
Insight into the Far East (1925)	151	(3)
William Sturgis Bigelow to Kwanryo Naobayashi (1895)	154	(5)
PART III EXCLUSION, 1924 to 1965	159	(64)
INTRODUCTION	159	(4)
9. CLOSED PORTS AND OPEN CAMPS	163	(15)
Asian Exclusion Act (1924)	163	(1)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Executive Order 9066 (1942)	164	(2)
Nyogen Senzaki
Like a Dream, Like a Fantasy (1978)	166	(3)
Shigeo Kikuchi
Memoirs of a Buddhist Woman Missionary in Hawaii (1991)	169	(3)
Julius Goldwater
Wartime Buddhist Liturgy (1940s)	172	(6)
10. HINDU CROSSINGS: GURUS AND DISCIPLES	178	(13)
Krishnalal Shridharani
My Brief Career as a Yogi (1941)	178	(3)
Swami Paramahansa Yogananda
Autobiography of a Yogi (1946)	181	(4)
Krishnamurti
The Turning Point (1975)	185	(2)
John Yale
What Vedanta Means to Me (1960)	187	(4)
11. BUDDHIST CROSSINGS: MASTERS AND STUDENTS	191	(18)
Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki
What is Zen? (1959)	191	(2)
Dwight Goddard
Followers of Buddha: An American Brotherhood (1934)	193	(3)
Jack Kerouac
Dharma Bums (1958)	196	(4)
Ruth Fuller Sasaki
Zen: A Method for Religious Awakening (1959)	200	(3)
Elson B. Snow
Entry into the Dharma Gate (1994)	203	(6)
12. ARTISTS, PREACHERS, AND MISSIONARIES	209	(14)
E. Stanley Jones
The Christ of the Indian Road (1925)	209	(3)
Mersene Sloan
The Indian Menace (1929)	212	(3)
Howard and Sue Bailey Thurman Meet Mahatma Gandhi (1936)	215	(3)
John Cage
Lecture on Nothing (1949)	218	(5)
PART IV PASSAGES, 1965 TO THE PRESENT	223	(169)
INTRODUCTION	223	(6)
13. COUNTERCULTURAL APPROPRIATIONS	229	(12)
Alan Watts
Beginning a Counterculture (1972)	229	(3)
Timothy Leary
The Buddha as Drop-Out (1968)	232	(3)
Ram Dass
The Only Dance There Is (1974)	235	(6)
14. ASIAN INDIAN GURUS, CONVERTS, AND MOVEMENTS A TM Catechism (1975)	241	(20)
The Beatles and A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Search for Liberation (1981)	244	(4)
Yogi Bhajan
Awakening the Mind to Prayer (1984)	248	(3)
Margaret Simpson
An Experience of Siddha Yoga Meditation (1991)	251	(2)
Swami Satchidananda
Integral Yoga (1996)	253	(4)
Elsie Cowan
Sai Baba and the Resurrection of Walter Cowan (1976)	257	(4)
15 BUDDHIST TEACHERS, CONVERTS, AND MOVEMENTS	261	(28)
Shunryu Suzuki
Posture (1970)	261	(3)
Chogyam Trungpa
Meditation in Action (1969)	264	(4)
Thich Nhat Hanh
The Miracle of Mindfulness (1975)	268	(2)
An Interview with Roshi Jiyu Kennett (1986)	270	(4)
Women, Buddhism, and Vipassana Meditation (1991)	274	(3)
bell hooks
Waking Up to Racism (1994)	277	(4)
Jacci Thompson-Dodd
Soka Gakkai and the Power of Chanting (1996)	281	(4)
Bernard Glassman
Rick Fields
Recipes for Social Change (1996)	285	(4)
16. ASIAN INDIAN IMMIGRANTS: HINDU, JAIN, AND SIKH	289	(26)
Anand Mohan
The Pilgrimage (1994)	289	(5)
Rituals at Sri Venkateswara Temple (1995)	294	(5)
Sri Ganesha Temple, Nashville, Recounting History and Nurturing Youth (1985-95)	299	(4)
Hinduism in the Public Realm: Hinduism Today on Christianity and Cloning (1996)	303	(6)
Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago, An Ancient Heritage and a Promising Future (1993)	309	(3)
Sikh Religious Society, Things That Make You Ask "Kion"? (1994)	312	(3)
17. BUDDHIST IMMIGRANTS	315	(20)
The Buddha's Birthday in a Vietnamese-American Temple (1986)	315	(4)
The Dalai Lama Meets the Buddhist Sangha Council of Southern California (1989)	319	(3)
Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara's Tenth Anniversary (1990)	322	(2)
Later Generations of Japanese Americans on Jodo Shinshu (1990)	324	(4)
Thai Youth Club, DJ or Not We're Still Upset (1994)	328	(3)
Hsi Lai Temple, Buddhism Coming to the West (1997)	331	(4)
18. ASIAN RELIGIONS IN POPULAR AND ELITE CULTURE	335	(27)
Bruce Lee
Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975)	335	(4)
Benjamin Hoff
The Tao of Pooh (1982)	339	(3)
Gary Snyder
Smokey the Bear Sutra (1969)	342	(3)
An Interview with Composer Philip Glass (1991)	345	(4)
The Beastie Boys, Bodhisattva Vow (1994)	349	(2)
Children Responding to Little Buddha (1994)	351	(2)
Phil Jackson
If You Meet the Buddha in the Lane, Feed Him the Ball (1995)	353	(4)
Amy Tan
The Kitchen God's Wife (1991)	357	(5)
19. INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE	362	(16)
Thomas Merton
Letter from Asia (1968)	362	(3)
Masao Abe
John Cobb
Buddhist-Christian Dialogue (1981)	365	(4)
Rodger Kamenetz
The Jew in the Lotus (1994)	369	(2)
The Parliament of the World's Religions Centennial (1993)	371	(5)
Walter Martin
The Kingdom of the Cults (1985)	376	(2)
20. MAPPING LEGAL BOUNDARIES: RELIGION AND STATE	378	(14)
Justice William Douglas
Asian Religions According to the Supreme Court (1965)	378	(3)
U.S. Supreme Court, Even Buddhist Prisoners Have Rights (1972)	381	(2)
Chief Justice William Rehnquist
The Krishna Religion (1992)	383	(2)
Sikh Kirpans in Public Schools (1994)	385	(3)
A Vietnamese Home Temple Zoning Dispute (1996)	388	(4)
Chronology	392	(10)
Further Reading	402	(5)
Index	407