Buddhism in America
Buddhism first came to America in the late 1800's from the Europeans. 1893 is the year most often given to the birth of Buddhism in America. It was said to have come over during the first World Parliament of Religions, which took place in Chicago
The first known Buddhist monk in the Western hemisphere was, Allan Bennett. He eventually took the name Ananda Metteya.
As Buddhism began to flower in America, it began to influence important thinkers, who in turn influenced the practice itself.
While early in America's history, scholars, Transcendentalists and Theosophists knew about Buddhism, it was not until the early 1950's that most Americans heard of Buddhism. This greater exposure is thanks to the writers and poets of the Beat generation who took up Buddhist practice and incorporated it more blatantly into their widely published works. Later in the 1950's, Alan Watts began giving erudite public talks on Zen Buddhism. Shunryu Suzuki established San......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 1268
Approximate Pages: 5 (260 words per double-spaced page) |