- The Oriental Religious and American Thought:
Nineteenth-Century Explorations by Carl T. Jackson
- Reviewed by Pedersen, K. Priscilla
These three books present a great deal of useful information about
Asian religions in the United States. The first deals mainly with Hinduism and less with
Chinese religion or with Buddhism, which was little known in this country and
insufficiently distinguished from Hinduism until the 1870s, when advances in scholarship,
and especially the publication in 1879 of Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia, made the image
of "Buddhism" more distinct. The second and third, as their titles indicate, are
about Buddhism almost exclusively. As tradition oriented, historical accounts, all three
compensate for the a historical tendency of sociological studies of "new" or
"alternative" religions to put all religious activity which does not seem to
belong to the "mainstream" of American Biblical religions into a single
category. Such classification tends to blur or overlook the fundamental differences of
doctrine and practice between one "new religion" and another, and so to lead to
inaccurate or incomplete description and analysis. The works reviewed here, as well as any
others which take a similar approach, should help to balance this.
Carl Jackson's The Oriental Religions and American Thought: Nineteenth
Century Explorations is a thorough, meticulous historical investigation. Jackson
consistently pursues the questions "What was known?" "Who knew it?"
"How did they come to know it?" and "What did they make of what they
know?" giving detailed answers throughout thirteen chapters, beginning with the late
eighteenth century and ending with the World Parliament of Religions in 1893. Decade by
decade, he documents with care and precision the growth and change of American
understanding of Asian religions, and does not limit himself to the expected well-known
figures and movements like Sir William Jones, the Transcendentalists, Theosophy, or Ernest
Fenollosa. He also examines the work of early American writers on Asian religions, such as
Hannah Adams and Joseph Priestly, and describes (to sample the book's contents) the
enthusiasm of John Adams for the study of Asian religions, the reports of Christian
missionaries to Asia, the interchange of Unitarians with Rammohun Roy, and subsequent
relations of the Free Religious Association and the Brahmo Samaj, and the author also
gives a summary of the ongoing progress of American Orientalist scholarship, both academic
and amateur.
This book should remain the standard introduction to its subject for a
good time to come. For the person who wishes to research a particular area, there could
hardly be a better beginning than Jackson's copious notes for each chapter and the
extensive bibliography. One of the book's strengths is that it draws on thirty-five
different nineteenth century periodicals as well as many other sources. The non-specialist
should not be put off by the wealth of minutiae. These Explorations never lose continuity
or momentum, and will make absorbing reading for anyone interested in Asian religions,
American religion, or the nineteenth century in general. One could pick at a few details:
it might be better to update old-fashioned spellings of Indian names (for example,
"Majumdar" rather than "Mozoomadar") and to give a somewhat fuller
explanation of terms or ideas important in Asian traditions. It is inadequate, for
example, to call the ''pansil" received by Helena Blavatsky and Henry Olcott in Sri
Lanka "a ritual approximating the Christian confirmation." On the whole,
however, the study is exemplary of its type and can be recommended virtually without
reservation.
Jackson does not venture a thesis on the significance of Asian
religions in America. In a brief after word he notes that "the American discovery of
Oriental religion was largely a literary enterprise: in which European influence was
crucial, and which was often impelled by negative reactions to Christianity, though this
common beginning predicted no uniform conclusion for the many contacts that took
place." Jackson rightly states that his study demonstrates that "the American
encounter with Asian religion was already advanced by the end of the nineteenth
century." As for the present, Jackson believes that "a close observer of the
contemporary scene can already see that Oriental religious and philosophical ideas
constitute a significant force in twentieth-century American culture." Although he
thinks the future is unclear, he is willing to say that "the contemporary American
interest in Asian thought will one day be viewed as an important phase in an unprecedented
encounter of Eastern and Western societies," and refers to the ideas of Arnold
Toynbee, F. S. C. Northrop, and William McNeill on the interaction of civilizations.
In contrast, Charles Prebish holds that Buddhism, at least, "has
made almost no impact at all" on American society (p. xviii), though like Jackson he
makes no predications. In his American Buddhism he focuses on Buddhism in America with a
specific concern: the ways in which Buddhism in the United States is achieving, or failing
to achieve, a viable American identity. In his introduction he says, "I will try to
outline . . . some of the directions Buddhism must take if it is to become part of the
fiber of American religious life. Whether there are distinctly Buddhist answers to
American problems remains to be seen." (p. xix).
American Buddhism is the book to read first if one is seeking solid
information on the state of Buddhist institutions in America. The current edition of
Richard Robinson and Willard Johnson's The Buddhist Religion lists it as "the best
book to date, detailed and well-informed." In the first of three sections, Prebish
gives an abbreviated historical overview of Buddhist traditions as they have been
transmitted to America, and then proceeds to a discursive and interpretive account of the
periods 1893 to 1960 ("Buddhist Beginnings in America," starting with the World
Parliament of Religions), 1961-1970 ("The Consciousness Explosion"), and after
1971 ("In the Aftermath of Chaos"). The book's second part, which makes it
indispensable for the study of the subject, is an examination of eight Buddhist groups
Prebish has selected as most "stable," with abundant factual information under
the following headings: sectarian affiliation, history; facilities and structure; branches
and affiliated groups; key members and/or personnel; membership; key and/or special
doctrines; rituals, services, and practices; future plans; and publications. The
"concluding remarks" ending the treatment of each group include Prebish's own
comments and evaluation. A third and final section is a general analysis further
developing Prebish' s own ideas and recapitulating the data, using Robert Ellwood's
(Religious and Spiritual Groups in Modern America) list of typical features of
"cults" as an organizing scheme.
It seems that Prebish had to do a great deal of selection and
compression to create this two-hundred-odd-page study from what he tells us were massive
files. In places the presentation shows signs, in continuity, style, and pace, of the
surgery performed to reduce it to its present length. Still, American Buddhism is not only
highly informative but lively, with vivid description, illustrative anecdotes, the
author's own (often pointed) remarks, and frequent quotations from other interpreters
including Martin Marty, Harvey Cox, and Aghenanda Bharati. As is almost inevitable with a
work on this subject, the book (which contains no references to publications or events
past 1977) is now somewhat out of date, since Buddhist groups in the West are in a phase
of rapid growth which sees notable changes in a five or ten-year period.
The view Prebish offers of Buddhism trying to become American is not a
fully developed sociological or theological interpretation. A full account would have had
to incorporate explanation of what is distinctively American in "American religious
life" and of what the especially "American problems" referred to in the
introduction actually are. Prebish does not undertake any such sustained discussion of
American religion, but confines himself to a series of specific, connected observations.
As American Buddhism and the book by Rick Fields reviewed below both show, Buddhism in
America has become extensively institutionalized only since the second World War, and
mostly in the last decade. In the present situation, Prebish says, "With the task of
finding its American identity, the question of the specifics of lifestyle was to become
the chief concern for American Buddhists in the 1970s" (p. 39). Answers to this
question depend on finding workable ways to do two things: preserve the authenticity of
tradition and at the same time make appropriate adaptations to the needs of a new
clientele in a new cultural setting. If these things are not done, Buddhism cannot
flourish as both truly "Buddhist" and truly "American."
Prebish makes several points about "lifestyle" which are
repeated throughout the book. One is that Buddhism in America is a lay movement and must
be recognized as such by members of Buddhist communities. The evidence he and Fields
present actually suggests that the development of forms of lay and "family"
practice, conjoined with an often moderated monasticism, is well under way. Many of the
teachers of Buddhism in America are married, and even those who are not are flexible in
dealing with lay students. When it is seen as needed for effective self-cultivation,
practice in a monastic setting is made available as a long or short term option. This
brings us to another of Prebish's points. From time to time he deplores the fact that
American Buddhists flee city life hoping to find serenity in rural centers. He emphasizes
that Buddhism in America is, or should be, urban, since the very things which make the
city a difficult place for Buddhist practices also make it a good training ground. Whether
or not this potential has now been recognized, and even if there is, or once was, such an
anti-urban attitude in Buddhist communities, no exodus to the country has in fact taken
place. The typical pattern for Buddhist groups seems to be an original, founding center in
a city, followed by expansion into a network of city and suburban centers, and, when funds
become available, establishment of a monastery-style retreat outside the city. The later
is not an escape; rather, city and country practice are seen as complementary, often
alternating.
A further observation Prebish makes on the concrete forms of American
Buddhism is that in the 1960s the Buddhist temples in America were for the most part not
only Asian in design (obviously manifest in their architecture) but also in ritual
function. Thus, robbed of American sacred centers, American Buddhists ... found themselves
expressing a religious ideal and creativity more appropriate for Asia than for America.
Buddhist community life in America was consequently handicapped by its lack of mythic
meaning.... (p. 37)
It is hard to know just how to assess or respond to this judgment. At
this time the majority of teachers of Buddhism in the West are Asians. Many of them have
imported Asian Buddhist liturgy, implements, and decor wholesale to their American
centers, and they evidently see nothing wrong in this. They are eager to use modern
methods of construction but at the same time to reproduce traditional forms. Thus the
International Daibosatsu Zendo in the Catskill mountains of New York State is modeled
after a Kyoto temple that is a Japanese national treasure. The person who oversaw the
building of this impressive facility, Shimano Eidoo Roshi, has said that "Japanese
culture is Zen itself' (Fields, p. 365). At Odiyan, the Nyingma community founded by
Tarthang Tulku and now under construction, not only a 108-foot stupa but a twelve-ton
prayer wheel, powered by electricity and containing millions of mantras printed by modern
methods, are planned. Perhaps Prebish would feel that such projects are not successful
"American Buddhism," and he might heartily disagree with eidoo Roshi's
pronouncement. But it is likely that not only Asian teachers, but many of their Western
students as well, regard the shapes, sounds, and acts of traditional Zen or Tibetan
Vajrayaana, for example, not merely as culturally determined but as forms which in some
essential manner embody sacredness or a Buddhist consciousness. Eidoo Roshi takes this
position in one way. In the intensely iconic Tibetan tradition it may be taken just as
strongly, if not more strongly, in another way. Nevertheless, transformation is inevitable
with the passage of time, and in some cases decisive changes have already been made. It is
well known by now that Philip Kapleau Roshi and his teacher, Yasutani Hakuun Roshi, broke
off their relationship over a disagreement over the translation of chants into English,
yet this practice (which Prebish supports) is now not uncommon. It is interesting to
imagine, but impossible to foresee--or prescribe--the innovations which will be made by
American Buddhist leaders of future generations if lineages now being transmitted to the
West continue and flourish.
Prebish expresses concern that "the integrity of [Buddhism's]
various traditions be protected by teachers who bear the authentic seal of their
lineage" (p. 177) but says that all the teachers dealt with in his book have
"unquestionable ...credentials and religious experience." He alludes, however,
to others "not so exemplary." He faults Chogyam Trungpa, in spite of impeccable
tradition, for "textually unsound" and "unorthodox" teachings, and for
being "out of touch" with the rank and file of his followers, who, according to
Prebish, are "often victims of serious misunderstanding that results in a transparent
anti-intellectualism" (p. 154). He appears to feel in general that all too often
American devotees of Buddhism are likely to have enthusiasm out of proportion to their
real grasp of Buddhist ideas. He points out that groups with a grounding in "sound,
basic doctrines, shared by all Buddhists, and in solid religious practice" are
"slow to develop, conservative in nature, and remarkably stable in growth, activity
and teaching" (p. 51). Others, "garnering the 'fallout' of social
upheaval," are "inherently unstable." A broad identification with American
values and culture is desirable, Prebish says, and groups which identify themselves with
counter cultural rejection of these values will prove unable to consolidate any gains that
they have made.
Finally, Prebish makes the general statement that "Buddhism's
sameness with American values, its affirmation of America's mission, is the key that
unlocks the door to Buddhism's future success in this country" (p. 181). These values
are characterized simply as "the unique qualities of freedom, equality and justice
held dear by so many Americans." It is not clear how Prebish envisions this
identification; the participation in American civil religion, to which Prebish gives
importance, is not a means to, but a sign of, the thoroughgoing acculturation which, in
Prebish's opinion, the Americanization of Buddhism must be. He does suggest, however, that
appropriation of American values might entail a "violation" of Asian Buddhist
orthodoxy or even a break with the parent tradition (p. 181). If so, one might ask, how is
"violation" or compromise to be approached? How is a "break" to be
contemplated? Who is to decide, and how, what is right for Asian or Western Buddhists? A
rough analogy which could be made is the situation now faced by Roman Catholicism with the
growth of its Third World churches. How is a congregation to be at the same time truly
"African" and truly "Christian," for example? The same fundamental
problem of defining a religious identity arises in both cases. Both Christianity and
Buddhism seem to claim from their beginnings to be bearers of a universal message and to
have something to say about human experience as such. If this is the case, then something
is conveyed in the doctrine, however problematic it may be to locate or expose, which
transcends cultural situations. That "something," if it can be found, is the
sine qua non of a "Buddhist" or "Christian" identity. It is not
necessary, in the case of Buddhism, to think of this in terms of an ur-Buddhism, which
Prebish says we cannot talk about, but just, to use his words, "sound, basic
doctrine, shared by all Buddhists." If, on the other hand, there is no such essential
doctrine, then we must be clear on the fact that when we speak of "Buddhism" or
"Buddhists" we are being entirely conventional. This is quite possible, but in
this case we have no business making recommendations to any "Buddhists" about
what they should teach, practice, or otherwise do.
No such complex normative questions arise in Rick Fields' How the Swans
Came to the Lake. A Narrative History of Buddhism in America. Here the tone is,
"Buddhism is here to stay--hooray!" This book covers much of the same ground as
Jackson and Prebish, but the more recent the events discussed the more detail is given, so
that it is a very helpful supplement to Prebish but adds little to the insights found in
Jackson. "Narrative" for Fields means a period-by-period, and sometimes almost
year-by-year structuring, and a chatty, anecdotal, journalistic style. Book One begins
with the life of Siddhaartha Gautama and goes through major developments in Buddhist
tradition and early Buddhist contacts with the West in two chapters. Following chapters
deal with the beginnings of European Orientalism (mostly William Jones), America in the
nineteenth century, and Chinese and Japanese immigration. Book Two tells the story of the
transmission of Zen and Tibetan Vajrayaana to America, following the work of a number of
individual teachers and the growth of their missions. Some information is also given about
the teaching of vipassanaa meditation, the congregation founded by the Vietnamese Master
Thich Thien-an, and the Korean Zen master Seung Sahn. The very large groups of
Asian-American Buddhists carefully treated by Prebish (Nichiren Shoushuu and the Pure Land
denomination, Buddhist Churches of America) are neglected by Fields, so that the story of
Japanese American Buddhists is begun but not finished. After the historical miscellany of
the first section, Fields turns his attention to what clearly interests him most: the
Buddhism of Western seekers, mostly Mahaayaana, which in different ways in the work of
different teachers is passing from traditional formulations to modernist restatements.
How the Swans Came to the Lake is not a scholarly work. The worst parts
are those in the beginning, which to be reliable would require proper use of sources. For
example, in recounting the life of the historical Buddha, Fields gives a periodization of
his teachings taken from Bu-ston: three "turnings of the wheel of Dharma" as the
Four Truths and anaatman, praj~naparamitaa, and "demon-stration of a absolute
reality." Of course this "Hinayaana"-Mahaayaana-Vajrayaana classification
has nothing to do with the life of Gautama, at least as far as historical scholarship is
concerned. Since no other analysis of the development of the Buddha's teachings is given,
the relation between such scholarship and the "narrative" being presented is in
need of clarification. Fields says in his endnotes, "My source for the life of the
Buddha was primarily Bu-ston, the twelfth-century Tibetan historian. For the description
of the Buddha's enlightenment, however, I have followed the Zen tradition." He does
not explicate the assumptions or principles which for him validate this way of proceeding.
The account of the rise of Mahaayaana, almost entirely in terms of Vinaya controversy, is
greatly oversimplified. A considerable amount of material on the journey of a party of
Chinese monks in the fifth century C.E. to "Fu-sang," taken to be America, is
included without criticism of the evidence. Other instances of carelessness could be
enumerated, but suffice it to say here that the volume of detail is not balanced by
discipline in treatment. The size of the book arouses expectations about its standard
which go unfulfilled.
The less scholarly and the more informal and full of stories the book
becomes, the better it is. Once Fields begins to write about teachers, living and dead,
whose lives are recorded by still-living disciples and friends, How the Swans Came to the
Lake is entertaining, moving, illumining, and informative, though not in the solid,
systematic fashion of Jackson and Prebish. There is no other single place where one can
find so much information on recent and contemporary teachers of Buddhism in America. One
could call it (there are photos) a Buddhist People magazine. Much of the material comes
from books and the literature put out by Buddhist organizations, but much is also drawn
from interviews, personal experience, and broad familiarity with a Buddhist subculture. It
is worth reading if only for the flavor provided by irresistible details and quotations
like these:
Whitman on Emerson:"I was simmering, simmering, simmering; Emerson
brought me to a boil." Emerson on Whitman: Leaves of Crass is "a mixture of the
Bhagavat-Gita and the New York Herald" (a tabloid of the day). Paul Carus, around the
turn of the century, set verses of the Dhammapada to Western classical melodies, saying in
defense of this practice, "Chopin's Nocturne, Opus 37, could not be better described
than as a longing for Nirvana." The Zen master Sasaki Sokei-an went out for the
evening in 1930s New York in a tuxedo and a Groucho Marx-style large false nose and
moustache. In 1953 Allen Ginsberg (beat Zen) found Ruth Fuller Sasaki's (square Zen) First
Zen Institute "like a university club." In San Francisco in the late 1960s, a
fund-raiser for the Zen Center, featuring the Grateful Dead and other local bands, was
called a "Zenefit."
Fields' style is sometimes marred by too much of a kind of
AmericanVajrayaana pietism. One must also say, however, that he is tactful and sym-*
pathetic in speaking of the weaknesses of individual teachers, of rivalry between them,
and of the greenness and confusion of their new disciples. In spite of its defects, How
the Swans Came to the Lake is a valuable record of cultural change, and there is no other
"human-interest" document on who individual American Buddhists and their
teachers are, and what they have been doing, which can substitute for it.
Taken together, these three books give a rich and enlightening picture
of Asian religions in America. There are several aspects of the history of Asian religions
in the West which remain to be accounted for to make the picture we have now in the
growing literature more complete.
Firstly, works bringing our knowledge of Hinduism in the West up to
date are necessary.
Secondly, the European side of the story needs to be told. Jackson
makes clear that the history of nineteenth-century understanding of Asian religions is
largely a history of learning gotten from Europe. In the twentieth century, direct
contacts between Asia and America increased, but still there has been constant interaction
with Europe as influential teachers traveled across the Atlantic between their European
and American students. An account, comparable in detail and analysis to the works reviewed
here, of the whole history of Asian religions in Europe would be an enormous task, but an
important one. If there already is such a major general study, I am not aware of it.
Thirdly, the story needs to be told with much more attention to the
Asian point of view. How do Asian teachers themselves view their work in the West, the
responses of seekers and students, and the changes in tradition which have begun? What
motivates so many to leave Asia to teach and even to live permanently in foreign
countries? How are these views and motivations related to so ciai, political, and
religious change in Asia, and to modernizatio n (or lack of it) in Asian traditions in the
post-colonial era? Both teachers and students frequently go from one continent to another
and back again. How is this exchange likely to affect the future of Asian religious
thought and practice? How do the Tibetan and Zen "establishments" in India and
Japan look upon the authorization of Westerners as successors in their lineages?
Altogether, what exactly are the relations between what is going on in the old world and
in the new one?
Lastly, if it is possible to claim with Jackson that "Oriental
religious and philosophical ideas constitute a significant force in twentieth-century
American [or Western] culture," then this claim has to be examined. Doing this
involves an assessment of how much is actually known and understood of Asian religions by
Westerners, and this in turn entails an assessment of the progress and influence of
scholarship[l]. Here more case studies such as Guy Welbon's The Buddhist Nirvaa.na and Its
Western Interpreters (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1968) or the recent India in the
Mind of Germany: Schelling. Schopenhauer and Their Times by Jean W. Sedlar (Washington:
University Press of America, 1982) would be useful contributions. Jackson deals only with
American scholarship, so the reader of his book is, as it were, listening to one end (the
less talkative one) of a telephone conversation. Prebish, who is abundantly qualified to
do so and therefore prudently hesitant, does not say much about Buddhist studies
scholarship, centering his attention on organizations and practices. Fields refers to some
scholars, but in the second part of his book only as they are directly connected with
groups he is discussing. Prebish and Fields both mention the considerable amount of study,
including scholarly study, which goes on under the auspices of Buddhist organizations in
America, to say nothing of what is done in universities. The interrelation between
Buddhist studies in the academic context and the practice of Buddhism by Westerners is not
explored by any of our authors, but it is complex and far-reaching. It is frequent that a
graduate student or Ph.D. in Buddhist studies also is a Buddhist. it is commonplace for
seekers or committed Buddhists who are not scholars to read more or less deeply in
translations of primary sources of Buddhism. The same pattern holds true for a number of
Hindu groups. Consideration of the present state of scholarship and its effect on
religious and intellectual life and a serious look at contemporary nonacademic writings by
both Asian and Western adherents of Asian religions are both called for.
It is against this background that we could fruitfully reflect on the
nature of Western commitment to Asian religious traditions. It is needless to say that
terms like "commitment" or "conversion" need study in themselves, but
their use implies at the least that some fundamental decision or judgment is made. It is
not my intention here to debate whether or not a Westerner can "really become" a
Buddhist or a Hindu. What is important, I believe, is to think about what happens when a
Westerner judges doctrines of an Asian religion--as understood by that person--to be
compelling or true. This question is not really answered by studies which show that
certain conditions predict movement to non-main stream religion or by interpretations
which speak mostly of reaction against something, which may or may not be the beginning of
this transition but is not its end. The question can be approached historically,
sociologically, and psychologically, but its more satisfying clarification requires the
application also of methods of theology and philosophy.
NOTES
1. For overviews of Buddhist studies scholarship, see Alex Wayman,
"Buddhism," in Historia Religionum, ed. C. Jouco Bleeker and Geo
Widengren (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1971), vol. 2, Religions of the Present, pp.
457-461; and J. W. de Jong, "A Brief History of Buddhist Studies in Europe
andAmerica," Parts 1 and 2, The Eastern Buddhist, n.s. 7, no. 1 (May
1974):55-106, and no. 2 (October 1974):49-82.