New book on Buddhism in America authored by Hamilton College Professor and Religious Historian Richa

Although its history stretches back to ancient India, only in the past few decades has Buddhism begun to blossom into a full-fledged American religion. Religious historian Richard Seager explores the communities, institutions and practices of the three broad groups of American Buddhists -- a burgeoning Asian immigrant population, numerous native-born converts, and old-line Asian American Buddhists -- in his new book, Buddhism in America. The book, for general readers, was published this month as part of the Columbia Contemporary American Religion Series.

Seager, associate professor of religious studies at Hamilton College, is also the author of The World's Parliament of Religions: the East West Encounter, Chicago, 1893, and Dawn of Religious Pluralism: Voices from the World's Parliament of Religions.

In Buddhism in America, Seager offers a portrait of the communities, institutions, practices and individuals that are integral to the contemporary Buddhist landscape. The book includes a brief survey of Buddhist beliefs and Buddhist history in both Asia and the United States. Seager also highlights challenges and problems that have come with transporting and adapting an Asian religion to late 20th century America: who can teach and who can lead? What are the proper roles of laypeople and monks in a society lacking a strong monastic tradition? Finally, the book looks at Americanization, including recent developments in three important areas -- gender equity, progressive social change and intra-Buddhist and inter-religious dialogue.

Arguing that the gulf between recent converts and new immigrant communities is the most prominent feature of the contemporary scene, Seager assesses American Buddhism as a whole and looks into its future: Will the dharma, traditional Buddhist teachings, be watered down to suit the lifestyles of middle-class, consumerist Americans? Will this highly decentralized religion develop strong national associations, as Catholicism and Judaism have? What institutions, universities, monasteries, or dharma centers run by and for laypeople will be most effective in preserving and developing an American Buddhist tradition?

In reviewing Seager's book, Paul David Numrich, director of the Buddhist Chicago Project and author of Old Wisdom in the New World: Americanization in Two Immigrant Thervada Buddhist Temples, says, "Richard Seager marks out a magnificent road map, directing us to important people, places, and issues in multifaceted Buddhist America at the turn of the millennium...Under Seager's guidance we discover a great deal about the Buddhists of America, but also a great deal about the Americanization of Buddhism."

"The first comprehensive treatment of Buddhism in America to take seriously the experiences of immigrants Buddhism in America is a fascinating road map to the contemporary Buddhist landscape, with Seager as the expert guide," said Stephen Prothero, assistant professor of religion at Boston University.

Buddhism in America is available through Columbia University Press Order Department, 136 South Broadway, Irvington, N.Y. 10533; 1-800-944-8648; www.columbia.edu, or at bookstores.