Buddhism has been in America for over 100 years. It arose in a predominantly Hindu culture in India. It is believed that in 1839, Japanese Buddhism was finding its way to Hawaii, but technically it can not be considered American in nineteenth-century Hawaii, because Hawaii did not become an American Possession until 1898. The author expresses a critical event that foreshadowed the entry of Buddhism, called the World Parliament of Religions. It was held at Chicago's World Fair in 1893. At this event several important proponents of Oriental religions aroused a great deal of interest, and slightly more than a decade later Soyen Shaku returned to America to promote the Rinzai school of Zen ( the school of Buddhism). A full decade after the conclusion of World War II the "Zen Explosion" occurred. This was that groups other than Rinzai affiliates began to take root in America. Two other Zen came about. The first was a mixture of Rinzai and Soto, and the second was Soto Zen itself.

By 1960 more Buddhism groups were being noticed. The first was a small group called Nichiren Shoshu So kag akkai. There appeal was primarily to Japanese Americans. From its few chapters in early 1960's, the organization now has two hundred chapters and over 200,000 members. In the late 1960's there was also the beginning of a western interest in Tibetan Buddhism. There was a Tibetan Holocaust, which caused Tibetan Buddhism to have been largely relegated to exile in India, Bhutan, Sikkim, and Nepal. Many leaders fled to escape the pursuit of the Communist Chinese.

Chinese Buddhist group is another group which started to be noticed. The most significant and aggressive of the Chinese Buddhist groups are the Sino-American Buddhist Association and one of its divisions, Gold Mountain Monastery. This group pursues an active monastic life, ordaining American men and women as monks and nun. The also launch a translation project. I think that each one of these group affect American Buddhism and its growth in our society.

Another group that Charles Prebish mentions are the "Beat Zens". I find them unique because they are very much against the American Dream. They do not want that sort of material success that everyone else in America was working so hard to accomplish. If a chance to hit the jackpot was all a culture could offer, then, they declared, that wasn't much was it? The Beats ignored the very basis of Zen monastic life and its incumbent discipline, but they used this assumption of form the basis of normative model for their own lifestyle. In a way this group reminds me of the Pentecostal religion, because they are more liberated than other Buddhist groups.

Buddhism was foreign and curious for many Americans. America had its own variety of basis for religious and cultural patterns in Judaeo-Christian tradition. It was also hard for America to understand a religion that is non-theistic, individualistic, and apparently esoteric, mystical, and antithetical to social ethnics. Buddhism became more acceptable with the learning of their doctrinal base, which is the Four Noble Truths. They are suffering, craving as the cause of suffering, the possibility for the cessation of suffering, and the path to the cessation. Americans believed they could relate their life with these noble truths, and still do today.

The entire religion situation in America was in turmoil in the 1960's. Many people saw Buddhism as a religious option that deserved exploration. More new Buddhist groups held a greater diversity of tradition and sectarian affiliations than ever before in America. The Vietnam War was a large factor in the growth of American Buddhism. Vietnam was a predominantly Buddhist country and culture. Vietnam was significant in attracting the numbers of undergraduate students and a devoted number of graduate students to Buddhist studies. Vietnamese Buddhists also began to write a book to explain the situation form their own view.

There are two distinct lines of development for Buddhism in America. One form focuses on sound, basic doctrines, shared by all Buddhists and on solid religious practices. These groups are very conservative and stable in growth, activity, and teaching. The other form focuses less on the basic doctrine and practice. This group usually base their attraction on something new. These groups get a lot of attention in the press, but are very unstable.

The author Charles Prebish illustrates many groups to give the reader a good idea what exactly Buddhist groups are like. One group is the Buddhist Churches of America, which is western hemisphere representative of western branch of Japanese Jodo Shinshu tradition. It began with two informal missionaries who made modest efforts to inform Americans about the nature of Buddhism and Jodo shinshu, and now it encompasses sixty independent churches and forty branches. I found it interesting that in 1941 when Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, this group issued a bulletin stating their loyalty to the United States and over 100,000 Japanese in America were still uprooted form their homes, with over half being Buddhists and two-thirds American born.

Another is the San Francisco Zen Center associated with the Soto tradition of Zen Buddhism. This group was founded in 1901, by leader known as Shuryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of Americans who practiced sitting meditating together. They provide students with a way of life consonant with Zen practice. Unlike the Buddhist Churches of America the Zen Center's followers are mostly none-Orientals. I think this provides these groups with more of an understanding of American culture.

I mentioned earlier the Sino-American Buddhist Association, also known as Gold Mountain Monastery. This is a Chinese Buddhist group that teaches Orthodox Buddhism. By doing this it emphasizes meditation school, discipline school, "teachings" school, the esoteric school, and Pure Land school. This organization was set forth to promote Buddhism in the west.

In part three of the book there was a chapter called "Buddhism as a cult" and it expressed the similarities with Buddhism and a cult. I found this section most intriguing and helpful in understanding Buddhism. There were fifteen characteristics of a cult and almost all Buddhist groups fit about twelve of these characteristics. The characteristics that fit Buddhism are:

1. A founder who has had, or at least seems to know the secret of , non-temporal ecstatic experience
2. A band of supernormal helpers
3. A desire to be "modern" and to use scientific language
4. A reaction against orthodoxy
5. Eclecticism and Syncretism
6. A monistic and impersonal ontology
7. Optimism, success orientation, and a tendency to evolutionary views
8. Emphasis on healing
9. A simple but definable process of entry and initiation
10. In some cases, the establishment of a sacred center
11. Tendency to attract isolated individuals rather than family groups
12. Increasing emphasis on participation by all members in the ectatic experience through group chanting, meditation, and so fourth.

Each Buddhist group seem to emphasize or practice some of the same things as other religions. There are Evangelical versions of Buddhism with a heavy emphasis on meditation. Some Buddhist churches have similar characteristics as American Christianity, they began to see their overseer as "bishop", began Sunday services, and Sunday schools. I mentioned the Pure Land schooling that one of the groups held, which also resembles Christianity. Many of these Buddhist groups practice recitation and visualization. Some have several daily services. Each group celebrates numerous holidays such as Buddha's birthday and World Peace Day. Buddhism has woman monks and nuns. In Addition, like most religions Buddhism is predominatly more male than female. All of these groups affect America Buddhism. In many ways Buddhism has grown and is branching off to various American activities including Universities, book stores, and restaurants.