Asian Religions in America: A Documentary History / Edition 1

by Thomas A. Tweed, Stephen Prothero

Overview

Asian religions have a long and intriguing history in America. For over two centuries, Asian immigrants have been coming to America and bringing their religions with them. Some Americans have reacted with alarm to the arrival of heathen religions on American shores, while others have taken refuge in lamas from Tibet, yogis from India, and Zen masters from Japan.
Asian Religions in America: A Documentary History is the first text to show the breadth and depth of the American encounter with Asian religions. Ranging from 1784 to the present, it features over one hundred excerpts and dozens of illustrations drawn from literature, art, music, sports, philosophy, theology, politics, and law. Selections discuss Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Shinto, Confucianism, and Taoism and their places in the American religious landscape. Martial artist Bruce Lee, Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, Beatles star John Lennon, Chinese-American writer Amy Tan, African-American activist Frederick Douglass, Vietnamese Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh, and dozens of lesser-known immigrants and Asian Americans are all represented. The editors have provided a general historical introduction, an overview of Asian religions, four section introductions, and concise explanatory headnotes for each entry. The volume is further enhanced by helpful reference materials including a detailed chronology, suggestions for further reading, and an index.
Asian Religions in America: A Documentary History serves as an exceptional text for courses in Asian religions, world religions, and religion in America, and is also enlightening reading for academics and general readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195113396
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/03/1998
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	9.21(w) x 6.51(h) x 0.79(d)
Lexile:	1280L (what's this?)

About the Author

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Boston University

Table of Contents

PrefaceGeneral Introduction, Thomas A. TweedIntroduction to Asian ReligionsPART I. ORIENTATIONS, 1784 TO 1840Introduction1. VIEWS FROM ABROADiAmasa Delano,/i Narrative of Voyages and Travels (1817)iChristian Disciple,/i An Account of the Sikhs in India (1814)Robert Morrison's Letter from China (1809)iAdoniram and Ann Judson,/i A Mission in Burma (1832)2. VIEWS FROM HOMEBenjamin Franklin's Oriental Tale (1788)iJoseph Priestley,/i A Comparison of the Institutions of Moses with Those of the Hindoos and Other Ancient Nations (1799)John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (1813-14)William Bentley on Asian Trade in Salem (1794-1804)iHannah Adams,/i A Dictionary of All Religions (1817)iCharles A. Goodrich,/i Religious Ceremonies and Customs (1832)PART II. ENCOUNTERS, 1840 TO 19243. EAST TO AMERICA: IMMIGRANT LANDINGSiFrederick Douglass,/i Our Composite Nationality (1869)iFung Chee Pang,/i The Confucian Sage and the Mongolian Bible (1876)Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)iFrederick J. Masters/i, Pagan Temples in San Francisco (1892)iShuye Sonoda,/i Buddhism in the Kingdom of Liberty (1899)iSaint Nihal Singh,/i The Picturesque Immigrant From India's Coral Strand (1909)iSwami Paramananda,/i Christ and Oriental Ideals (1923)United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923)4. ROMANCING THE ORIENT: LITERARY ENCOUNTERSiRalph Waldo Emerson,/i Plato and Brahma (1857, 1850)iHenry David Thoreau,/i A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849)iBret Harte,/i The Heathen Chinee (1870)iWalt Whitman,/i Passage to India (1870)iT. S. Eliot,/i The Waste Land (1922)5. JOURNEYS IN THE STUDYWebster's Dictionary on Hinduism and Buddhism (1828, 1849, 1864)iLydia Maria Francis Child,/i The Progress of Religious Ideas (1855)iJames Freeman Clarke,/i Ten Great Religions (1871)6. POSTCARDS FOR THE PEWS: MISSIONARIES AND THEIR CRITICSiM. L. Gordon,/i An American Missionary in Japan (1892)iMark Twain,/i The United States of Lyncherdom (1901)iMyra E. Withee,/i Is Buddhism to Blame? (1902)7. THE WORLD'S PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONSiJohn Henry Barrows,/i Words of Welcome (1893)iSwami Vivekananda,/i Hinduism (1893)iAnagarika Dharmapala,/i The World's Debt to Buddha (1893)iSoyen Shaku,/i Reply to a Christian Critic (1896)8. TURNING EAST: SYMPATHIZERS AND CONVERTSiHenry Steel Olcott,/i Old Diary Leaves and the Buddist Catechism (1900, 1881)iSister Christine,/i Memories of Swami Vivekananda (1945)iPaul Carus,/i The Dharma (1898)iMarie de Souza Canavarro, /i Insight into the Far East (1925)William Sturgis Bigelow to Kwanryo Naobayashi (1895)PART III. EXCLUSION, 1924 to 1965Introduction9. CLOSED PORTS AND OPEN CAMPSAsian Exclusion Act (1924)iPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt,/i Executive Order No. 9066 (1942)iNyogen Senzaki,/i Like a Dream, Like a Fantasy (1978)iShigeo Kikuchi,/i Memoirs of a Buddhist Woman Missionary in Hawaii (1991)iJulius Goldwater,/i Wartime Buddhist Liturgy (1940s)10. HINDU CROSSINGS: GURUS AND DISCIPLESiKrishnalal Shridharani,/i Hindus are Human Beings (1941)iSwami Paramahansa Yogananda,/i Autobiography of a Yogi (1946)iKrishnamurti,/i The Turning Point (1975)iJohn Yale,/i What Vendanta Means to me (1960)11. BUDDHIST CROSSINGS: MASTERS AND STUDENTSiDaisetz Teitaro Suzuki,/i What is Zen? (1959)iDwight Goddard,/i Followers of Buddha: An American Brotherhood (1934)iJack Kerouac,/i Dharma Bums (1958)iRuth Fuller Sasaki,/i Zen: A Method for Religious Awakening (1959)iElson B. Snow,/i Entry into the Dharma Gate (1994)12. ARTISTS, PREACHERS, AND MISSIONARIESiE. Stanley Jones,/i The Christ of the Indian Road (1925)iMersene Sloan,/i The Indian Menace (1929)Howard and Sue Bailey Thurman Meet Mahatma Gandhi (1936)iJohn Cage,/i Lecture on Nothing (1949)PART IV. PASSAGES, 1965 TO THE PRESENTIntroduction13. COUNTERCULTURAL APPROPRIATIONSiAlan Watts,/i Beginning a Counterculture (1972)iTimothy Leary,/i The Buddha as Drop-Out (1968)iRam Dass,/i The Only Dance There Is (1974)14. ASIAN INDIAN GURUS, CONVERTS, AND MOVEMENTSA TM Catechism (1975)iThe Beatles and A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Pradhupada,/i Search for Liberation (1981)iYogi Bhajan,/i Awakening the Mind to Prayer (1984)iMargaret Simpson,/i An Experience of Siddha Yoga Meditation (1991)iSwami Satchidananda,/i Integral Yoga (1996)iElsie Cowan,/i Sai Baba and the Resurrection of Walter Cowan (1976)15. BUDDHIST TEACHERS, CONVERTS, MOVEMENTSiShunryu Suzuki,/i Posture (1970)iChogyam Trungpa,/i Meditation in Action (1969)iThich Nhat Hanh,/i The Miracle of Mindfulness (1975)An Interview with Roshi Jiyu Kennett (1986)Women, Buddhism, and Vipassana Meditation (1991)ibell hooks,/i Waking Up to Racism (1994)iJacci Thompson-Dodd,/i Soka Gakkai and the Power of Chanting (1996)iBernard Glassman and Rick Fields,/i Recipes for Social Change (1996)16. INDIAN IMMIGRANTS: HINDU, JAIN, AND SIKHiAnand Mohan,/i The Pilgrimage (1994)Rituals at Sri Venkateswara Temple (1995)iSri Ganesha Temple, Nashville,/i Recounting History and Nuturing Youth (1985-95)Hinduism in the Public Realm: uHinduism Today/u on Christianity and Cloning (1996)iJain Society of Metropolitan Chicago,/i An Ancient Heritage and a Promising Future (1993)iSikh Religious Society,/i Things That Make You Ask "Kion?" (1994)17. BUDDHIST IMMIGRANTSThe Buddha's Birthday in a Vietnamese-American Temple (1986)The Dalai Lama Meets the Buddhist Sangha Council of Southern California (1989)Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara's Tenth Anniverary (1990Later Generations of Japanese Americans on Jodo Shinshu (1990)iThai Youth Club,/i DJ or Not We're Still Upset (1994)iHsi Lai Temple,/i Buddhism Coming to the West (1997)18. ASIAN RELIGIONS IN AMERICAN CULTUREiBruce Lee,/i Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975)iBenjamin Hoff/i, The Tao of Pooh (1982)iGary Synder,/i Smokey the Bear Sutra (1969)An Interview with Composer Philip Glass (1991)iThe Beastie Boys,/i Bodhisattva Vow (1994)Children Respond to iLittle Buddha/i (1994)iPhil Jackson,/i If You Meet the Buddha in the Lane, Feed Him the Ball (1995)iAmy Tan,/i The Kitchen God's Wife (1991)19. INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUEiThomas Merton,/i Letter from Asia (1968)iMasao Abe and John Cobb,/i Buddhist-Christian Dialogue (1981)iRodger Kamenetz,/i The Jew in the Lotus (1994)The Parliament of the World's Religions Centennial (1993)iWalter Martin,/i The Kingdom of the Cults (1985)20. MAPPING LEGAL BOUNDARIES: RELIGION AND STATEiJustice William Douglas,/i Asian Religions According to the Supreme Court (1965)iU. S. Supreme Court,/i Even Buddhist Prisoners Have Rights (1972)iChief Justice William Rehnquist,/i The Krishna Religion (1992)Sikh Kirpans in Public Schools (1994)A Vietnamese Home Temple Zoning Dispute (1996)ChronologyFurther ReadingIndex