Widening the Circle: Abstract Buddhism is one of the fastest growing religions in the West. However, so far only a small minority of those converting to Buddhism have been people of African, Caribbean, or Asian descent. This has significant implications for Buddhism in modern society, for many in the West now routinely encounter both the promise of increasing multiculturalism and the challenges from forces of racial discrimination and social exclusion. Yet there has been little exploration of these issues to date. This literature review suggests possible causes for the present lack of ethnic diversity within Western Buddhist convert sanghas that merit further examination. It compares these sanghas’ general history with the social and religious histories of black diaspora communities in the United Kingdom and United States. It also outlines some strategies being deployed by some Western Buddhist convert sanghas to encourage further participation from black people and greater awareness of diversity issues. Introduction Buddhism is now one of the fastest growing religions in the West, though so far, people of African, Caribbean, and Asian descent (hereafter referred to as black people) form only a small minority of those who have chosen to convert to Buddhism. This has significant implications for Western Buddhists, both as individual practitioners and for their faith communities. Many practitioners are now based in increasingly diverse communities that face both the promises of multiculturalism and challenges from forces of racial discrimination and social exclusion. However, although there has been an increasing amount of work on Buddhist sanghas in the West, little has explored the extent to which these reflect the diversity of the population from which they are drawn. This essay considers possible causes for the present lack of diversity within the Western sangha of convert Buddhists. Its suggestions arise from comparing the processes through which Western Buddhism has been transmitted into the West, particularly the United States and United Kingdom with the social and religious histories of black diaspora communities in these countries. It then outlines some strategies being deployed by faith communities of those who have converted to Buddhism of converted Buddhists (Western Buddhist convert sanghas) to encourage wider ethnic and cultural diversity. Buddhism in the West—Modes of Transmission Buddhism in the West is generally described as falling under two categories. The first is that practiced by Asian immigrants to the West and is generally described as “ethnic Buddhism.” The other is that of people indigenous to the West, predominantly European, who have converted to Buddhism. They are generally referred to as Western Buddhists, European Buddhists, or “white Buddhists” (Fields, 1998 and 1994; Tanaka, 1998). However, this two-fold model is difficult to apply to the issue under consideration because of its assumption of two distinct and internally homogeneous groups—one largely Asian, the other predominantly European. Because of this tacit presumption, it is difficult to use this model to explore any differential impact of Buddhism on the wide range of ethnic communities within the West, particularly its long-standing diaspora communities of Africa, the Caribbean and Asia.(1) The model has also been questioned for other reasons, leading to discussions about possible alternatives (Prebish, 1999: 57–63). An alternative three-fold model has been suggested by Nattier (Nattier, 1998), based on her understanding on how religions come to new locations and communities. She categorizes modes of transmission of new religious traditions as “import,” “export” and “baggage.” The “import” mode is more “demand-driven.” Here an individual actively seeks the new tradition, initially encountering it through travel abroad, reading, or visits from an indigenous teacher. In the “export” mode, individuals initially encounter the tradition through missionary activities of the new group. Faith communities in the export mode therefore develop through proselytizing by the new tradition. The “baggage” mode of transmission applies where groups of immigrants start to practice their religious traditions in the new location. Here religion is seen as a means of support and of maintaining identity, with little, if any, missionary activity taking place, although outsiders may come to be part of the community through, for example, intermarriage. Applying her typography to the situation of Buddhism in the West, Nattier, arguing that “import” Buddhism requires sufficient money and leisure time to operate as a mode of transmission, describes it as “in sum, a Buddhism of the privileged, attracting those who have the time, the inclination, and the economic opportunity to devote themselves to strenuous (and sometimes expensive) meditation training.” On this basis, she refers to it as “elite Buddhism” because “the primary common feature of this group is not its ethnicity or sectarian affiliation[,] but its class background.” She observes that “[i]n North America Buddhist groups of this type have a variety of sectarian connections, but most are affiliated with a form of Tibetan Buddhism, Vipassana or Zen” (Nattier, 1998: 189). Sōka Gakkai is seen as the group that best falls under the category of “export Buddhism” and to have achieved a more diverse range of membership through proselytizing activity. Nattier therefore terms it and other such groups as “evangelical Buddhism.” Where others have come to the United States as immigrants, but unlike “evangelical Buddhists” not primarily for religious reasons, faith communities developed through the “baggage” traditions that they bring with them are referred to as “ethnic Buddhism.” According to Nattier’s model, Western Buddhist convert sanghas would largely consist of elite Buddhist and evangelical Buddhist groups, and her observations, particularly those on elite Buddhism, may in part account for the low level of representation of black diaspora communities in these faith communities. However, there may also be utility in using the model further to consider the historical and social circumstances that may have affected the impact of Buddhism on black diaspora communities. These may give a greater sense of the situation from the perspective of diaspora communities of the accessibility and the relevance of Buddhism for them. Western Buddhist Organizations and Black Communities—A Lack of Connecting Points? In its early days in the West about 150 years ago, Buddhism initially came as a result of “the opening up of the East through colonization and the imposition of spheres of influence” (Clarke, 1997: 71). Through this, interest in Buddhism developed mainly in the upper and middle classes, with knowledge being gained primarily through translations and literary texts. From the early nineteenth century to the 1880s, no Asian Buddhists with a missionary aim visited the West (Baumann, 1996), so Buddhism in its early days was very much an “import religion.” Buddhist sympathizers coming from a Christian background would have generally been accustomed to a more liberal, nonconformist tradition. Of those black people in the West who were Christian, the majority had come to be involved in Christianity through evangelical sections of the church that tended to be more critical of Buddhism than sympathetic to it. Interaction between black people and Buddhist sympathizers would also have been limited by the social conditions of racism at the time. In the United States, the initial promise of the Civil War and the period of Reconstruction was followed by a bleaker period of decreasing prospects for racial harmony and justice. As Timothy Fulop observes:
The practice of segregation extended even to religious institutions. The prevailing attitude toward race relations in the United States was described by Fannie Barrier Williams, the only woman in the small African-American delegation invited to the World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893 (Williams, 1993) in these terms:
In the United Kingdom during that period—although there was not legalized racism segregating black people from white people—an informal, yet significant, color bar did operate. This was also a period of significant racial tensions, with organized racial attacks taking place upon black communities in Cardiff and Liverpool (Fryer, 1984: 298–316). Black people would therefore have been in the minority of the forums where interest in Buddhism initially developed. Although some Buddhist sympathizers took a progressive stance on many social issues, issues of anti-black racism in the United States and United Kingdom were not generally a focus of their attention. Tweed suggests that in America, “although Euro-American Buddhists challenged the dominant social, political[,] and economic patterns in various ways, their dissent was most fundamentally cultural” (Tweed, 1992: 88). Similar factors were to come into play during the next significant wave of interest in Buddhism in the West during the 1960s and 1970s. The 1960s saw a new wave of interest in Eastern religions as part of the countercultures of that period (Baumann, 1996) following the activities of the “Beats” in the 1950s (Heelas, 1996: 49–50). However, those attracted to Eastern spirituality were but one of a myriad of groupings among the countercultures of the 1960s period. Some of these groupings were antipathetic to one another, having significant differences in their views about the strategies to be deployed in order to achieve social change. Paul Heelas suggests that:
Each of these parts of the 1960s countercultures had different appeal for different ethnic groups, with black people forming only a small minority of those “rejecting mainstream disciplines” and “looking to the East for Enlightenment.” Hence once again, because of their location within society, black people formed a minority of those who were attracted to Buddhism. Futhermore, given that one of the principal ways that new religious movements spread is through word of mouth (Dawson, 1996), this would have been another factor working against the introduction of Buddhism to black communities. The effect observed for Buddhism can also be seen in other “Eastern” traditions such as Hinduism that were also gaining greater profile during the 1960s and 1970s. As in Buddhism, most of those converting have been white, middle-class individuals. The issue of racial discrimination also gained significant profile in the 1960s with the civil rights movement and the development of black Power in the United States, the majority of black people being influenced by these movements during that time. Post-war immigrants to the United Kingdom also found themselves at the receiving end of intense racial discrimination, particularly in employment, education, and housing (Phillips and Phillips, 1998; Fryer, 1984: 372–386). Black people in the United Kingdom found themselves inspired by the anti-racist movements in the United States and sought to form similar organizations there. In both the United States and United Kingdom, black-led faith communities continued to play a key role in supporting anti-racist activity, as well as giving black people a sense of identity and other social support. Religious Traditions of Black Communities As well as the key role played by religious traditions in social support of black people mentioned earlier, there are other key differences with those practiced by ethnic majority people that may affect the “pushes” and “pulls” toward or away from Buddhism for black people. For example, not only did black Christians tend to belong to different denominations from those where the critiques against Christianity were leading some to embrace Buddhism (Tweed, 1992: 92–94); they had also developed their own “creole” (Tweed, 1999) traditions that permitted expression of their original culture and their perspective on their particular historical and social situations. Such “creole” traditions were, and continue to be, significantly different from conventional Christianity (Long, 1997; Raboteau, 1995). For black people of African descent another key factor in these “creole” traditions is what Long (Long, 1997) refers to as “the meaning of the image and historical reality of Africa.” Long also mentions how during slavery,
The significance of Africa suggests that, whereas some in the 1960s counterculture would have sought out Asian religions, some black people of African descent would have been more likely to look to Africa for a sense of meaning. We can see this, for example, in the influence of Rastafarianism in the United Kingdom during the 1970s (Phillips and Phillips, 1998: 294–297). The final key difference that may impact on “pushes” and “pulls” would be differences related to the level of religious commitment of ethnic minorities compared to the indigenous population. Findings from the Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities in the United Kingdom (Modood et al, 1997) suggest that this is a key area where “minority groups manifest a cultural dynamic which is at least partly at odds with native British trends.” Though the number of regular churchgoers in Britain is decreasing, Modood et al found in their survey that nearly 20 percent of Caribbean people, a third of Indians and African-Asians, and two-thirds of Pakistani and Bangladeshi respondents—compared to 5 percent of white people—aged sixteen to thirty-four reported that religion was very important to the way in which they live their lives. The survey reported that “non-white Anglicans are three times more likely than white Anglicans to attend church weekly, and well over half of the members of black-led churches do so”; furthermore, “black-led churches are a rare growth point in contemporary Christianity.” This suggests that a significant proportion of black people of African and Asian descent are already firmly ensconced in a religious tradition. However, the survey also observed that as many Caribbean people as white people do not have any religion and that “the general trend down the generations within every ethnic group is for younger people to be less connected to a religion than their elders (though perhaps to become more like their elders as they age)” (Modood, 1997). This would suggest that Buddhism is more likely to appeal to the younger generation of black people than to people in the older generation. But having said this, compared to black people’s “baggage” religious traditions, what current “pushes” and “pulls” arising from the way that Buddhism has developed would there be for members of these communities? Western Buddhism and Black Communities—Issues of Cultural and Social Relevance As mentioned earlier, Buddhism in the West has largely developed as an “import” tradition, and it is useful to consider its aspects as a religious tradition in this respect. A key influence on the development of Buddhism in the West has been the notion of individualism in terms of autonomy and self-reliance (Tweed, 1992: 130–2) that Tweed describes as
Such notions of individualism continue to have a strong influence on the way Buddhism is approached by Westerners (Tanaka, 1998; Fronsdal, 1998; Hori, 1994), yet contrast with the ways in which people from black communities are more likely to perceive themselves. Hori, (Hori 1994) in considering the differences between “Western Buddhists” and “ethnic Buddhists,” suggests that notions of the person differ radically for “Westerners” (presumably European people) and non-Westerners, with Westerners being more likely to see the person as an autonomous individual, and non-Westerners viewing the person as “nexus of social relation.” This leads to non-Westerners’—that is, black and minority ethnic people—being more likely to see themselves in terms of their family and community relationships compared to majority ethnic people. Such cultural differences may not be identified by those seeking to develop Buddhism in the West, meaning that their implications are often not realized. For example, in working to develop a Buddhist approach to Western psychotherapy, the assumption of a “homogeneous West” means that the considerable body of work that has been developed on black and minority ethnic people and mental health is often not taken into account.(2) This can lead to issues that are faced by a significant proportion of people in the West not receiving significant acknowledgement. Thus issues that have an impact on black and minority ethnic people’s mental health—such as discrimination and disadvantage—or that affect the way psychotherapy should best proceed if it is to be effective in such cases—such as for differences in family structure and the impact of discrimination—are ignored. This reflects a general problem with the developing body of work on Buddhism in the West. Only recently has such work begun to consider potential differences for various ethnic communities with much essentialism and comparison of “Western Buddhism” with “Eastern Buddhism” in a way that is not only inaccurate, but also renders issues of multiculturalism and diversity invisible.(3) The development of “engaged Buddhism” potentially would give the opportunity to address such issues, especially as many of those involved in Buddhism in America were also active in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. However, apart from the efforts of the Sōka Gakkai that will be considered in more detail later, “engaged Buddhism” is very much in its early days, and the need for a more extensive Buddhist social analysis is only starting to be realized (Rothberg, 1998; Moon, 2000). In contrast, Christian churches have many decades of experience addressing issues of racial disadvantage and discrimination, which has given rise to a considerable body of theological work and reflection. Furthermore, many of the issues that socially engaged Buddhism has sought to respond to such as human rights, ecology, and peace are issues that have had lesser involvement from black communities compared to issues around the criminal justice system, community safety, education, access to quality healthcare and employment, and so forth. Hence, socially engaged Buddhists and members of the black community are generally unlikely to be working in the same arenas to a significant extent. Black communities and “engaged Buddhists” are also more likely to approach similar issues from different vantage points. For example, with respect to the environment, black communities have been less involved in ecology campaigns that tend to emphasize the need for conservation that have gained relatively more attention from socially engaged Buddhists, compared to other areas of environmental concern (Rothberg, 1998; Kaza, 2000). However, black communities have been more involved in campaigns around environmental racism, for example, in cases of dumping of toxic waste in poorer localities with a high population of black residents. Responses that have been made by Western Buddhists to racial diversity issues have tended to be the exception rather than the rule, even within the engaged Buddhist tradition. This being the case, we can now consider the forms that such recognition has taken, mainly within the United States. Building Connections: Western Buddhism and Diversity—The Response of Sōka Gakkai The Sōka Gakkai movement is observed to have a considerably broader band of membership (Hurst, 1998; Nattier, 1998; Wilson and Dobbelaere, 1994: 43; Tanaka, 1998; Chappell, 2000) than other Buddhist traditions. In the first study to examine diversity within Sōka Gakkai International (SGI), Chappell (Chappell, 2000) estimates from his survey of Sōka Gakkai district leaders in major cities of the United States, that the overall proportion of black people in Sōka Gakkai was almost three times that for the United States population as a whole (12.7% in the general United States population; 34.6% in the sample). Chappell concludes that “[g]iven the failure of other Buddhist groups to attract black membership, the most striking achievement of SGI-USA is its success in breaking down the color barrier.” Chappell suggests that SGI-USA has developed this diversity by various means. In some cities, personal leadership had led to racial diversity in groups’ leadership and membership. Many also were attracted to the movement by the social support that they had received from SGI members through which “they found a practice that enabled them to improve their attitude and circumstances, that gave them a purpose that was larger than themselves, and that involved them in working with and helping others.” The diversity is also seen to result from the “aggressive evangelism” that took place during the 1960s and 1970s. Hurst suggests that the cause of Sōka Gakkai’s appeal to minority groups is that
This finding of the impact of chanting encouraging people to become members is also echoed in Chappell’s study and Wilson’s and Dobbelaere’s study of SGI-UK (Wilson and Dobbelaere, 1994: 53–75). Chappell also observes the strong, high-profile stance that SGI’s President Daisaku Ikeda has taken on issues of diversity. Though Ikeda has stated the idea of race as “pernicious,” “false,” and an “artificially constructed idea,” at the same time he has stated that “the most pressing problem facing the United States on the home front is that of racial discrimination” and has championed key figures working for the civil rights of black people, most notably Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks. This two-fold strategy of regarding race as primarily having no significance while at the same recognizing aspects of racial discrimination and their impact in society is similar to that taken by several so-called “black churches” that see that as a term that has been ascribed to them, not as one that they would use for themselves (Kalilombe, 1998). For example, in her ethnographic study of a largely African-Caribbean Pentecostal church in Birmingham, England, Toulis (Toulis, 1997) found that members did not see their identity primarily in ethnic terms, but in the religious one of being a Christian. The predominantly black nature of the church was seen by participants to signify the need for greater evangelism within the community. Toulis suggests that the primacy given to religious identity by the Pentecostalists enabled them to address racial discrimination from the wider society. In a similar vein, Chappell found that
This suggests that black members find benefits from their membership of Sōka Gakkai similar to those obtained by members of “black churches.” As part of its high-profile stance on diversity issues, in the United States, Sōka Gakkai has developed diversity committees that function at both national and local levels to consider minority issues and ensure that minorities have a voice within the broader movement (Aiken, 1998; Chappell, 2000). Workshops to address diversity issues from a Buddhist perspective are also conducted as part of a process of “sustained compassionate dialogue” (Aiken, 1998). The situation with Sōka Gakkai in the United Kingdom, however, is significantly different. Though Sōka Gakkai is observed to be considerably more diverse than other Buddhist groups, there is no formal structure to consider diversity issues as such. There are, however, heritage groups for South Asians, Africans, and Caribbeans, which are organized to help new members of different ethnic backgrounds become integrated into the movement (Wilson & Dobbelaere 1994: 14–15). This approach to diversity issues echoes the general approach taken by Western Buddhists in the United Kingdom where, despite a significant level of activity around engaged Buddhism and a generally sympathetic stance around diversity issues, work is not taking place on a similar scale to that in the United States and little of this has achieved any profile (Bell, 2000). Building Connections: Western Buddhism and Diversity Issues—Other Sanghas Work on the links between Western Buddhism and general issues of ethnic diversity within other sanghas is very much in its infancy, most occurring during the last five years. So far, most consists of ad hoc practitioner-driven initiatives, although these are becoming more systematic. The initiatives fall under four main categories, with examples given below. Because many of these initiatives are in their early stages, only a preliminary assessment can be made. (1) Raising awareness These may involve public talks or articles in Buddhist publications or specific groups that seek to raise practitioners’ awareness and to encourage debate. One example is the special issue in the United States Buddhist magazine Tricycle on “Dharma, Diversity and Race” in 1994,(4) which included contributions from bell hooks (hooks, 1994) on issues for Buddhists of color practicing in the sangha and articles on the differences between ethnic Buddhism and “Western Buddhism” by Victor Hori and Rick Fields. The Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF) magazine Turning Wheel also recently had a special issue on this topic.(5) The level of debate has tended to be general, with discussions focusing on practitioners’ attitudes and ways of developing greater personal awareness without more theoretical discussion taking place, although this is beginning to change. In a recent issue of Tricycle, an African-American Dzogchen practitioner, Charles Johnson (Johnson, 1999), reflects on how Martin Luther King’s vision of “beloved community” was “a sangha by another name.” He suggests that Buddhist practices could enable African-Americans to transcend “the internalized racial conflict” of what W. E. B DuBois termed “double consciousness” arising from discrimination against black people in American society. Johnson also suggests that Buddhist practices can enable all practitioners to let go of “fabricated, false sense of self positions” arising from “samsaric illusions” around race and “all the essentialist conceptions of difference that have caused so much human suffering and mischief since the eighteenth century.” One way that awareness is being raised is through
diversity workshops. Sala Steinbach (Moon, 2000),
however, points out that groups may often think that one
workshop is sufficient and observes that “it’s just
the beginning. It’s so important to follow through.”
She also observes the risk of burnout on account of being
one of the few black people in a predominantly white sangha
and being seen as “the authority” on diversity issues.
However, she also notes the difficulties of remaining
silent. Dharmacharini Muditasri, observing the assumption
sanghas can make that “colour doesn’t matter”
in a way that suggests whiteness as an invisible norm,
makes a similar observation of the dilemmas involved for
black people entering the
Finding such a middle way is facilitated by a sangha taking ownership of diversity issues rather than seeing them solely as the responsibilities of black people who want to become involved. One example of such good practice is the “Healing Racism in our Sanghas” group that was developed in 1998 by BPF. It operates on an ongoing basis.(6) and was formed after it was found that “[u]nfortunately, many People of Color do not feel comfortable in our Western sanghas. Too often People of Color feel isolated, exoticized and disillusioned when they find that Western Buddhist sanghas suffer from the same unconscious, institutionalized racism that American society at large suffers from.” The group states, “We proceed from the understanding that there are already People of Color who are interested in Buddhism. Our goal is not to recruit People of Color[,] but to make our sanghas more open and welcoming for people of all racial and ethnic groups who are seeking a place to practice.” The BPF is sponsoring someone to do a year-long training and curriculum-development course on “Buddhist Unlearning Racism.” BPF also suggests—in their guidelines for BASE programs organizing social action placements—that groups discuss racism and other issues around discrimination as part of their program of activities. However, though the developing debate is welcome, it tends currently to focus on instances of racism at the micro- and small-group level. It appears that issues of institutionalized racism from larger organizations within society that have such significant impact for black people’s education, employment opportunities, social welfare, and access to criminal justice are yet to receive more detailed or thorough examination and analysis by socially engaged Buddhists. (2) Peer support and practice groups These serve as ongoing forums where black people or people of color can explore issues around ethnic diversity, discrimination, and disadvantage, as well as their impact as Buddhist practitioners. As well as those organized by Sōka Gakkai referred to earlier, BPF,(7) for example, has established a peer-support group for black people only called the “People of Color Sangha” group that meets monthly. One participant described it as a “watering hole,” a place where “your shoulders can come down a little bit, because you’re not the only one. This gives tremendous support for my dharma practice.”(8) This would seem to echo the point made by United States vipassanā teacher Lewis Wood when he suggested as an interim measure the creation of “a predominantly African[-]American meditative community, where Black folks can go to study and practice the dharma without having to deal with racism and Eurocentric assumptions, attitudes and behaviours” (cited in Fields, 1998:198). There are similar groups meeting in other parts of the United States, including cyber-sanghas such as the email groups for black Buddhists and Buddhists of color.(9) (3) Outreach and targeted initiatives These are targeted at black communities to encourage their participation and involvement in Western Buddhist convert sanghas. For example, for several years, the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order’s main center in London has organized specific events for black people who are newcomers to meditation. These are organized as part of its program of specialized events for different groups as a way of responding to particular needs that they may have, for example, lesbians and gay men. The events have had a good response, but so far the majority of those attracted have been African-Caribbean women with a minority of South Asian men. The center has now started to organize specific events for black men in order to redress the balance. It also organized a day event as a refresher for black newcomers to celebrate the African-American festival Kwanzaa last Christmas. Events for black people are currently organized at the beginner’s level in order to assist the eventual participation of those choosing to take things further in the mainstream sangha. This would appear to echo the approach taken by Sōka Gakkai in its ‘heritage groups’ mentioned earlier. In the United States, specific retreats for people of color are organized by the Spirit Rock meditation center that also provide specific scholarships for people of color to enable them to attend retreats generally. According to Sala Steinbach, these appear to have increased the number of people of color attending Spirit Rock events (Moon, 2000). (4) Social action programs The last category includes Buddhist social action programs in which a significant proportion of the beneficiaries is black people. Several Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement (BASE) placements have been organized on this basis: a doctor’s service at a clinic for low-income patients; support counseling to marginalized Latina women in a community center and in a group home for severely emotionally-disturbed pregnant and mothering teenage girls; support to public schools seeking to develop initiatives around equity, diversity, and powerful learning; and the foundation of an urban community garden project. So far BPF reports a moderate level of success in this area, but it reports some difficulty in getting more diverse participation because of the currently low level of ethnic diversity in the convert sangha and lack of links between “ethnic” and “convert” sanghas.(10) Conclusion Several factors have been suggested as contributing towards the current low representation of black people in Western Buddhist convert sanghas, and these require further exploration. They relate firstly to black people’s awareness of Buddhist institutions and the activities that they organize. Low awareness levels may arise from black communities’ and those attracted to Buddhism not being part of the same social networks due to class, religious affiliation, and, in some cases, the impact of forces of racial segregation. This might mean that black communities have not had the same level of access to information about Buddhism as other groups in society. The significance of outreach and targeted initiatives would also be useful to identify in this respect. In addition to access issues, the level of potential interest is important because many black people are affiliated with a wide range of prior religious traditions that provide them with social and cultural support. Interest in Buddhism among black communities may therefore be reduced even in cases such as those in which information becomes more readily available; members of black communities may be less likely to participate in Buddhist activities because of prior religious affiliation. Age may also be a factor here, with younger people more likely to become involved than first-generation immigrants. Another factor that may reduce willingness to participate is a perception among members of black communities that Buddhist activities are less accessible, particularly on the grounds that they have insufficient cultural and social relevance for them. Research is needed to identify factors that potentially have an impact on black people’s ability to participate, particularly in Western Buddhist convert sanghas arising out of “import” traditions. Examples of such factors are the ability to pay, the quantity of available leisure time, and the effects of social pressures from racism. For example, a black person may wish to visit a Buddhist institution, but feel unable to do so because of fear of racial attack. Black people may also be deterred on account of reasonable concern that they will experience discrimination, whether direct or in the form of “residual insensitivity” (Prebish, 1999: 109) from a largely white sangha. Finally, as mentioned earlier, Western Buddhists are increasingly practicing in multiracial and multicultural environments. Issues of racial discrimination against black people are also of critical importance, as the debates around the Rodney King and Amadou Diallo cases in the United States and the deaths of Stephen Lawrence and Ricky Reel in the United Kingdom indicate. The response developed to these issues, in terms of encouraging more diverse sanghas and developing sanghas’ capacity to respond more fully to issues of diversity and institutionalized racism in the wider community, promises to have great significance for Buddhism in the West and society at large. Acknowledgement The author would like to thank Dr. Damien Keown for his helpful comments and encouragement. However, any errors are the author’s own. Notes
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