Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘Most conversations about cultural appropriation in Buddhism revolve around the outward symbols and signs of the practice: beads, tattoos, statues, and so on. But an important element of the appropriation occurs through the assumed occupation of white authority status, often legitimized through the intellectual study of Buddhism. In a Fall 2000 special issue of Turning Wheel: The Journal of Socially Engaged Buddhism dedicated to addressing the underrepresentation of “Buddhists of Asian Descent in the U.S.,” guest editors Maia Duerr and Mushim Ikeda shared the following reflection:

“Not long ago, a prominent European-American Buddhist related that during a trip to
Japan, she discovered that she knew more about Zen than most Japanese. This
innocent remark reflects some all-too-common perceptions often held by non-Asian
Buddhists: that they are “more knowledgeable” about Buddhism, that they practice
“real” Buddhism, as opposed to “folk” Buddhism.”

Indeed, Asian and Asian American Buddhist practices have often been dismissed as superstitious, inauthentic (yet authentically exotic!) forms of Buddhism. In mainstream white American Buddhist conversations, white Buddhists are often heralded as the erudite saviors and purifiers of Buddhism. This perspective exemplifies the subtle enactments and overwhelming hubris of white supremacy. In positioning a certain type of Buddhism (white) as better than other kinds of Buddhism (Asian, “folk,” “baggage Buddhism”), the white ownership of Buddhism is claimed through delegitimizing the validity and long history of our traditions, then appropriating the practices on the pretext of performing them more correctly.

The assertion of white authority goes hand in hand with the mainstream erasure of the contributions of Asian and Asian American Buddhists in the development of Buddhism in the U.S. Perhaps the most public example of such erasure was demonstrated in the in the early 1990s when Tricycle editor Helen Tworkov stated, “The spokespeople for Buddhism in America have been, almost exclusively, educated members of the white middle class…. Asian American Buddhists … so far… have not figured prominently in the development ofsomething called American Buddhism.”

Rev. Ryo Imamura, an 18th-generation Buddhist priest in the Jodo Shinshu tradition, responded with a letter to the editor:

“I would like to point out that it was my grandparents and other immigrants from Asia who brought and implanted Buddhism in American soil over 100 years ago despite white American intolerance and bigotry. It was my American-born parents and their generation who courageously and diligently fostered the growth of American Buddhism despite having to practice discretely in hidden ethnic temples and in concentration camps because of the same white intolerance and bigotry. It was us Asian Buddhists who welcomed countless white Americans into our temples,
introduced them to the Dharma, and often assisted them to initiate their own Sanghas when they felt uncomfortable practicing with us…”

Rev. Imamura was speaking from a particular place, that intersecting space of being Asian American and Buddhist in a country maintained by white domination. He was born during World War II in the Gila River incarceration camp in Arizona. Like the Kimuras and more than 120,000 other Japanese Americans on the West Coast, the Imamuras were forced into barren camps because of the “suspicious” nature of their culture and spirituality. Behind barbed wires, in the face of constant threat by armed sentry, the Imamuras persisted in their Buddhist practice. They continued to aid other members of their community on their path of liberation from suffering, especially the daily suffering of incarceration and white domination.

This was their American Buddhism.’ (from Lion’s Roar)

The third of five Saturday posts on this subject.