Dixie Dharma

June 15, 2012

When one thinks of the American South (the Bible Belt) one may not imagine many Buddhists living there, but the Vietnamese, Laotian, and Thai populations have been growing, and the Chinese have always had an urban presence. The region now includes Buddhists by birth as well as American converts, including Wilson (religious studies, Univ. of Waterloo) himself. Here he mainly considers the Ekoji Buddhist Temple in Richmond, VA, founded in 1985, which is pluralistic; unlike most Buddhist temples in America it shares its space with several groups with distinct traditions. There is a Pure Land group, a Zen group, a Vipassana group, a Tibetan group, and a Meditative Inquiry group. Each group has its own beliefs, meeting format, ritual style, and spiritual goals. While elsewhere they have their own temples, monasteries, and retreat facilities, in Richmond, because their numbers are small, they share space and governance. Wilson shows how this makes for a kind of tolerance and syncretism rarely found in contemporary religious practice. VERDICT This will be enlightening and well worth reading by those specializing in religious studies or interested in American regional cultures, but its academic tone will be less appealing to general readers.--James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, VA

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