Asian Religion and Asian-American Religion

Asian Traditions and American Transformations ● The Hart-Celler Immigration Law of 1965 had one of the most profound impacts on the religious makeup of the US. ○ The nation’s basic ethnic mix was only lightly affected by new arrivals, this act changed that. ● Asiatic Barred Zone ○ Immigrants arriving from the Indian subcontinent were not “free white persons” within the meaning of the COnstitution and therefore not eligible for American citizenship. ● The proliferation of religions of Asian origin is a formidable complex topic, given the variety and complex intersection of nations, cultures, and religions within Asia itself. ○ Jainism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Taoism, Christianity, and Islam. ○ The largest are Hinduism and Buddhism. ● How is it taken significance in the US? ○ Ethnic religions are practiced within Asian communities. There was an influx in Asian immigrants because of the 1965 changes in immigration law. ○ Export religions usually have their origins in one of Asia’s ancient traditions, but during the past century or two have emerged in new, aggressive forms. ■ Generally have their origins in situations of cultural ferment in theri countries of origin, and reached their apex in the United States during the flourishing of the youth counterculture of 1960s-70s. ○ Elite religions are those strains of Buddhism and Hinduism that have attracted considerable followings among well-educated Americans seeking alternatives to Christianity and Judaism. ■ As put into practice by Americans, elements of these traditions may become mixed with one another and removed from theri original contexts in specific Asian traditions. ● It was on the West Coast that ethnic Asian religions found their first major opening. ○ Need for inexpensive labor on railroads ○ Agricultural labor ○ Mining and manufacturing ● Among the early Chinese settlers, religious life was sponsored mainly by merchant groups for worship. ○ Joss houses ● Taoism and Confucianism ○ T: is following the way in which the universe is moving, as expressed in traditional classic text. Its symbol is the circle divided by a symmetrically curved line into light and dark halves, representing yin and yang. Focused more on nature. ○ C: Based on a similar notion of a correct following of the way as taught by the sage Confucious. Social and stresses that proper alignment of the individual personality with the orders of society and the particular importance of filial piety, the reverence for one’s ancestors. ● Buddhism ○ ● ● ● ● ● Buddha- enlightened one- was a young man of a princely family who lived in Nepal. He had a series of life changing encounters. As a result he renounced his worldly life and took up a career as a wandering ascetic himself. He attained enlightenment in the form of the realization that he was now free from earthly temptations. ○ One fundamental assumption about the human condition and the broader nature of things that Buddhism acquired from its Hindu matrix is the belief in reincarnation. ○ Samsara, Karma, and dharma ○ Four Noble truths ■ All is suffering: this suffering is fundamental, human nature to seek pleasure and avoid pain and this remains trapped in samsara. ■ Suffering is rooted in chronic human ignorance. ■ Cessation of suffering becomes possible when one throws off illusion and achieves a state of nirvana, the wisdom and serenity that come from the existential realization that selfhood is illusory. ■ Noble eightfold path that leads to liberation. Involved correct ethical ivifing, abstinence from killing, stealing, lying, improper sexual realtions, and use of intoxicants. Cultivated through meditation ○ Sangha: this usually involved a division between monks, who meditate and provide religious leadership, and lay disciples who support the monks and carry out devotional practices. ○ Transtheistic: asserting the existence of gods and goddesses but subordinating them in importance to the Buddha’s teachings. Pure Land Buddhism: is the oldest form of institutionalized Buddhism in North America and a prime example of ethnic religion brought to this country by immigrants and perpetuated by their descendants of similar origins. Japanese were the object of particularly early and rigorous exclusion, because their differences from European Americans were broadly perceived as not only cultural but racial. ○ Anti-japan sentiment ○ Restriction of immigration The BCA more generally has adopted a strategy of combining Buddhist content with Western form in its sponsorship of Sunday schools and use of language such as “church”, “hymn”, and “minister/bishop” The best known form of Japanese Buddhism is Zen. ○ Emphasize the attainment of enlightenment through structured meditation, a more individualistic and interiorized form of religious life even when practiced traditionally in monasteries. ○ Sitting in a cross-legged posture while trying to become detachedly aware of the “busyness” of the ordinary system of consciousness that makes up more of our mental life. ○ ● ● Riddles and paradoxes that aid in breaking through the ordinary constraints of language and logic to an awareness of a deeper layer of meaning. ○ European Americans began to come in sizable numbers seeking instruction in Zen meditation techniques, and a whole complex of institutions began to arise that constituted the first major intiatusiaonl center of Zen in the US. Buddhism exists in a variety of other forms in the US focused on ethnic communities from east and southeast Asia who have arrived either as immigrants. ○ The experience of American Buddhists has been both similar to and significantly different from that of earlier European religious communities such as Catholics, Eastern Ortho, and Jews. Hinduism ○ Is rooted in a long lineage of sacred texts. ○ Hindus are similar in some ways to Judaism, there is no orthodoxy, or written creed, but rather living conformity with tradition. ○ The existence of one supreme being, an endless cycle by all souls, karma, the law of cause and effect, reincarnation, providing worship to divine beings at the temple and in the home, following a spiritual master, the pursuit of nonviolence. ○ Worship is conducted both at home and in the temple. ○ Issues about building Hindu temples in America ○ No datable beginnings ○ Hinduism is mainly denominated in India ○ No violence, samsara, reincarnation, karma, creation story(pleasure is not to be avoided), worship in the home(life cycle rituals) and temple, brahmin, and the soul as the controller of life ○ Bhagavad Gita, main written texts ■ Karma yoga ■ Jnana yoga ■ Bhakti yoga “The Mayflower” C.T then at the Cathedral of the Pines ● “Arrive on the other shore of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.” ● America was a promised land for freedom, peace, and love ● Not the same mayflower but a different bringer.