This document discusses the expansion and contraction of Asian religions in America from the 19th century to present. It outlines how immigration waves brought hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Japanese people to America in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Various laws then restricted immigration and prohibited some ethnic religions. Since the 1960s, immigration reforms and interest in Eastern spirituality has led to growth of Hindu, Buddhist, and other Asian faith communities in America to over 10 million adherents today. The document provides an overview of key beliefs, practices, and branches of religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Islam that have been adapted in the American religious context.

1. Albanese Ch 9
East is West: Asian Religions,
Orthodoxy and Islam

2. Manyness: Patterns of
Expansion and Contraction
• 300,000 Chinese immigrants after Civil
War
• 100,000 Japanese from 1901-1907
• Expansion: to accommodate new people
and new ideas
• Contraction: resistance and rejection
(nativism)
• Immigration Act of 1965
• These patterns seen in both groups

3. American Context
• 1893 Columbian Exposition
• “ethnic” religions
• “export” religions
• Exclusivity Laws
• 1924 Oriental Exclusion Act
• Japanese internment during WWII
• Leads to religious contraction

4. Outline
1. Eastern Orthodox Religion
(Nearer East)
2. Islam (Middle East)
3. Hinduism (Farther East)
4. “export” Hinduism (New Religious
Groups)
5. Buddhism (Farther East)
6. Combinations

5. 1. Nearer East:
Eastern Orthodoxy in America
• 1743: Russian soldier baptizes Indians
• Kodiak Island has Russian Orthodox
church by 1800
• Sitka, Alaska is cathedral city until 1872
• 1900: more than 10,000 Orthodox
Christians in Alaska
• After statehood, headquarters moved to
San Francisco
• 1916: 100,000 members
• 1990’s: 2 million - mostly Greek
Orthodox

6. Orthodox
Christianity
• Catholicism-doctrine
• Orthodoxy-contemplation
• Protestantism-action
• Ordinary AND
Extraordinary
• Patriarchates (4);
Autocephalous Churches
(11)
• Divine Liturgy
• 7 Sacraments

7. The Great Schism
• 1054: Pope
excommunicates Patriarch
of Constantinople
• Filioque
• Primacy of Pope in Rome
• Iconoclasts vs. Iconodules
• Light in addition to sound
• Mysticism / Hesychasm
• 1204 Fourth Crusaders
sack Constantinople

8. Orthodoxy Today
• Several branches and
Uniates
• Orthodox Church in
America - largest
• St. Vladimir’s Theological
Seminary (NY)
• Standing Conference of
Canonical Orthodox
Bishops in America
• Many converts due to
contemplative emphasis

9. 2. Middle East:
Islam
• Abrahamic Religion
• Muslim geographers
record expeditions to America
in 10th c. CE
• 1500’s: Marcos de Niza used an Arab
guide in Arizona
• 1690’s: “Noseredine” (Nasr-al-Din) in New
York
• Melungeon People of Appalachian
mountains (?)
• 1888: journalist/diplomat converts
(Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb)
• More than 7.5 million today (more than
Jews, Presbyterians)

10. Islam as a Religion
• Arabian Peninsula
• Muhammad (570?-
632)
• Allah
• Qur’an
• Umma
• Jihad
• 5 Pillars
• sunna

11. 5 Pillars of Islam
1. Shahadah - “There
is no God but
God…”
2. Salah - prayer 5
times a day
3. Zakah - almsgiving
4. Sawm - fasting
5. Hajj - pilgrimage
to Mecca

12. Islamic (Shari’ah) Law
All human actions range from obligatory to forbidden:
1. Lawful (halal)
2. Commendable (mustahabb)
3. Neutral and therefore permitted (mubah)
4. Reprehensible (makruh)
5. Unlawful (haram)
2 domains:
1. acts of worship (ibadat) - 5 Pillars, consistent across all
legal schools.
2. human relations/transactions (mu’amalat) - most
differences in legal schools found here.
Roots of fiqh: jurisprudence, human interpretation of
Shari’ah law.
1. Qur’an
2. Sunnah of the Prophet (hadith)
3. Ijtihad - reasoning of scholars by analogy (qiyas)
4. Ijma - general consensus of the community

13. Divisions within
Islam
• Sunni Muslims
• Shiite Muslims
– “partisans of Ali”
– Hidden imams
– Mahdi
• Sufis
– “wool-clad”
– Mysticism
– sheikh or Pir

14. Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi
(1207-1273)
“In your light I learn
how to love. In your
beauty, how to make
poems. You dance
inside my chest,
where no one sees
you, but sometimes I
do, and that sight
becomes this art.”

15. Islam in the United States
• First mosque 1919 in Highland Park (Detroit),
Michigan
• Slow growth in numbers until 1970’s
• Sunni mosques vs. Shi’i “national clubs”
• Sunday schools
• Federation of Islamic Associations (1952)
• Islamic Society of North America (1981)
• Pan-Islamicism
• Better roles for women

16. Mixed Reaction to Islam as
Religion and 9/11
• May 2001 - 45% Americans had favorable
view of Islam
• November 2001 - 60% had favorable view
• 2004 - approval in 70% range
• Some detractors:
– Rev Franklin Graham: “..wicked, violent religion.”
– Rev Jerry Vines; Muhammed “was a demon-
posessed pedophile…”
– Samuel Huntington; “Clash of Civilizations”
– Other cultural critiques followed
• Council on American-Islamic Relations
• Muslim Public Affairs Council

17. New Religions from Islam
• Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam
– 1901 split from Sunni Islam
– Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as mujadid
(“renewer”)
– Mufti Mohammad Sadiq in America 1920-
1923
• Baha’I Religion
– Siyyid Ali Muhammad (1819-1850) as Bab
(“gate”)
– Husayn Ali (1817-1892) as Baha’u’llah
(“Glory of God”)
– 1894 in Chicago

18. Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva
Not one religion, but many
Monotheist AND Polytheist
66,000 gods or 330 million gods
3. Further East:
Hinduism
Aryan Peoples related
(Sanskrit related to Greek,
Germanic languages, Latin)
Gods in human form, unlike
Egyptians, Semites.

19. Hinduism as Religion
• Sacred Texts:
– Vedas (Rig, Sama, Yajur, Atharva)
– Brahmanas
– Aryanyakas
– Upanishads
– Mahabharata and Ramayana
• Brahman-Atman-Moksha (realization)
• Margas (3 paths)
– Bhakti (puja, yoga)
– Karma (varnas, dharma)
– Jnana (raja yoga, gurus)

20. Hinduism in
America
• 1970’s first temples built
• 1986 - 40 exist
• 1990’s - 150
• South Indian
• North Indian
• Ecumenical
• Sectarian
• Guru culture vs. temple
culture
• Expansion and
contraction
• 1990’s - 5 million+

21. 4. Export Religions
• Vivekananda (World Parliament of Religions, 1893)
founds Vedanta Society in 1896 - devotee of
Ramakrishna
• Paramahansa Yogananda, 1920 - Self-Realization
Fellowship (kriya yoga)
• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 1959 - Transcendental
Meditation (TM)
• Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) 1965 -
ISKCON (temple culture and guru culture)
• Muktananda
• Meher Baba
• Amachi
• Karunamayi … and many more gurus.

23. 5. Farther East:
Buddhism in America
• Earliest arrival probably in
Hawaii in 18th century.
• Chinese immigrants in
California 1840’s
• 1853: first Buddhist Temple
in San Fran
• 1859: Calif. Supreme Court
rules that Buddhism can not
be limited by state.

24. Buddhism
Basics
• Guatama Siddhartha (563-483 BCE?):
– Prince of Sakya clan, Kingdom of Mogadha, N. India/Nepal.
– Leaves palace, has the 4 Sights: Old Age, Sickness, Death,
Renunciation.
– Gives up household/secular life, undertakes all forms of spiritual
disciplines. Finds the Middle Way (between extremes)….
– Achieves enlightenment at age 29: Nirvana=liberation, end of
suffering.
– Establishes the Sangha, community of monks (and eventually
nuns), and teaches up to his death at age 83, dies of stomach
poisoning.
– Leaves behind the 3 Jewels: 1) Buddha (inspiration of his own
personal achievement), 2) Dharma (the Buddha’s instructions
leading to cessation of suffering), and 3) Sangha (the community
of monks and nuns who practice the Buddhadharma.

25. Buddhist Doctrine and
Canon
• Pali Canon (Tripitaka = 3 baskets):
established after First Buddhist Council upon
the death of the Buddha.
– Suttras (Middle, Long, and Short Discourses)
– Vinaya (Rules and Guidelines for monks/nuns)
– Abhidharma (detailed psychology of consciousness)
• 4 Noble Truths
• Noble 8 Fold Path
• 3 Marks of Reality
• Meditation Practice(s)

26. Four Noble Truths
1. Truth of Suffering (Dissatisfaction)
Diagnosis
2. Truth of the Cause of Suffering:
greed, thirst, spiritual ignorance.
Etiology
3. Truth of the End of Suffering:
Prescription
4. Noble 8 Fold Path: Treatment

27. Eight-Fold Path
• Wisdom
– 1) Right views: laws of karma, death, facts of life.
– 2) Right intentions: renunciation, doing good, harmlessness
• Ethics
– 3) Right action: integrity, morality
– 4) Right speech: truthfulness, no lying, no deception
– 5) Right livelihood: no weapons dealing, killing, intoxicants
– 6) Right effort: trying, but not too hard.
• Mental Development (Meditation)
– 7) Right mindfulness: body, feelings, mind, phenomena
– 8) Right concentration: focused mind on wholesome
objects/purposes.

28. Three Marks of Reality
• Anatta (Non Self): taught as rejection of Hindu notions
of Atman and Caste, to emphasize responsibility of individual
action in spiritual progress and not one’s parentage. All
experiencable phenomena is empty of self; there is no such
thing as an unchanging separate self, no soul, no atman, no
individuality that survives death.
• Anicca (Flux): all experience includes change, there is
nothing to cling onto that is unchanging or eternal.
• Dukkha (Suffering): all experience includes some
element of unsatisfactoriness, physical pain, mental anguish,
emotional suffering, or existential incompleteness.

29. Meditation Practice(s)
• Dhyana-Cha’na-
Chan-Zen
• Vipassana: Insight
Meditation or Mindfulness
of any phenomenon.
• Samattha:
Concentration on Love,
Compassion,
Sympathetic joy, or
Equanimity.

30. Branches (Vehicles) of Buddhism
• Theravada: Thailand,
Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam
• Mahayana: Boddhisattva,
newer texts (Heart Sutra, etc),
concept of Emptiness (sunyata).
Tibet, China, Japan, Korea
• Vajrayana: Lightning Bolt
Vehicle or Diamond Vehicle -
Sudden Enlightenment, Magical,
Antinomian, Tantra. Tibet (Dalai
Lama), China, Japan (Shingon).
•
• Pure Land Buddhism: Amida
Buddha, Western paradise,
nembutsu. China, Japan.

31. Theravada Buddhism

32. Tibetan Buddhism

33. Japanese Zen Buddhism

34. Pure Land Buddhism

35. Buddhism in America
• Emerson and Thoreau (Transcendentalists): Buddhism important,
but misunderstood.
• Theosophical Society; Col. Henry Steele Olcott (1832-1907) and
Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891) important in reformation and
modernization of Sri Lankan Buddhism. Buddhist Bible printed by Olcott,
schools established, Buddhism as consistent with modern science.
• Alan Watts (1915-1973): Episcopal Priest, writes Wisdom of
Insecurity, The Way of Zen, On the Taboo Against Knowing Who
You Are, etc.
• Beat Poets: Allan Ginsberg (1926-1997) Howl; Jack Kerouac
(1922-1969) Dharma Bums, Scripture of Golden Eternity, etc.
• Immigration: Vietnam War and 1960’s lifting of
immigration restrictions brings over a million Buddhists
from Asia to America.

36. More Buddhism in America
• Hollywood, Sports and
Rock stars: Richard Gere,
Tina Turner, Uma Thurman,
Laurie Anderson, Phil Jackson,
Andre Agassi, etc.
• Dalai Lama becomes popular
after his first public appearance
in 1979.
• Meditation Centers:
retreat centers, Naropa
Institute: Buddhist University
in Boulder, CO.
• Academic Study of Asian
Religions

37. 6. East is West: Combinations
• Ethnic Religions - combine ordinary and
extraordinary elements
• Export Religions - giving their extraordinary to
westerners
• Elite Religions - middle class appeal
• Postpluralism - hybrids
• 3HO - Happy-Healthy-Holy, 1969
• Importance of knowledge
• Rigorous practice groups
• Personal Transformation

38. Conclusions
• Religious expansion (Pluralism) given
new meaning for Americans
• Porterfield’s 4 themes: guru culture
does not do well in America, but temple
culture does.
• Hinduism in America like Reform
Judaism (?)
• Spiritual practice groups (Vipassana,
zen, 3HO, etc) appeal to middle class -
often adaptable to church life.