Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin
Talk Story with George Tanabe, PhD

“American Jodo Shin Buddhism:
Modern Understanding of Amida”

A Virtual Event on ZOOM
Saturday, December 11, 2021
2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Please join us for a Talk Story session that investigates perspectives about Jodo Shin Buddhism in America and American Buddhism.

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About the Speaker

George Tanabe is Professor Emeritus at the University of Hawaiʻi and is currently the president of BDK Hawaiʻi and BDK America. His books on Japanese religion have been published by university presses at Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and Hawaii. The Japanese government has honored him with the Foreign Minister’s Award and the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun.

About the Topic

Buddhism in America, American Buddhism and Shin Buddhism — Where might we locate modern Shin Buddhism in the spectrums of “Buddhism in America” and “American Buddhism”? “Buddhism in America” generally refers to traditional forms of Buddhism brought over from Asia to America. Most of these groups belong to Mahayana theistic traditions, and are also described as ethnic immigrant Buddhism, such as Japanese Buddhism, Thai Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, etc. “American Buddhism” refers to forms of Buddhism originally from Asia that have assimilated into the American mainstream such that they are also known as white Buddhism, which deemphasizes theism and ritualism. In my view, modern Shin Buddhism is trying to free itself from its ethnic and theistic roots and is struggling to become an assimilated form of American Buddhism. A central issue in this process is the need to find a modern American understanding of Amida.