Tricycle | Awake in the World

In 1987, the Zen Buddhist Temple of Ann Arbor, Michigan, sponsored a conference on “World Buddhism in America.” The title was meant to convey the fact that representatives from various Buddhist traditions had gathered to talk about the current problems and prospects for their respective traditions in the United States. There were representatives from the Buddhist Churches of America, the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, and the Vajradhatu Buddhist Church, in addition to various Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Sinhalese, Thai, Tibetan, and Zen groups. An unusual feature of the conference was the presence of both Asian and Western Buddhists, as well as American scholars of Buddhism. Thus, there were both Buddhists and Buddhologists (some inhabiting the same body).