[Buddha-l] ethnic Buddhism.

[Patricia Q. Campbell]

Hello, all.
I'm sure this list has discussed this issue at length before I joined several months ago. But, regarding a recent post that mentioned Western Buddhism as 'non-ethnic' Buddhism:  please, please let's avoid such terms. Western Buddhism is just as ethnic as any other. It's just an ethnicity (we) westerners often fail to recognize as such.

There really aren't any good terms for the so-called 'two Buddhisms' in the West. What we really see is a multitude of culturally-influenced expressions of the tradition: including Sri Lankan, Thai, Korean, Cambodian, Laotian, Japanese, Chinese, Tibetan, and so on (not to mention the various Buddhist schools). Among this wide variety of different groups is one numerically small group we might call western Euro-North-American, which is, in fact, increasingly more diverse than that phrase would indicate. I use the term 'western Buddhists' to refer to people raised in non-Buddhist familial and cultural backgrounds, only because it is the term used and understood by the people I interview in my work. 

Might I recommend an article by Professor Victor Hori, "How do we Study Buddhism in Canada?" which will be coming out later this year in a text called Wild Geese: Studies of Buddhism in Canada. He addresses this issue very skillfully.

As this is my first posting to the list, and I feel a bit guilty that it's somewhat of a complaint, let me just say thanks to all the contributors. I have found the topics lively, very interesting and quite informative!
All the best.

Patricia Q. Campbell
PhD candidate, Wilfrid Laurier University.