Asian religions in America: a documentary history

Introduction to Asian Religions

Pt. I. Orientations, 1784 to 1840. 1. Views from Abroad. A Narrative of Voyages and Travels (1817) / Amasa Delano. An Account of the Sikhs in India (1814) / Christian Disciple. Robert Morrison's Letter from China (1809). A Mission in Burma (1832) / Adoniram / Ann Judson. 2. Views from Home. Benjamin Franklin's Oriental Tale (1788). A Comparison of the Institutions of Moses with Those of the Hindoos and Other Ancient Nations (1799) / Joseph Priestley. John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (1813-14). William Bentley on Asian Trade in Salem (1794-1804). A Dictionary of All Religions (1817) / Hannah Adams. Religious Ceremonies and Customs (1836) / Charles A. Goodrich

Pt. II. Encounters, 1840 to 1924. 3. East to America: Immigrant Landings. Our Composite Nationality (1869) / Frederick Douglass. The Confucian Sage and the Mongolian Bible (1876) / Fung Chee Pang. Chinese Exclusion Act (1882). Pagan Temples in San Francisco (1892) / Frederick J. Masters. Buddhism in the Kingdom of Liberty (1899) / Shuye Sonoda. The Picturesque Immigrant from India's Coral Strand (1909) / Saint Nihal Singh. Christ and Oriental Ideals (1923) / Swami Paramananda. United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923). 4. Romancing the Orient: Literary Encounters. Brahma and Plato (1857, 1850) / Ralph Waldo Emerson. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849) / Henry David Thoreau. The Heathen Chinee (1870) / Bret Harte. Passage to India (1870) / Walt Whitman. The Waste Land (1922) / T. S. Eliot. 5. Journeys in the Study. Webster's Dictionary on Hinduism and Buddhism (1828, 1849, 1864). The Progress of Religious Ideas (1855) / Lydia Maria Francis Child. Ten Great Religions (1871) / James Freeman Clarke. 6. Postcards for the Pews: Missionaries and their Critics. An American Missionary in Japan (1892) / M. L. Gordon. The United States of Lyncherdom (1901) / Mark Twain. Is Buddhism to Blame? (1902) / Myra E. Withee. 7. The World's Parliament of Religions. Words of Welcome (1893) / John Henry Barrows. Hinduism (1893) / Swami Vivekananda. The World's Debt to Buddha (1893) / Anagarika Dharmapala. Reply to a Christian Critic (1896) / Soyen Shaku. 8. Turning East: Sympathizers and Converts. Old Diary Leaves and The Buddhist Catechism (1900, 1881) / Henry Steel Olcott. Memories of Swami Vivekanda (1945) / Sister Christine. The Dharma (1898) / Paul Carus. Insight into the Far East (1925) / Marie de Souza Canavarro. William Sturgis Bigelow to Kwanryo Naobayashi (1895)

Pt. III. Exclusion, 1924 to 1965. 9. Closed Ports and Open Camps. Asian Exclusion Act (1924). Executive Order 9066 (1942) / Franklin D. Roosevelt. Like a Dream, Like a Fantasy (1978) / Nyogen Senzaki. Memoirs of a Buddhist Woman Missionary in Hawaii (1991) / Shigeo Kikuchi. Wartime Buddhist Liturgy (1940s) / Julius Goldwater. 10. Hindu Crossings: Gurus and Disciples. My Brief Career as a Yogi (1941) / Krishnalal Shridharani. Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) / Paramahansa Yogananda. The Turning Point (1975) / Krishnamurti. What Vedanta Means to Me (1960) / John Yale. 11. Buddhist Crossings: Masters and Students. What is Zen? (1959) / Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki. Followers of Buddha: An American Brotherhood (1934) / Dwight Goddard. Dharma Bums (1958) / Jack Kerouac. Zen: A Method for Religious Awakening (1959) / Ruth Fuller Sasaki. Entry into the Dharma Gate (1994) / Elson B. Snow. 12. Artists, Preachers, and Missionaries. The Christ of the Indian Road (1925) / E. Stanley Jones. The Indian Menace (1929) / Mersene Sloan. Howard and Sue Bailey Thurman Meet Mahatma Gandhi (1936). Lecture on Nothing (1949) / John Cage

Pt. IV. Passages, 1965 to the Present. 13. Countercultural Appropriations. Beginning a Counterculture (1972) / Alan Watts. The Buddha as Drop-Out (1968) / Timothy Leary. The Only Dance There Is (1974) / Ram Dass. 14. Asian Indian Gurus, Converts, and Movements. A TM Catechism (1975). Search for Liberation (1981) / The Beatles and A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Awakening the Mind to Prayer (1984) / Yogi Bhajan. An Experience of Siddha Yoga Meditation (1991) / Margaret Simpson. Integral Yoga (1996) / Swami Satchidananda. Sai Baba and the Resurrection of Walter Cowan (1976) / Elsie Cowan. 15. Buddhist Teachers, Converts, and Movements. Posture (1970) / Shunryu Suzuki. Mediation in Action (1969) / Chogyam Trungpa. The Miracle of Mindfulness (1975) / Thich Nhat Hanh. An Interview with Roshi Jiyu Kennett (1986). Women, Buddhism, and Vipassana Meditation (1991). Waking Up to Racism (1994) / Bell Hooks. Soka Gakkai and the Power of Chanting (1996) / Jacci Thompson-Dodd. Recipes for Social Change (1996) / Bernard Glassman and Rick Fields. 16. Asian Indian Immigrants: Hindu, Jain, and Sikh. The Pilgrimage (1994) / Anand Mohan. Rituals at Sri Venkateswara Temple (1995). Recounting History and Nurturing Youth (1985-95) / Sri Ganesha Temple. Hinduism in the Public Realm: Hinduism Today on Christianity and Cloning (1996). An Ancient Heritage and a Promising Future (1993) / Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago. Things That Make You Ask "Kion"? (1994) / Sikh Religious Society. 17. Buddhist Immigrants. The Buddha's Birthday in a Vietnamese-American Temple (1986). The Dalai Lama Meets the Buddhist Sangha Council of Southern California (1989). Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara's Tenth Anniversary (1990). Later Generations of Japanese Americans on Jodo Shinshu (1990). DJ or Not We're Still Upset (1994) / Thai Youth Club. Buddhism Coming to the West (1997) / Hsi Lai Temple. 18. Asian Religions in Popular and Elite Culture. Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975) / Bruce Lee. The Tao of Pooh (1982) / Benjamin Hoff. Smokey the Bear Sutra (1969) / Gary Snyder. An Interview with Composer Philip Glass (1991). Boddhisattva Vow (1994) / The Beastie Boys. Children Responding to Little Buddha (1994). If You Meet the Buddha in the Lane, Feed Him the Ball (1995) / Phil Jackson. The Kitchen God's Wife (1991) / Amy Tan. 19. Interreligious Dialogue. Letter from Asia (1968) / Thomas Merton. Buddhist-Christian Dialogue (1981) / Masao Abe and John Cobb. The Jew in the Lotus (1994) / Rodger Kamenetz. The Parliament of the World's Religions Centennial (1993). The Kingdom of the Cults (1985) / Walter Martin. 20. Mapping Legal Boundaries: Religion and State. Asian Religions According to the Supreme Court (1965) / William Douglas. Even Buddhist Prisoners Have Rights (1972) / U.S. Supreme Court. The Krishna Religion (1992) / William Rehnquist. Sikh Kirpans in Public Schools (1994). A Vietnamese Home Temple Zoning Dispute (1996).