I am an American Buddhist. I practice Pure Land Buddhism in the manner that is appropriate for an ethnic American, that is, straight from the mind of the Buddha, without Asian cultural accretions. I am an active critic of Asian attempts to impose their culture on Americans in the name of Buddhism, and in this way to suppress American Buddhism. As Americans, the only Buddhism we can practice is American Buddhism because the Teaching (Dharma) of the Buddha can only be practiced with respect to one’s own mind, and one’s own mind, until Enlightenment, is an artifact of one’s birth culture.
I hold a BA from UC Berkeley in Chinese language, served in Naval intelligence in the Pacific Theatre during the Viet Nam era, and have spent my adult life in California and Hawaii working on building projects. I have taken Refuge with every Mahayana lineage present in America, without exception, most recently with Ven. Xing Yun of Fo Guang Shan. I consider Fo Guang Shan my lineage of final Refuge, and the direct continuation of my work in previous lives as a Mahayana Buddhist in China.
So much for words. The Buddha has said that nothing that can be described by so many words is real. Frankly, I don’t believe in them either. If you want another POV, please visit my Potobucket Site, and read the ‘readme.gif’ that you will see there.
Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping (amerbud@yahoo.com)
