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DIVERSITY IN PRACTICE: PEACEMAKING AMONG SINHALESE AND AMERICANS AT THE WASHINGTON BUDDHIST VIHARA by Bridget Fitzpatrick submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology Chain Geoffrey Burkhart ljuLd2JltsyTj^£t______________________ Brett Williams o — _______________ Elizabeth Sheehan Dean of the College JO _______________________ Date 2000 American University Washington, D.C. 20016 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IIBPJIS Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number 9973422 UMI* UMI Microform9973422 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © COPYRIGHT by Bridget Fitzpatrick 2000 All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEDICATION For Lynn. “Just as a single light attracts attention on a dark night, action informed by knowledge attracts and awakens others, inspiring emulation,” (Tarthang Tulku). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DIVERSITY IN PRACTICE: PEACEMAKING AMONG SINHALESE AND AMERICANS AT THE WASHINGTON BUDDHIST VIHARA by Bridget Fitzpatrick ABSTRACT Since the 1960s, more than a million Buddhists have immigrated from Asia to the United States, joining descendants of Buddhists who came from China and Japan as early as 1840. The impact of these “ethnic” Buddhists on American religion and culture has been overshadowed in the media and scholarly research by the growing numbers of Americans who, in recent decades, have converted to Buddhism or sympathize with its teachings. These two groups of Buddhists, converts and immigrants, developed along separate historical and geographic trajectories, and it is only at the end of the twentieth century that all the traditions of Buddhism have come together in one place. In terms of their religious beliefs and practices, immigrants and converts are often considered so fundamentally different that researchers speak of a gap dividing the “two Buddhisms.” At the Washington Buddhist Vihara, a Theravada temple in Washington, D.C., Sinhalese immigrants participate together with American converts in classes, worship services, ceremonies and informal gatherings. This mixed congregation challenges the assumption that ethnic and convert Buddhists constitute naturally separate, homogenous communities; in fact, the Vihara functions as a point of contact through which relations of community and difference are negotiated. This study, based on fieldwork at the Vihara, ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. problematizes the notion that people, place, and culture are inherently linked, and shows that differences in practice and perspective are constructed and maintained through ongoing interaction within an existing hierarchy of relations, rather than being the natural outcome of historical and geographic separateness. Participants at the Vihara express a variety of interests, constraints, and abilities, as evidenced by the multiple and highly contextual ways they define and use this place—how they practice, plan and organize events, modify their surroundings, interpret one another’s actions, contest opposing views, and engage with the rapidly changing world around them. Through these kinds of “placemaking” activities, participants negotiate cultural meanings, relationships, and values on both local and global levels. As this diverse group of Buddhists comes together in the pluralist context of the United States, they may also be producing a place in which difference acquires new meaning. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DIVERSITY IN PRACTICE: PLACEMAKING AMONG SINHALESE AND AMERICANS AT THE WASHINGTON BUDDHIST VIHARA by Bridget Fitzpatrick ABSTRACT Since the 1960s, more than a million Buddhists have immigrated from Asia to the United States, joining descendants of Buddhists who came horn China and Japan as early as 1840. The impact of these “ethnic” Buddhists on American religion and culture has been overshadowed in the media and scholarly research by the growing numbers of Americans who, in recent decades, have converted to Buddhism or sympathize with its teachings. These two groups of Buddhists, converts and immigrants, developed along separate historical and geographic trajectories, and it is only at the end of the twentieth century that all the traditions of Buddhism have come together in one place. In terms of their religious beliefs and practices, immigrants and converts are often considered so fundamentally different that researchers speak of a gap dividing the “two Buddhisms.” At the Washington Buddhist Vihara, a Theravada temple in Washington, D.C., Sinhalese immigrants participate together with American converts in classes, worship services, ceremonies and informal gatherings. This mixed congregation challenges the assumption that ethnic and convert Buddhists constitute naturally separate, homogenous communities; in fact, the Vihara functions as a point of contact through which relations of community and difference are negotiated. This study, based on fieldwork at the Vihara, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. problematizes the notion that people, place, and culture are inherently linked, and shows that differences in practice and perspective are constructed and maintained through ongoing interaction within an existing hierarchy of relations, rather than being the natural outcome of historical and geographic separateness. Participants at the Vihara express a variety of interests, constraints, and abilities, as evidenced by the multiple and highly contextual ways they define and use this place—how they practice, plan and organize events, modify their surroundings, interpret one another’s actions, contest opposing views, and engage with the rapidly changing world around them. Through these kinds of “placemaking” activities, participants negotiate cultural meanings, relationships, and values on both local and global levels. As this diverse group of Buddhists comes together in the pluralist context of the United States, they may also be producing a place in which difference acquires new meaning. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indebted to the participants at the Washington Buddhist Vihara who generously shared their thoughts and experiences with me, and made this project possible. Special thanks goes to the monks of the Vihara who provided assistance whenever asked, and whose kindness was unfaltering. You have my sincere appreciation andmetta. I am grateful to the members of my dissertation committee, Geoffrey Burkhart, Elizabeth Sheehan, and Brett Williams, for their guidance and encouragement throughout this study. In particular, I thank my advisor Geoffrey Burkhart for his patience, open- mindedness and thoughtful advice, and for his careful attention to this work. In addition to receiving fellowships for the first three years of my graduate program, I received financial assistance during the first year of my fieldwork through an endowment from Harvey and Sarah Moore. I thank the Department of Anthropology for providing this award and for the support it communicated. Finally, I thank my colleagues, friends and family who sustained me throughout this project. Thanks to Jessica