A Religious Minority Within an Ethnic Minority: Korean American Buddhists

CHAPTER SEVEN

A RELIGIOUS MINORITY WITHIN AN ETHNIC MINORITY: KOREAN AMERICAN BUDDHISTS

Karen Chai Kim

Beginning with the ﬁ rst wave of Koreans who went to Hawaii to work on its sugar plantations in 1903, religion has been an integral part of the Korean American experience. By 1905, plantation owners, Protestant denominations, and the migrants themselves had funded seven plantation-based Korean Christian chapels catering to the 7,226 Koreans in Hawaii (Houchins and Houchins 1974: 553). While the early immigrants were predominantly Christian, successive waves of Korean immigrants have included those who practice other religions. Current estimates are that there are approximately one hundred Korean Buddhist temples in the United States (Kwon 2003: 7; cf. Kim 1996: 95). Koreans are among many immigrant groups in the US to center themselves around religious activities. Williams (1988: 3) asserts that religion in the United States “is an accepted mode both of establishing distinct identity and of intercommunal negotiation.” This is a manifes- tation of a characteristic of American society: while racial and ethnic separation is discouraged, religious distinctiveness is encouraged. Ethnic religious organizations are convenient vehicles for preserving ethnic culture and identity with the support of most Americans. Because of the dominance of Christianity among Korean Americans, most of the research done on Korean American religion has focused on Protestant ethnic churches. Recently there have been more studies of Korean Buddhist temples (Suh 2004; Kwon 2003; Chai 2000). This chapter is based on a case study of a Korean ethnic Buddhist temple in metropolitan Boston, supplemented by visits to temples in California and Texas.1

1 Names of the temple and clergy have been changed. Interviews were conducted in Korean or English. Statements made in English are rendered verbatim. Korean interviews are translated by the author.

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The Buddhists in my study are keenly aware of their minority status within the Korean immigrant community. Virtually every dharma talk (“sermon”) at the temple includes a comparison of Christians and Bud- dhists, whereas Christians rarely compare themselves to other religious groups, except when they talk of a need to evangelize non-Christians. The Buddhists have adopted the attitude that they are interested in peace and in the consistency of Buddhist doctrine and lifestyle, while quietly noting that Christians throughout history have persecuted and killed in the name of religion. They are proud of having resisted the easy and popular path of conversion to Christianity. Buddhist temples are oriented around monks, who perform all of the ceremonies, not around laypersons. Moreover, Buddhism is more individually oriented than congregational, so it is not imperative for Buddhists to attend temple rituals regularly. Members know that the monks will always faithfully carry out all of the rituals and temple activities. The temples are not built in such a way as to mobilize or increase the membership with evangelical zeal. They are much more loosely organized, with a doctrine that does not compel members to proselytize.

Chogye Order Korean Buddhism

Korean Buddhism tends to follow the Mahayana school of Buddhism.2 Mahayana can be further divided into different forms of East Asian Buddhism, such as the historically related Zen ( Japan), Ch’an (China), and Son (Korea) traditions. The Chogye order is a conservative monas- tic order of Son practitioners. The largest and most mainstream order, encompassing approximately 60 percent of the over 20 Buddhist orders in Korea, the Chogye order requires its monks to take vows of celibacy. The Chogye order’s administrative headquarters in Seoul, established in 1955, oversees the 25 head monasteries in Korea as well as a number of affi liated temples in the United States (Suh 2004). Within the order, several organizations maintain power over specifi c domains. These organizations include the Chongmuwon (Executive Committee of the Chogye Order), the Jungang Jonghoe (Central Order Temple Associa- tion), and the Wonroe Hoe (Elder Association). Each Chogye-affi liated

2 As used in this chapter, “Korea” refers only to South Korea.

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