310 CHAPTER iWELVEglorify a playful attitude toward the tradition (Strong EB, sec. 9.3) they find
particularly offensive. Some Asian-American Buddhists also see Euro-
Buddhists repeating what they regard as the mistakes in their own native tradi-
tions. For instance, the call to restructure meditation to fit it better into the
constraints of lay life, in their eyes, is little more than an attempt to domesti-
cate Buddhism in a thoroughgoing way (see Section 7.5.1). Finally, Asian-
American Buddhists question whether a Buddhism that bends too readily to
Western secular norms will have the authority or vision to offer a valid cri-
tique of the spiritual limitations of Western secular society. Euro-Buddhists,
however, view Asian-American Buddhists as being too engaged with the cul-
tural trappings of their traditions to be able to communicate meaningfully to
Western spiritual and intellectual concerns. In short, each side is alienated by
what it views as elements of" designer Buddhism" in the other.
Perhaps the most basic difference dividing the two sides of North Ameri-
can Buddhism lies in their reading of Buddhist history. Euro-Buddhists tend
to focus on the bewildering variety of forms that Buddhism has assumed as it
has adapted to the various countries to which it has spread in the past. This
was especially true when it spread to a civilization such as China-with a well-
established, sophisticated culture of its own-so it is only to be expected that
Buddhism will have to adapt radically as it comes to the established cultures of
the West. Asian-Americans, however, tend to focus on Buddhism's having
survived in a recognizable, integral form only through repeated efforts to re-
turn to its roots, as with the forest movements in Theravadin countries (see
Section 7.5.2), and the many missions from China to India in search of more
accurate, authentic texts (see Sections 8.4.2, 8.5). These efforts to stay true to
its roots, they say, will be especially necessary in a culture such as modern
America, where the impulse to eclecticism and syncretism-to swallow things
up in the melting pot-is so strong.
' At present, the few meeting grounds for the two sides of North American
Buddhism consist of a handful of metropolitan Buddhist councils, the small
number of monasteries run for or by westerners, and occasionally an academic
classroom. From a historian's point of view, however, it would seem that Bud-
dhism's potential for survival as an integral but culturally relevant religion in
America will depend on the ability of the two sides ofNorth American Bud-
dhism to meet and overcome their differences so as to learn from each other's
visipn of what is essential to their tradition and what it has to offer the mod-
ern world.