Buddhism in the United States is often viewed in connection with
practitioners in the Northeast and on the West Coast, but in fact,
it has been spreading and evolving throughout the United States
since the mid-nineteenth century. In
Dixie Dharma, Jeff
Wilson argues that region is crucial to understanding American
Buddhism. Through the lens of a multidenominational Buddhist temple
in Richmond, Virginia, Wilson explores how Buddhists are adapting
to life in the conservative evangelical Christian culture of the
South, and how traditional Southerners are adjusting to these newer
members on the religious landscape.
Introducing a host of overlooked characters, including Buddhist
circuit riders, modernist Pure Land priests, and pluralistic
Buddhists, Wilson shows how regional specificity manifests itself
through such practices as meditation vigils to heal the wounds of
the slave trade. He argues that southern Buddhists at once use
bodily practices, iconography, and meditation tools to enact
distinct sectarian identities even as they enjoy a creative
hybridity.