VIETNAMESE NUNS
IN THE UNITED STATES
The United States is a young country, only 300 years old, but it is a land full of life with enough conditions to nurture seeds of energy. It is a land of opportunities for youth to advance, and a springboard for progressive wills to learn. It is an easy-to-develop society and it is also easy for individuals to take risks by relying on loans from banks. It must be said that the United States is “non-communist socialist” because all are equal before the law, do according to their ability and enjoy according to their needs.
In terms of form, all citizens enjoy the same material things, but due to merit, labor, talent and social level, the quality of material enjoyment is varied.
UNITED STATES
Being a multi-racial and multi-cultural country, it introduces many fields of science and progress, including religion. Protestantism accounts for 52 percent of the population, with 24 percent Roman Catholics (American Religion, Wikipedia).
Buddhism introduced to America:
Buddhism was introduced to the United States in the 19th century with immigrants from East Asia. The first temple in the United States was founded and built in San Francisco in 1853 by Chinese Americans.
At the end of the nineteenth century, many missionaries came from Japan to the United States, and at this time, American intellectuals began to pay attention to Buddhism.
The first famous American taking refuge in Buddhism was Henry Steel Olcott. Olcott also created the Buddhist flag pattern, which in 1950 was recognized by many international Buddhist leaders as a symbol of Buddhism. The world faith conference took place in 1893,with many famous Buddhists from India, China, Japan, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
Estimates of the number of Buddhists in the United States range from 0.5 percent to 0.9 percent. The 0.7 percent was announced by the CIA and PEW. According to the Association of Statisticians of the American Religious Journal, published in March 2017, based on data from 2010, Buddhism is the largest minority religion among 186 counties out of 3,143 counties in the nation of America.
Typically, American poet Allen Ginsberg, artist Steven Seagal, action actor Richard Gere, poet Allen Ginsberg, the film director and screenwriter Oliver Stone, singer, songwriter, artist cum actress Courtney Love, comedian Martin Starr, and billionaire filmmaker George Lucas, famous movie actor Robert Downey Jr., famous movie star Goldie Hawn, and film producers, the Coen Brothers, approached Buddhism and became Buddhist.
Buddhists who are Jewish natives:
Zoketsu Norman is a Jewish Buddhist Zen Master whose parents are not Buddhists. Jews have appeared and presented in America as Jewish-American Buddhists frequently
Buddhism came to the United States on September 8, 1893, when the World Religious Communities opened in Chicago, attended by delegations from more than ten world religious traditions. In addition to Christian and Jewish traditions, Asian religions such as Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism were also presented.
As for Asian Buddhism, Theravāda Buddhist delegates came from Sri Lanka and Thailand, while Mahāyāna Buddhism came from Japan and China to actively contribute to “the noblest and most honorable achievement of the century.” Before the assembly, Buddhism was officially introduced to the American people and in return was also warmly welcomed by the American people.
After the World Conference, many Buddhist leaders often came to the United States, establishing monasteries and temples belonging to different sects. They transformed many Buddhists, trained many leaders and established American Buddhism in the United States with very specific characteristics and promising perspectives.
Paul Carus, one of the organizers, wanted to invite Zen Master Soyen Shaku to translate some Asian religious texts into English, but the Zen Master refused and assigned Dr. Daisetzu Teitaro Suzuki to work on the translation with Carus. Dr. D. T. Suzuki is not a stranger to Buddhists in the world. He has authored thirty Japanese Zen books, which are very well known and have been translated into many languages. Among the lay people credited with spreading Buddhism in the United States, Dr. Suzuki must be one of the top leaders.
The interreligious Japan was first introduced to the United States in the early 1930s in the Japanese immigrant community. This religion has a lay organization, called Soka Gakkai, (the Value-Creation Society), which is very effective in spreading the Japanese Nichiren (Pure Land Sect) in Japan, as well as abroad, especially in the United States.
Japanese Pure Land came to the United States the earliest, but in fact, Japanese Zen Buddhism has widely spread among all US circles.
Tibetan Buddhism introduced in the USA:
In 1950, Tibetan politics changed. By 1959, the Dalai Lama, the country's religious and political leader, along with many others, left Tibet for India. From there the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism were transmitted to the land of the Indians. The four Tibetan sects are Nyingma, Kagyu, Geluk and Sakya.
According to the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, many Tantric Meditation centers were founded in Colorado, Vermont, New York, Boston, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Naropa University in the Rocky Mountains. Naropa University has now become a humanities university in the United States. In 1974, the highest monk of the Kagyu lineage was Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Karmapa to the United States, and then there was His Holiness Kalu Rinpoche. [1]
Chinese Buddhism introduced in the USA:
It is likely that Venerable Hui Shan (Huệ Sơn) and some Chinese monks were the first Buddhists to enter the United States in the fourth century, long before Columbus.
The Chinese Buddhist monks brought Chinese Chan (Dhyāna) and Pure Land sects into the United States, which became the thriving Chinese Buddhist traditions in the USA, with master teachers such as the Most Venerable Tuyên Hóa and the Most Venerable Tịnh Không.
South Korean Buddhism introduced in the USA:
Korean Buddhist Zen Master Soen-sa-nim often taught Buddhism in Japan and Hong Kong after World War II. By 1972, with little money, without knowledge of the English language, he went to the United States, settled down Los Angeles, where there was already a fairly large Korean community. Then, he started to share Buddhism.
Vietnamese Buddhism introduced in the USA:
In regard to Vietnamese Buddhism, only in the 1950s did Vietnamese monks come to the USA, including Venerable Thích Quảng Liên, who was studying economics at Yale University.
In 1962, the Most Venerable Thích Nhất Hạnh was enrolled at Princeton University studying comparative religions. In 1966, he was a lecturer at Cornell University. The Most Venerable Thích Trí Siêu and the Most Venerable Thích Thuyền Ấn studied philosophy at the University of Wisconsin. Both later returned to Vietnam to compose many research books on Buddhism. At the same time, the Most Venerable Thích Thiên Ân received his doctorate in literature from Waseda University, Japan, and in 1966 he was invited to be a lecturer at the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1967, he decided to stay in the United States and teach Zen for Americans.
Regarding the import of Buddhism from Vietnam to the United States, we must mention the Most Venerable Thích Thiên Ân and Venerable Thích Nhất Hạnh. After graduating in 1966 with a PhD in eastern literature from Waseda University Japan in 1966, the Most Venerable Thiên Ân came to the United States as a professor of eastern philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also taught Buddhism and Zen at some small groups in their home in the Hollywood area. Later, he founded the International Buddhist Meditation Center, a center for Americans who want to learn meditation. In 1973, he founded the College of Oriental Studies (later became the University of Oriental Studies) to teach Buddhism, with many famous Zen masters and Buddhist scholars from Japanese, Thai, Korean and Tibetan Temples. In 1970, Venerable Thích Thiện Ân set up the International Buddhist Meditation Center and then in 1974, held an ordination ceremony for American disciples, officially sharing the meditation and spiritual practice of the Vietnamese with the US.
After April 30, 1975, with the influx of Vietnamese refugees to the United States, the need for Buddhism led the Venerable Thiên Ân establish the Vietnam Temple in Los Angeles. This is the first Việtnamese Temple in the United States. The second one is A Di Đà Temple.[2]
After 1975, a number of Vietnamese people came to the United States. The Venerable Thiên Ân led a US Buddhist movement to assist refugees in various aspects of religion, as well as life. Vietnam Buddhist Churches in America was established at the headquarters of the Việt Nam Temple in Los Angeles. In October 1980, Venerable Thiên Ân passed away. The meditation center was assigned to his American disciple, Bhikkhunī Karuna Dharma to be abbess. The late Venerable Thích Mãn Giác was sent to take charge of the Vietnamese Buddhist Church in the United States and was appointed abbot of Việt Nam Temple.
Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh left Vietnam for the United States in 1961, but he has only really brought Vietnamese Buddhism into American society since 1983 at Berkeley, California when he founded a Contemplation Order, which he began while he was still in Vietnam. In addition to the above two individuals, many Vietnamese Buddhist monks have followed the wave of emigrating to the United States. They have set up temples in crowded places with many Vietnamese immigrants such as Orange County, San Jose (California), Houston (Texas) and so on with the purpose of providing the Pure Land tradition to Vietnamese immigrants. These are not actual centers of Buddhism to serve foreigners, so they do not attract as many US Buddhists as the Japanese, Korean, or Tibetan Buddhist centers. The influence of these Vietnamese Temples around a small community does not significantly help the development of Buddhism in this country.
Since 1998, Trúc Lâm Zen Buddhism in Vietnam, under the guidance of Zen Master Thích Thanh Từ, has also come to the United States and is admired by Vietnamese Buddhists. The Most Venerable Thanh Từ has established Zen retreats in Orange County, San Jose and Houston, for those who want to learn Zen or practice, whether ordained or lay people. At present, Trúc Lâm Zen is still incipient, but with a proper principle, a large-scale organization, training many good monks and nuns who have high morals, great virtues who receive support of the masses in the community. This Zen method has a good future prospect in the US.
The same as many countries in Asia, Buddhist women are very crowded, equal to or more than men. Therefore, like in many other mechanisms of American society, American Buddhism is “feminized,” that is, the voice and interests of women are respected and promoted. The contribution of women to the work of promoting Buddhist development is significant. Many nuns, female Zen masters and chief nuns who are trained in Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, or even in the United States, have appeared sharing Dharma talks, lectures, composing books and writing for newspapers to propagate Buddhism.[3]
THE PRESENCE OF VIETNAMESE NUNS IN THE UNITED STATES
Venerable Bhikkhunī Trí Hải (1938–2003) was a Vietnamese nun celebrity. In 1960, she went to the United States to study and graduated from the Master of Library Studies program at Princeton University. She is one of the first lecturers to teach at Vạn Hạnh Institute and the Vietnam Buddhist Advanced Institute. She kept the post of Deputy Director of the Vietnam Buddhist Studies Institute and is a famous Buddhist author and translator.
In 1979, Venerable Bhikkhunī Đàm Lựu was sponsored to settle down in the United States by the Most Venerable Thanh Cát (the abbot of Giác Minh Pagoda, Palo Alto, California). In 1980, the Venerable Master nominated Venerable Bhikkhunī Đàm Lựu of San Jose to practice and found Đức Viên Pagoda.
Venerable Bhikkhunī Như Chánh studied in Japan, then came to the United States and passed away here.
The Most Venerable Bhikkhunī Diệu Từ took asylum to Japan and then emigrated to the United States, staying in Sacramento and southern California. The Most Venerable Giác Hương, the Most Venerable Như Hòa, the Most Venerable Bhikkhunī Nguyên Thanh, Venerable Bhikkhunī Thanh Lương, Venerable Bhikkhunī Lệ Thanh, Venerable Bhikkhunī Pháp Đăng, Venerable Bhikkhunī Diệu Đáo, Venerable Bhikkhunī Thích Nữ Như Liên, Venerable Bhikkhunī Liên Chi, and many more nuns have come to the United States before and after 1975, and continue to stay in America to share Buddhism.
In the beginning, monks and nuns in the country felt strange with the language and customs, especially the tradition of beliefs. Their way of living has been in the religious tradition of the homeland, surrounded by a group of elder followers, providing the funeral ritual as a basic earning to sustain life. There have been no plans to share the Buddha Dharma to local foreigners. Language is a major obstacle to socializing. Every week, the elderly come to the temple with their descendants, but after some time, the older generation is gone, the young people are no longer interested in the temple with language and rituals no longer suitable for a pragmatic life. To have an heir, it is difficult for a young person in the US to become a novice. Like most Chinese communities, Vietnamese monks stay and gather at the Vietnamese refugee community, making it difficult to develop in contemporary Western American society.
Young people in Europe and America do not need to believe in religion, that is, they do not live with the heart like their ancestors. They need brains, judgment, rational analysis at the modern scientific level. Because of the traditional conservative belief that “bless those who do not see but believe,” Christianity increasingly falls into a stalemate; some churches must be closed, transferred to temples, schools and hospitals.
Christian sisters in the closed churches in the United States are preparing a joint “fulfilling mission” in peace because of no more vocation.
On October 20, 2018, the US Catholic News Agency said a seminar on the future of American women was held in Oakbrook, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, on September 25 and 26 on the topic “Loyalty to Journey: Together in Communion.”
In the seminar, there were around fifty people including priests, nuns, canon experts and others. Among the participants were the cardinal priest Joseph Tobin, former superior general of the Redemptorist congregation, and currently archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, cum president of the US Church Commission on clergy, religion and vocation.
The seminar took place amid a dramatic decrease in the number of nuns in the United States. This meant the Church needed help preparing the future. According to data provided by the United States National Office on Retiring Nuns under the United States Episcopal Concessions, in the next few decades, the 300 female lineages in the United States may disappear.
The number of nuns in the United States decreased by 75 percent. Over the past fifty-three years, since 1965, the number of Christian nuns in the United States has declined by 75 percent and there is no hope of a change in this trend. In 1965, there were 181,421 nuns in the United States, but in 2016 there were only 47,160 nuns of whom 77 percent were over seventy years old. Among the 420 female lineages in the United States today, 300 female lines are preparing to end in the next few decades because there is no vocation and the number of remaining sisters is getting older.
Sister Carol Zinn of St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia, the executive director of the Union of Sisters of the American Sisters, said the current issue is not to prepare to sell the churches, but go even further.
Keeping peace at the prospect of grief: Reverent Joseph Kutz, the archbishop of Louisville Diocese of Kentucky, commented that grief and loss are the reality that the participants felt, but many female lineages also felt a calm because they were in the process of completing the mission – destiny and itinerary. The archbishop said, “It is a healthy exchange, a real dialogue, based on our deep esteem for the priests and nuns and their contribution. I left the conference in a spirit of encouragement and excitement.”
Cardinal Joseph Tobin: Cardinal Tobin also told the newspaper Global Sisters Report that “I was moved by the peace the nuns found in preparing to end their mission." There is a sadness at the sight of the end of a religious community which often means the disappearance of a specific charism in the church, but also a great serenity for the nuns.”
Cardinal Tobin revealed that he recalled the elderly Simeon's words on the day when the Child Jesus was sacrified at the church, “Lord, let your servant go peacefully, for my eyes have seen your salvation.”
Sister Carol Zinn also said that "Peace comes when the nuns are aware of the end being part of the sacred paschal, dying and rising again, which is at the heart point of the Christian faith."[4]
Buddhism: Some Chinese Buddhist establishments were present relatively early in the United States but were later difficult to maintain. However, 164 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries around the world have been maintained and developed, while there were only fifty-seven masters alternately teaching and guiding Zen, although Zen is not the basic practice of Tibetan Buddhism.[5]
Zen Master Thiên Ân, Zen Master Thanh Từ, although not as thriving as Zen Master Nhất Hạnh, are still attracting interest from indigenous people, especially intellectuals and young people. They come to this Buddhist sect not to make offerings or rituals with faith, but to learn, share and practice practical benefits in a stressful industrial social.
Buddhism came to the United States with many paths and sects from many countries. Each sect has a unique way of living, but in the new land, apart from preserving the tradition, it is necessary to integrate specific elements of indigenous people.
In the beginning, nuns did not officiate at funerals like some professional monks. As some nuns were not fluent in the native language, maintaining daily activities for the pagodas was difficult. How to integrate into the academic education environment was a challenge, although the government is willing to grant scholarships and financial aids to support students. The nuns had to make cakes, incense, vegetarian food, even scrap collection like Venerable Bhikkhunī Đàm Lựu and her disciples when they first came to the United States, so that life would not rely on the donation of others as in Vietnam. US citizens, despite their high salaries, must pay taxes, utility bills, house insurance, vehicles and so on. Almost everything is owed to the bank; it is rare to have cash at home. Elderly people receive government subsidies that are just enough, if one is very frugal. Only a few dozen dollars were put into donation boxes, but it was a generous offering, as generous as it is in Vietnam.
Over forty-three years, life has gradually stabilized and some nuns have participated in the education of the country. A large number of young nuns have gone to study abroad in countries such as India, China, Taiwan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal, United Kingdom, US, Japan, Singapore, and so forth. Particularly in the US, the number of nuns with degrees compared to other countries is not many, but the quality of knowledge and learning is sufficient to ensure that the nuns’ community training is compatible with Sakyadhita’s (female disciples of Sakyamuni Buddha) guidelines, and requires the current development of Vietnamese Buddhism in the United States.
The general situation of Vietnamese people, preferring to be more individual than integrating, has not seen any organization, whether in business or in religion, that has complete unity. After 1963, the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam was born and soon divided into two systems. After 1975, the United Vietnamese Buddhist Church in foreign countries also transformed many sanghas and associations, such as Về Nguồn (Return Source), Sangha Vows, the Sangha, Linh Sơn Church and the Worldly Sangha. Ever since, Vietnamese nuns, if they have enough capacity to communicate with nuns in the indigenous community, to agree on twelve criterias[6] as mentioned by Venerable Bhikkhunī Giới Hương:
- Preserve the manner and posture.
- Recite precepts of the bhikkhunī, siksamana, or samana.
- Demonstrate the spirit of respect to the Buddha and sangha.
- Keep the eight rules of the bhikkhunī.
- Chant, lead retreats, meditation, Vu Lan ceremonies, Buddha's birthday, one-day retreat, reciting the Buddha's name, teaching at the temple, other temples and in the community.
- The sangha and the patriarchs need to take prompt actions in the proper use of talent so that all the nuns can see their responsibility for Buddhism. The nuns should fulfill their aspirations, promote their roles and duties in areas where the United States or the Vietnamese-American community wants the nuns to contribute.
- There are many opportunities to develop the ability because many websites (such as huongsentemple.com of Huong Sen Pagoda, Perris, California) are ready to post and wait for the works of nuns. The general department of the nun sangha should create a website for Vietnamese nuns in foreign countries to create special activities for them.
- Create a social network to connect nuns, especially young nuns with enthusiasm . . . visiting, supporting, respecting each other and sharing Buddhist activities between the temples (dare not to speak of global, only nuns of the same sangha, ideals and ideologies). Enhancing the online propaganda between nuns and Buddhists. This will help improve the level of Dharma and its application in society.
- There should be English-language chanting courses, creation of an online scripture library, and online tutorials and information transfer – constantly innovating and modernizing the way of preaching to suit the United States.
- Participate in classes on the society’s knowledge, such as culture, technology, computers, health care, society and law to improve internal and external learning.
- Train nuns with a rich energy of experience and practice, with teaching domestically and abroad, inside and outside the temple, giving lectures coherently and deeply to become the dignitaries, the bright leaders of Buddhism.
- For the growth and values of the nun sangha, nuns will be a positive contribution to the success of Vietnamese Buddhism abroad. Bhikkhunīs play an important role, together with monks, in building a good American-Vietnamese Buddhist society. In this way, nuns have established their foothold in Vietnamese-American society and will be a positive connection at the global level to nurture spirituality for the benefit of many around the world.
Perhaps the above first five things, most of the nuns adhere to seriously, but organizing training Vinaya courses for nuns requires a professional lawyer to guide, and currently, no one in the United States meets the required standards. In regard to The Eight Respectful Books of the Discipline, in the future when some nuns' qualifications develop, will they follow the footsteps of some Taiwanese nuns, demanding to abolish the eight rules of the bhikkhunī?
Bhikkhunī Giới Hương’s ideas or ideals for the future of nuns in the United States are really true. For a long time, nuns used to get familiar with the work of the kitchen to the main hall, to the back of the garden. How can they remove the ordinary habit to nurture the "salvation and noble spirit" which is the most important thing. Women are seriously infected with the idea that "one son is yes, but ten girls are still no," which is no longer suitable in the country of an advanced civilization. In this day and age, in the world and religion, the position of women is relatively high compared to what it used to be.
For example, Venerable Bhikkhunī Wuyin, founder and abbess of the Luminary International Buddhist Institute (LIBS) in Taiwan. In addition to Venerab;e Wuyin, Taiwan has many other outstanding nuns in terms of leadership, charity and educational institutions. Running the hospital is Venerable Bhikkhunī Lekshe Tsomo, an American nun in San Diego, who is the leader of the International Sakyadhita Organization with many nuns who are active, creative,and contributing much to the development of Buddhism.
Vietnam used to have bright faces in the nun sangha. During the time of the country's separation, cultural exchange and study abroad was harder than it is today. There were not many nuns to pave the way for Vietnamese Buddhism in American country. Nowadays, many young nuns are in US. If they want to enter the social, cultural, educational and translation paths like their predecessors in this fertile and diverse land, there might be a nun scholar is a pragmatic scientist associated with the spiritual sciences for a uniformly developed Buddhism when indigenous religions no longer meet the intellectual needs parallel with faith.
Venerable Bhikkhunī Giới Hương is right when she stated that "the necessary point of a Buddhist lecturer is the energy of experience, the energy of practice and communication . . . and the public language to communicate." Venerable Bhikkhunī Chodron believes that “the nuns who are educated and know how to practice will be able to teach the doctrines coherently and deeply, helping many believers transform their minds and make life more elegant. The grace of Dharma only exists in places where Buddhism has been practiced for a long time.”
With an open space like the United States, religion no longer has to be passive and closed. It must be committed, must integrate and contribute to the common good in society. The pragmatic view of America is that no one can sit idly, cling or wait for the right time. Experiences, learning and empowerment are a solid way of surviving to convey the religious or spiritual ideology of an alien culture from the East. Avoid training nuns to be the abbess or care for the teacher as she gets older as the Buddha ever taught his disciples "Be the heir to the Dharma, not a material legacy." We should think about how the future of Buddhism will develop in a practical country, with no ambiguity, not much faith in the world after death. Replace it, as Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's way, "Dwell mindful in the present" has been popular and rooted in the US. Thanks to his current practicality, there is no need to promise anything in the future, but it resolves the pressing issues in life here and now. It is the practice method, which seems pragmatic but is imbued with the nature of spirituality that industrial society needs.
Today's Western European tendency is to specialize in meditation to discover the spiritual interior, the practice way that places less emphasis on religious ritual.
Of course, the road cannot be smooth; the future has many challenges for all with a fairly big challenge for nuns, who are not familiar with abnegation. Our proud female master, Giới Hương, proudly carries the vanguard flag for the Vietnaamese daughters of the Buddha in the United States.
Sài gòn Sunlight, April 29, 2020
Buddhas to be,
Cư Sĩ Minh Mẫn
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SOURCES
- Huỳnh Kim Quang. "Năm mươi năm Phật giáo Việt Nam tại Mỹ" (Fifty Years of Vietnamese Buddhism in America). Viet Newspaper: Bính Thân New Year.
- International Buddhist Meditation Center (IBMC), Our History.
- Trần Đức Anh OP – Vatican.
- Ðào Viên tạp chí nghiên cứu phật giáo: Sự phát triển của Phật giáo ở Hoa Kỳ (The Research on the Development of Buddhism in America).
- Tổ chức FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, tạm dịch là Tổ Chức Bảo Tồn Truyền Thống Đại Thừa).
- Nuns in America. Thích Nữ Giới Hương. http://www.huongsentemple.com/index.php/ung-dung/ni-gioi
[2] Huỳnh Kim Quang, "Năm mươi năm Phật giáo Việt Nam tại Mỹ" (Fifty Years of Vietnamese Buddhism in America). Việt Báo Tết Bính thân (Viet Newspaper: Bính Thân New Year), pp. 35–39.
[3] International Buddhist Meditation Center (IBMC), Our History.
[4] Trần Đức Anh OP – Vatican.
[5] Ðào Viên tạp chí nghiên cứu phật giáo: Sự phát triển của Phật giáo ở Hoa Kỳ (Research: The Development of Buddhism in America).
[6] The Speech of Nuns in America, Thích Nữ Giới Hương, The Summer Retreat at Điều Ngự Temple on June 26, 2018. Please visit website: http://www.huongsentemple.com/index.php/ung-dung/ni-gioi
