Most Venerable Bhante Walpola Piyananda's 80th Birthday Celebrating - Collected Essays

temples were established under the leadership of Ven. Walpola
Piyananda. Some of the monks that started these temples were trained
at Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara, and many others were sponsored
by his temple. The purchase of the lands and buildings for seven of
these temples was made possible by the generosity of Shantini Wijay.
She continues to be involved in the organization of new temples, under
the guidance of Ven. Walpola Piyananda.
In the late 1980’s Ven. Galaboda Nanissara started the New
York Buddhist Vihara and appointed Ven. Dr. Kurunagoda Piyatissa to
be the abbot. Later Ven. Henbunne Kondanna came to help the abbot
with his work, and they have since opened satellite branches in New
Jersey, Staten Island, Chicago, Minnesota, Long Island and Boston.
In Canada there are over 20 Sri Lankan Theravada temples. The
first one was founded in Toronto in 1978 by Ven. Dikwala Piyananda
Maha Thera who, at the time, was president of the Washington Vihara.
The Theravadan forest meditation tradition is also expanding
in the North America. The Ven. Dr. Henepola Gunaratana Maha Thera,
former president of the Washington Vihara, established the Bhavana
Society in West Virginia. Thailand’s Ajan Chah’s disciples, Ven.
Amaro from London and Ven. Passano from Canada, started a forest
monastery, Abhayagiri, in Northern California. In Southern California,
American born monk Thanissano Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff), started
the Metta Forest Monastery near San Diego.
Burmese monks, especially Mahasi Sayadaw’s Vipassana
group, started many temples in America. Lay teachers, like Joseph
Goldstein and Jack Kornfield, started meditation centers that taught the
Burmese tradition. The late Mr. S. N. Goenka, originally from Burma,
came to North America often to teach Vipassana students at several
centers.
There are currently hundreds of Buddhist temples and
meditation centers in the United States and Canada. In the Thai
Theravada tradition alone, there are over two hundred temples. Wat
Thai in Los Angeles was the first of the Thai temples, and it was founded
in 1967. There are also approximately 200 Laotian and Cambodian
Theravada temples scattered throughout the US and Canada, and a few
Vietnamese Theravada temples as well.
There are numerous Mahayana temples in North America, the
Chinese tradition being the most active. They have beautiful centers
throughout America, a good example of which is Hsi Lai Temple in
Los Angeles County. The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas north of
San Francisco is a Buddhist community for both the Sangha and the
laity, and it also has schools for children. Every state and province
has active Buddhist temples from this tradition. It is interesting to
note that a Sri Lankan monk named Ven. Gunaratana converted to the
Chinese tradition and became Ven. Chao Chu. He wound up learning
three dialects of the Chinese language. He established the Los Angeles
Buddhist Union, and combined the Chinese and Theravada systems
into a hybrid form of Buddhism.
There are numerous Tibetan Buddhist centers in the U.S.
and Canada, the most prominent one being Tibet House in New York
City, founded by Robert Thurman, and containing one of the greatest
collections of Tibetan art in the world.
In the Japanese tradition there are many different sects, the
most popular in America being Zen. The Zen centers are now mostly
run by Americans. In California the largest representation is from the
Jodo Shinshu sect, which is organized as the Buddhist Churches of
America, and has its headquarters in San Francisco. Other groups are
Jodo Shu, Nichiren and Sokka Ga Kai which appeals mainly to young
Americans has a university in Southern California.
With regards to higher education, the Naropa Institute was
founded in Boulder, Colorado, in the early 1980’s by a Tibetan
Rimpoche. In the late 90’s the University of the West in Los Angeles
County was founded by Master Hsing Yun of the Fo Kuang Shan
temple in Taiwan, along with the imminent Buddhist scholar, the late
Dr. Ananda Guruge, a former Ambassador from Sri Lanka to the US.
Presently there are twelve Buddhist universities in North America.
In North America, as a result of Buddhism being primarily
practiced by the immigrant population of different Asian cultures and
their descendents, confusion between Buddhist Dhamma or teaching
and Asian cultural traditions has come to light. This is not the fault
of the monks coming from Asia, where there is complete integration
between culture and religion due to long, intertwined histories in those
countries. It is also not the fault of the students who, having been
exposed to a particular form of Buddhism, believe that what they have
learned is Dhamma, and not the cultural traditions that developed in
the specific country of origin. They are unaware that there are distinct
differences in the customs and cultures in terms of rites and rituals,
which are the ethnic “dressing” of the Dhamma. A good example of
this is the removal of shoes before entering all Theravada temples.
In a Chinese temple, however, if you remove your shoes you are not
allowed to enter the temple. The student typically thinks that the
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