Dharma and diversity: the changing face of U.S. Buddhism has raised issues of race and privilege within a spiritual practice that includes new immigrants, communities of color and the trendy elite.

Sitting in my half-lotus position in a Zen center in Northern California, I find myself among a hundred people, but one of the few people of color in the room. Where have all the people of color gone? I wonder. How did a religion predominantly practiced by Asians and people of color outside of the United States become a religion for white Americans in this country?

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

It turns out that I am not the only one asking these questions. A growing number of people of color are now being drawn to Buddhism. They are writing books and magazine articles, setting up online groups and meeting in private groups to meditate and study the dharma, the teachings. They are also joining "diversity committees" to change the racial make-up of their sanghas, or Buddhist communities.

The changing face of U.S. Buddhism has raised issues of race and privilege within a spiritual practice that includes new immigrants, communities of color and the trendy elite, as well as those seeking a message of liberation and those in search of methods of relaxation. Buddhists of color who are challenging elitism and white privilege in their sanghas have encountered a familiar struggle to name racism and identify its effects in an environment where such dynamics can often be masked.

"It's not just economic privilege, it's an internal sense of privilege," says Angel Kyodo Williams, author of Being Black, a book on Zen for African Americans. "I think that's creating a highly politicized environment where people are congregating."

Buddha Goes West

The American Religious Identification Survey estimates that about a million people practice Buddhism in the United States. But there is little more information, since Buddhist groups typically have no records of their members that would hint at race, ethnicity, income and employment. It's even difficult to designate who is and isn't a member.