How did Buddhism become an American Religion?

What made American Buddhism possible? This is the central question of Scott Mitchell’s new book, The Making of American Buddhism (OUP: Oxford, 2023). This roundtable will provide detailed critical engagement with Mitchell's work, that analyzes new understandings of the historical development of contemporary Buddhism in the US and aims to re-shape how we view the contextualized construction of Buddhist modernist ideas in careful historical detail. The Making of American Buddhism focuses on how second-generation Japanese American Buddhists, either side of the Second World War years, constructed an American identity inclusive of their religious identity, and provided the foundations for the spread of Buddhist modernist practices and ideas. The roundtable will bring together four scholars of Buddhism in America, providing critical analysis and direct dialogue with the author and audience, highlighting important questions for understanding the historical roots of contemporary American Buddhist practice and identity.