Buddhism first entered America in the middle of the 19th century when Chinese workers arrived in Hawaii and the West Coast. Japanese immigrants began to arrive in the late 19th century. Both groups soon built Buddhist temples in America; by 1875, there were eight temples in San Francisco’s Chinatown.... Read more about Buddhists in the American West

Anti-Chinese rhetoric in San Francisco and throughout the American West culminated in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Japanese immigrants also faced hostility; by 1924, the exclusionary policy was expanded to include quotas that further restricted the entry of immigrants seen as nonwhite. ... Read more about Discrimination and Exclusion

On the East Coast, interest in Buddhism rose in the 1870s through the influence of prominent figures like Henry David Thoreau and H.P. Blavatsky, who founded the Theosophical Society with Henry Steel Olcott. Many of these East Coast Buddhists drew spiritual inspiration from what they considered “exotic” or “ancient” Buddhist texts and ideas.... Read more about East Coast Buddhists

The 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions, held at that year's Chicago World’s Fair, gave Buddhists from Sri Lanka and Japan the chance to describe their own traditions to an audience of curious Americans. Some stressed the universal characteristics of Buddhism, and others criticized anti-Japanese sentiment in America.... Read more about At the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions

After the outbreak of the Pacific War between the United States and Japan in 1941, Japanese Americans who had already put down roots in America—citizens and noncitizens alike—were sent to internment camps. The internment crisis lasted from 1942 until 1946 and fundamentally reshaped Japanese Buddhist institutions, such as the Buddhist Churches of America, which afterward attempted to “Protestantize” Buddhist temples and organizations.... Read more about Internment Crisis

In the 1950s a new generation of Buddhists, poets, and intellectuals brought their enthusiasm for Zen Buddhism to their work. Advocates like Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, and Allen Ginsberg placed Zen Buddhism at the cutting edge of the American literary and cultural scene.... Read more about Zen Boom

Throughout the late 20th century, the Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana streams of Buddhism grew rapidly in the United States. American and Asian Buddhists built institutions and communities of practice spanning multiple generations.... Read more about Building “American Buddhism”

The Immigration Act of 1965, the fall of Saigon in 1975, and the overthrow of Pol Pot in 1979 brought new waves of Asian immigration to cities in the United States. Many arrivals from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia worked to establish Buddhist temples to serve their communities.... Read more about New Asian Immigration and the Temple Boom

In the 1990s, a new form of popular Americanized Buddhism emerged with the publicity of celebrity followers like Richard Gere and Tina Turner. At the same time, new generations of Asian American Buddhists continued to grow and shape their traditions.... Read more about Popularizing Buddhism