David Eckel: 24 Buddhism in America

Since the end of the nineteenth century, Buddhism has become a respected and significant part of

American culture. The American Theosophist Colonel Olcott traveled to Ceylon in the 1880s, converted to Buddhism, and helped formulate a self-confident, modern view of the Buddhist tradition.

Today, Buddhism is strongly represented in Asian immigrant communities and in a host of distinctively American movements. Buddhism has influenced the visual arts, literature, film, music, landscape architecture, and the way Americans think about their physical and mental well-being.

The tradition that began on the plains of India 2,500 years ago has now been transformed in ways that would once have been unimaginable, but it still carries the sense of serenity and freedom that we associate with the Buddha himself.

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