The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Jeff Wilson

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Buddhism in North Carolina Project

The net result of my summer research is nine new profiles on previously undocumented Buddhist groups operating in the Western mountains of North Carolina. These profiles have been added to the Pluralism Project's online database, as well as to the online database of the Buddhism in North Carolina Project.

Additionally, there were four groups which I was unable to profile: Anattasati Maggi, Kosala Mahayana Buddhist Center, Phap Hoa Buddhist Monastery, and Waynesville Dharma Center. I corresponded with members or affiliates of all four of these groups and took notes, but their summer schedules prevented me from performing adequate site visits needed for accurate full profiles. There is also a fifth group, the Padmasambhava Buddhist Center of Asheville, which apparently began operating during the summer and only came to my attention in late September. I have begun the process of documenting these groups and as time permits I will visit and profile each during the school year.

Although the point of my research project was to gather original data and provide profiles on each individual group, I would like to take the opportunity to point out some apparent trends that emerge from the data collected, especially when previous profiles of other groups by the Buddhism in North Carolina Project are included. First, in terms of numbers of groups, the mountains of Western North Carolina (hereafter WNC) easily hold their own with the major Central North Carolina metropolitan regions of Charlotte, the Triad, and the Triangle (hereafter CNC), even though the mountains are the least populated area of North Carolina. However, there are some significant differences between WNC and CNC groups. First, WNC groups tend to be smaller on the whole, with most groups having fewer than thirty members, whereas there are a fair number of groups in each of the three major urban areas of CNC that boast several hundred members. Second, there is a racial difference between Buddhist groups in these areas: in the mountains, where there are very few Asian-Americans, groups based on Asian ethnic groups are virtually nonexistent, whereas they have a strong presence in CNC. In fact, Asians make up significant percentages of only two WNC groups, Phap Hoa Buddhist Monastery and SGI-USA Asheville Chapter, while the other groups are virtually entirely European-American (African-American and Latino participation in Buddhism is essentially nil in WNC). Additionally, these facts are not entirely unconnected, as it is the Asian-American Buddhist groups that tend to be the largest‹because WNC has few Asian-American populations to found Buddhist centers, those that exist in the region tend to be smaller, European-American, meditation-oriented groups, typically with a relatively wealthy, older, and educated membership.

An additional observation is that, despite the relative paucity of ethnic diversity in the mountains and therefore in the Buddhist groups found there, Asheville and its neighbors boast several Buddhist lineages that are found nowhere else in North Carolina: Cheri Huber Zen, International Buddhism Sangha Association, Padmasambhava Buddhist Centers, and the New Kadampa Tradition. WNC also has the only major Buddhist retreat center (Southern Dharma Retreat Center), Buddhist crafts cooperative (Carolina Morning Designs), and pansectarian public Buddhist celebration (Wesak Ceremony, held annually in Asheville) in North Carolina.

In a way this summer project is merely a beginning, as there remain more groups to profile, plenty of additional data to collect, and history suggests additional groups will form in the meantime. Even in the shadow of dominant evangelical Christian organizations operating in the area, Buddhism is a growing phenomenon in Western North Carolina. Time will tell whether it someday becomes a significant player in the Appalachian religious scene, or remains an interesting fringe development in the region's spiritual life.