In the latest issue of Buddhadharma, a forum is hosted in which the future of Buddhism in America is discussed. An excerpt:

Forty or fifty years after the big influx of dharma to the West, we have a small but active and growing population of young practitioners. But what of the future, when the baby boomers are gone? What will become of the dharma with a relatively small number of young people waiting in the wings? To increase the numbers of young students, does the dharma need to become more relevant to younger people? If so, what will that look like?

Interesting conversation. Especially since it raised the hackles of arunlikhati at Dharma Folk.

While I can curse this article to no end, the Buddhadharma discussion finally opened my eyes to the way that white Buddhists see the Buddhist community. Dharma centers, sitting groups, meditation retreats, lay teachers, Free Tibet mailing lists and Buddhism-themed magazines are all part and parcel of white Buddhist culture. And white Buddhists want to preserve this. They want to build on this. But I can see that working with Asian Americans isn’t part of the plan.

Interesting points abound in this post, and I’m sure that fans of Integral Theory will notice the strong Green sentiments expressed.

I also enjoyed the post over at The Worst Horse:

The controversy is best boiled down to and centered around Dharma Folk’s contention that we can’t “discuss the future of the Buddhist community in America without talking about Asian Americans.” For my part, I think that’s true, but would like to reiterate that, indeed, the piece was intentionally conceived to talk about “dharma’s integration into the American culture,” (Winston’s phrasing) with an eye towards so-called “convert Buddhists.”

Fascinating. Egoic arguments over who deserves credit and blame; issues of race and identity. All of it interesting from the perspective of the ego. Not like the hurt feelings don’t matter, but until we can uncover the root of the pain, we’re just spinning the Karmic wheel of attachment, wondering why we’re suffering. If, on the other hand, an embodied realization that goes beyond this personal attachment is allowed to unfold any and every dialog has served to awaken all things.

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