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Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism
BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE
IN AMERICA
BUILDING FOR ENLIGHTENMENT
Robert Edward Gordon

“Buddhist Architecture in America: Building for Enlightenment is a mag-
nificent contribution to the growing body of literature on Buddhism in
America. It provides a brilliant and long overdue insight into an aspect
of American Buddhism that has been needed for decades. Few authors
have provided as comprehensive an insight into American Buddhism as
Professor Gordon. It is a must read for all Buddhist Studies scholars.”
Charles S. Prebish
“As my eyes sweep over the pages of Buddhist Architecture in America,

I keep thinking, if I had read Dr. Gordon’s book in the 1970s, my own
understanding of architecture and religion and my own book “Space
and Place” would be so much better! In the last phase of a very long life,
I am happy to think that there can be genuine progress in scholarship.”
Yi-Fu Tuan
This book is the first comprehensive overview of Buddhist architecture

in North America and provides an analysis of Buddhist architecture and
communities.
Exploring the arrival of Buddhist architecture in America, the book
lays out how Buddhists have expressed their spiritual beliefs in structural
form in the United States. The story follows the parallel history of the
religion’s emergence in the United States since the California Gold Rush
to the present day. Conceived of as a general history, the book investigates
Buddhist structures with respect to the humanistic qualities associated
with Buddhist doctrine and how Buddhist groups promote their faith and
values in an American setting. The author’s point of view starts from the
ground floor of the buildings to move deeper into the space of Buddhist
practice, the mind that seeks enlightenment, and the structures that help
one to do so. It discusses Buddhist architecture in the United States in a
manner consistent with the intensely human context of its use.
A unique and ground-breaking analysis, this book adds to the study of
Buddhist architecture in America while also addressing the topic of how
and why Buddhists use architecture in general. It will be of interest to
scholars of religion, architecture, space and place, U.S. history, Asian
Studies, and Buddhist Studies. It will also be a valuable addition to the
libraries of Buddhist communities across the United States and the world,
since many of the observations about Buddhist architecture in the United
States may also apply to structures in Europe and Asia.
Robert Edward Gordon is an Assistant Research Professor at the University

of Arizona, USA, and a Fellow at the UArizona Center for Buddhist Studies.
His work encompasses a broad range of interests: Eastern art and architec-
ture, art and economics, freedom and aesthetics, art and poverty, and human-
istic geography. His writings can be found in The Wall Street Journal, the
Japanese American National Museum’s Traveling Exhibition, the journals
Space and Culture, Philosophies, Social Philosophy and Policy, The Athenaeum
Review, and others.
Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism
Edited by Stephen C. Berkwitz, Missouri State University, USA
Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism is a comprehensive study of the Buddhist tradition. The series
explores this complex and extensive tradition from a variety of perspectives, using a range of different
methodologies.
The series is diverse in its focus, including historical, philological, cultural, and sociological inves-
tigations into the manifold features and expressions of Buddhism worldwide. It also presents works of
constructive and reflective analysis, including the role of Buddhist thought and scholarship in a contem-
porary, critical context and in the light of current social issues. The series is expansive and imaginative
in scope, spanning more than two and a half millennia of Buddhist history. It is receptive to all research
works that are of significance and interest to the broader field of Buddhist Studies.
Editorial Advisory Board:
James A. Benn, McMaster University, Canada; Jinhua Chen, The University of British Columbia, Canada;
Rupert Gethin, University of Bristol, UK; Peter Harvey, University of Sunderland, UK; Sallie King,
James Madison University, USA; Anne Klein, Rice University, USA; Lori Meeks, University of Southern
California, USA; Ulrich Pagel, School of Oriental and African Studies, UK; John Powers, Australian
National University, Australia; Juliane Schober, Arizona State University, USA; Vesna A. Wallace,
University of California, Santa Barbara, USA; Michael Zimmermann, University of Hamburg, Germany.
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Critical-Studies-in-

Buddhism/book-series/RCSB. Recently published titles include:

Building for Enlightenment
Buddhism, Cognitive Science, and the Doctrine of Selflessness

A Revolution in Our Self-Conception
Hugh Nicholson
Indian Buddhist Studies on Non-Buddhist Theories of a Self

The Studies of Śāntarakṣita and Kamalaśīla on the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, Mīmāṃsā, Sāṃkhya, Jain, Vedānta and
Vātsīputrīya Theories of a Self
James P. Duerlinger
Reimagining Chan Buddhism

Sheng Yen and the Creation of the Dharma Drum Lineage of Chan
Jimmy Yu
Buddhist Visions of the Good Life for All

Sallie B. King
Women in British Buddhism

Commitment, Connection, Community
Caroline Starkey
Buddhism, Meditation and Free Will

A Theory of Mental Freedom
Rick Repetti
Theravada Buddhism in Colonial Contexts

Edited by Thomas Borchert
Birth in Buddhism
The Suffering Fetus and Female Freedom
Amy Paris Langenberg
Early Buddhist Meditation

The Four Jhânas as the Actualization of Insight
Keren Arbel
The following titles are published in association with the Theravāda Civilizations Project
The project supports collaborative exchanges among scholars based in the US, Canada, Britain, and
Southeast Asia with the aim to undertake a thematic study of Theravāda civilizations in South and
Southeast Asia.
THERAVĀDA BUDDHIST ENCOUNTERS WITH MODERNITY

Edited by Juliane Schober and Steven Collins
The following titles are published in association with the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies
The Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies conducts and promotes rigorous teaching and research into all
forms of the Buddhist tradition.
Early Buddhist Metaphysics

The Making of a Philosophical Tradition
Noa Ronkin
Mipham’s Dialectics and the Debates on Emptiness

To Be, Not to Be or Neither
Karma Phuntsho
How Buddhism Began

The conditioned genesis of the early teachings
Richard F. Gombrich
Buddhist Meditation
An Anthology of Texts from the Pāli Canon
Sarah Shaw
Remaking Buddhism for Medieval Nepal

The fifteenth-century reformation of Newar Buddhism
Will Tuladhar-Douglas
Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism

The Doctrinal History of Nirvana
Soonil Hwang
The Biographies of Rechungpa

The Evolution of a Tibetan Hagiography
Peter Alan Roberts
The Origin of Buddhist Meditation

Alexander Wynne
Buddhist Architecture in
America
Building for Enlightenment

First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 Robert Edward Gordon
The right of Robert Edward Gordon to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gordon, Robert Edward, author.
Title: Buddhist architecture in America : building for enlightenment /
Robert Edward Gordon.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022024020 (print) | LCCN 2022024021 (ebook) | ISBN
9781032318455 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032318479 (paperback) | ISBN
9781003311645 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Buddhist architecture--United States.
Classification: LCC NA5205 .G67 2022 (print) | LCC NA5205 (ebook) | DDC
726/.1430973--dc23/eng/20220720
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022024020
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022024021
ISBN: 978-1-032-31845-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-032-31847-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-31164-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003311645
Typeset in Times New Roman

by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
To Rashida Ferrer Gordon, and her mother.
Contents
Acknowledgments xii
List of Figuresxiii
List of Templesxiv
Introduction 1
1 Buddhism and Architecture: Space, Time, and Heart 8
2 Buddhist Architecture and Its Nineteenth-Century

American Beginnings 37
3 The Twentieth-Century Expansion of Architectonic

Buddhism67
4 The Proliferation of Buddhist Architecture in America 104
5 The Mandala Form and Buddhist Space in America 127
6 Conclusions and Considerations 154
Index 166
Acknowledgments
I would like to forward my genuine appreciation to the University of

Arizona Department of Art History for helping make my personal and
professional growth possible. I would like to extend a very special thank
you to Paul Eli Ivey for all his help and guidance. His expertise, profes-
sionalism, support, and enthusiasm in all facets of this research and my
career have meant a great deal.
I would like to express a deep and heartfelt thank you to Jiang Wu of the
East Asian Studies Department and Director of the Center for Buddhist
Studies at the University of Arizona. The time and insight that he brought
to this project was foundational, and it would not have manifested as it did
were it not for his wisdom and direction.
I would like to thank Yi-Fu Tuan, Charles S. Prebish, Donald S. Lopez
Jr., Richard Hughes Seager, J. Gordon Melton, and Ed Fields for taking
time out of their busy schedules to offer advice and critical judgments as
writing progressed. A most heartfelt gratitude is extended to Reverend
Elaine Donlin, Reverend Peter Hata, Reverend Kazuaki Nakata, Ms.
Eiko Masuyama, Reverend Tatsuo Muneto, Reverend Ronald Kobata,
Venerable Hui Dong, Venerable Ajahn Prasert, Man Kuang, TsuKu Lee,
Kristin Eriko Posner, Joshua Mulder, Shundo David Haye, Inger Forland,
Matthew Coolidge, Victoria Austin, Dana Velden, and many others who
took the time to speak with me about their communities, went out of their
way to provide important documents, and helped in framing my thoughts
about the nature of Buddhism and its architecture in the United States.
I especially thank composer Daniel Asia in the most cherished manner
possible, for believing in me and supporting my work as a philosopher and
historian of art. He continues to be an inspirational figure and a person
of ability, taste, and vision. I also thank David Schmidtz, whose example
as a philosopher and a human being has truly been an important example
in my life.
Finally, I would like to convey my profound gratitude to my wife Rashida,
my father Richard C. Gordon, my brother Rick, Fr. Gene Koprowski, and
Reneé Gauthier, for always being there for me. We still remember, we who
dwell in this far land beneath the trees, the starlight on the Western Seas.
Figures
2.1 Chinese Joss House, Weaverville, California, ca. 201246

2.2 Joss House, Chinatown, California, ca.191147
3.1 Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin, Honolulu, Hawaii69
3.2 Stupa Atop the Buddhist Church of San Francisco79
3.3 Buddhist Church of San Francisco79
3.4 Nishi Hongwanji Los Angeles Betsuin82
3.5 Los Angeles Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple83
3.6 Karamon in Front of the 1925 Nishi Buddhist Temple88
3.7 Example of the gasshō-zukuri Style, minka Farm House,
Shirakawa-go, Gifu Prefecture, Japan91
3.8 Arizona Buddhist Church, Phoenix, Arizona92
3.9 O-naijin Altar, Buddhist Church of San Francisco96
4.1 San Francisco Zen Center, Front Entrance108
4.2 Insight Meditation Center, Barre, Massachusetts117
4.3 Wat Buddhanusorn, Fremont, California121
5.1 Hsi Lai Temple, Hacienda Heights, California128
5.2 Odiyan Retreat Center, Cazadero, California 128
5.3 Hsi Lai Temple, Entrance Gate130
5.4 Hsi Lai Temple, Courtyard from Above 131
5.5 Hsi Lai Temple, Courtyard from Ground Level133
5.6 The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya Which Liberates
Upon Seeing, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado142
5.7 Amitabha Stupa, Sedona, Arizona144
6.1 Chuang Yen Monastery, Main Hall157
6.2 Buddha Vairocana, Chuang Yen Monastery158
Temples
Amitabha Stupa, Kunzang Palyul Chöling, Arizona

Bodhi Manda Zen Center, New Mexico
Buddha Mind Monastery, Oklahoma
Buddhist Church of San Francisco
Byodo-In Temple, Hawaii
Chuang Yen Monastery, New York
Eihei-ji Temple (Japan)
Fire Lotus Temple, New York
First Zen Institute of America, New York
Green Dragon Temple (Soryu-ji), California
Hanmaum Zen Center of New York
Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple, Los Angeles
Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin
Horyuji (Hōryū Temple, Japan)
Hsi Lai Temple, California
Insight Meditation Society Retreat Center, Massachusetts
Kagyu Shenpen Kunchab Bodhi Stupa, New Mexico
Koyasan Buddhist Temple, California
Linh Quang Buddhist Center, Nebraska
Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple
New England Peace Pagoda, Massachusetts
Odiyan Buddhist Retreat Center, California
Providence Zen Center, Rhode Island
Rinzai-ji Zen Center, California
Rochester Zen Center, New York
Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, California
San Francisco Zen Center
Shambala Mountain Center, Colorado
Shasta Abbey Monastery, California
Soto Mission of Hawaii Shoboji
Temples xv
Tassajara Zen Mountain (Zenshinji), California
Teo Chew Buddhist Temple, Texas
Tin How Temple, California
Tōdaiji Temple (Japan)
The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya Which Liberates Upon
Seeing, Colorado
Washington Buddhist Vihara, Washington, DC
Wat Buddhanusorn, California
Wat Buddharatanaram, Texas
Wat Dhammaram, Illinois
Wat Nawamintararachutis Meditation Center (NMR),
Massachusetts
Wat Thai of Los Angeles
Watt Munisotaram Buddhist Temple, Minnesota
Weaverville Joss House, California
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York
Zenshuji Soto Mission, California
Introduction
Quite often academic studies find their energetic impetus within the biogra-
phies of the scholar. Childhood memories, adolescent experiences, and/or
a mature fascination with some aspect of the world frequently become the
object of scholarly examination. The motivation to engage in this present
inquiry stems from my personal interest in Buddhist thought in general. All
forms of Buddhism have been a source of fascination for years. Yet, nothing
comes from nothing. Western society’s engagement with Oriental culture
has been steadily increasing for centuries. And over the recent of decades of
heightened globalization and interconnection, the Occidental attraction to
Eastern thought and custom has ramified throughout the world. Originally
centered primarily on the materialistic concerns of spices and riches, in
my opinion the Western allure with Asia is now focused much more on the
spiritual, insubstantial elements of Asian culture. There is a certain abstract
quintessence present in this modern attentiveness to a distant and antique
history that is growing ever more ubiquitous to contemporary conscious-
ness. One gets a sense of it in present-day encounters with the martial arts,
yoga, or the New Age movement. Feature films touch on it with storylines
that romanticize Oriental wisdom or portray Asian figures with mystical
powers (Star Wars even comes to mind here). It is a feeling that references
more than just cartographic distance or physical appearance. Something
intangible but generative is at work in the juxtaposition of an ancient
culture—still alive in unbroken threads—when set against the forward au
courant momentum of today’s global modernity. Doubtless my attraction to
Buddhist art and architecture stems from this broader setting.
In the study of Buddhism in America, the role of architecture is not
sufficiently addressed as an explicit endeavor. Scholars have mentioned
Buddhist temples chiefly in passing or in a limited context. Michihiro Ima,
for example, only briefly discusses the various styles of Japanese Pure Land
temple architecture in Hawaii during the early twentieth century.1 An entry
in Charles H. Lippy and Peter W. Williams’s Encyclopedia of Religion in
America contains just a few pages on Buddhist architecture.2 Paul David
Numrich investigated two Theravadin temples, not in terms of architec-
ture, but to understand how Thai immigrant Buddhists have assimilated
DOI: 10.4324/9781003311645-1
2 Introduction
to the United States.3 Jeff Wilson’s valuable chapter in American Buddhism
as a Way of Life discusses the Rochester Zen Garden with respect to com-
munity and its structural environment.4 Jonathan H. X. Lee’s short entry
in Asian American Religious Cultures quickly but succinctly discusses the
syncretistic emergence of Chinese temples in America, which blend Doaist,
Buddhist, Confucian, and folk religious traditions in an amalgamation of
Chinese religious culture.5 Emma McCloy Layman’s Buddhism in America
contains valuable experiential and doctrinal commentary on a number of
temples of various denominations. As an early work, one still comes away
with the sense of having an authentic feel for the Buddhist groups she inves-
tigates.6 George and Willa Jane Tanabe’s Japanese Buddhist Temples in
Hawai’i aims at cracking the semantic shell behind the complex symbolism
of Pure Land Buddhist iconography. Organized and written principally as a
reference resource, “The book is not primarily a history of temples (though
brief historical information is included), nor is it an architectural history
(though architecture is analyzed).”7 Their central goal is to describe what
one sees in the temples.
Each of these texts has elements in common with the overall ambitions
of this investigation. Yet, in the end none of these volumes explore design
or teleology with respect to the structural and spiritual foundations of the
sites under consideration, a primary goal of this book. Given the ambitious
scope of the project, the discussion at times can be overly general, sche-
matic, or even cavalier with Buddhism’s deep, circuitous history and com-
plex philosophies. I conceive of this short volume as an initial inquiry into
the topic. Nonetheless, the objective here is to articulate the larger historical
trajectory of Buddhist architecture in the United States while investigating
significant examples of Buddhist structures of various denominations, and
to understand those artifacts in relation to the spiritual underpinnings of
the religion that inspired them.
With respect to Buddhist belief, most studies address the Theravada
(Path of the Elders), Mahayana (Great Vehicle), and Vajrayana (Diamond
Vehicle) traditions as specific categories. All retain the elemental core of
the Buddha’s teachings. Each tend to be associated with particular geo-
graphical areas in Asia, but have highlighted or augmented different strains
of Siddhartha Gautama’s overall message of enlightenment. One finds all
three of these Buddhist vehicles or paths and their associated structures
in the United States. The issue as to whether a particularly unique form of
American Buddhist architecture exists is still an open question, just as a
distinctive and universally agreed upon American path of Buddhism has
not at this point manifested. In the history of Buddhism, royal and aristo-
cratic patronage greatly helped transition and institutionalize the religion
into foreign settings. This did not happen in the United States, which may
be one reason why a potential “American Buddhism” is so elusive. The final
chapter in this book discusses one way such a path (mārga) or vehicle (yāna)
might begin to emerge.
Introduction 3
The 1997 Harvard Divinity School conference of eminent Buddhist scholars
found three major tendencies of American Buddhism: Democratization,
Pragmatism, and Engagement.8 However, in this inquiry no one practice
or Buddhist belief is favored over another. Instead, common denominators
are explored. Integral concepts are foregrounded. Although architecture
plays a central role in this study, Buddhist structures are understood pri-
marily as religious artifacts, and are approached from the point of view
of the humanities. Written not as a technical or architectural treatise, the
discussion instead centers on the humanistic ideas implicit in the subject
matter as a way to focus attention on that which unites and elevates us as
people. As research progressed, the basic ideas shared among the various
traditions formed productive and unifying avenues of exploration. Belief
in the Dharma and the setting of America are two such commonalities.
Another is the universal need to create buildings within which to conduct
religious practice, as well as the desire by many groups to architecturally
countenance their spiritual ambitions in forms that relate to the values they
hold dear. How this dynamic has transpired forms the exploratory epicenter
of this book.
A thorough literature exists that documents the arrival of Buddhism in
America. While this study engages these findings, I seek to take the next
step in the discussion. For, in my view, it does not seem enough to say
that Buddhism “arrived” in America over a century and a half ago solely
because at the time some immigrants practiced the religion or that some
intellectuals studied or fervently espoused it. Immigrants can easily return
home. Scholars keep their distance. An enthusiastic Western minority is
still a minority. On the other hand, it is the more durable presence of a
building that truly anchors a foreign cultural import into the fabric of a
society. Buddhist material culture and religious belief reached the United
States simultaneously. The architectural achievements of Buddhists
embody the emotions, values, and practices associated with their religious
and cultural instantiation. The buildings are important insofar as they
ground and formalize the religion’s place in the country. Their physical
presence reifies the insubstantiality of faith and belief. They make tangible
the diaphanous winds of intellectual interest and the cosmopolitan fashion
of social elites. Buildings are the largest things that humans create (cruise
ships, aircraft carriers, and the like are essentially floating buildings;
bridges are basically buildings to put roads upon). Their size in relation
to the human body retains the innate power to institutionalize the ideas
behind their construction. In terms of religious architecture, scale and
form become symbolic forces. Indeed, in Asian culture roofs can work in
tandem with mountains, and temples are sometimes designed with that
natural representation in mind. Sacred structures are large scale religious
artifacts that act in concert with the objects, ceremonies, and sentiments
that exist and take place within their confines. In the context of this study,
we see how “sacred objects are embodiments of the spirit of Buddhism.”
4 Introduction
Together they represent Buddhism and “the attainment of Buddhahood”
itself.9 Thus, the material reality of Buddhist architecture becomes vitally
important in understanding Buddhism’s spiritual birth upon the American
landscape and mindset.
A book about American Buddhist architecture is somewhat unique.
Existing books dealing with Buddhist architecture in general, even quite
current volumes, do not include Western sites (including Europe, Australia,
and Canada).10 Most volumes situate their scope within Asian countries:
“Japanese Buddhist Architecture,” “Indian Buddhist Architecture,” “Buddhist
Architecture of Korea,” etc. This is understandable. Buddhism was founded
and matured in these regions. Moreover, the structures in the United States
are largely derivative of the styles and examples found in the East, and lack
the historical importance of older sites from Asia. Nevertheless, there is
indeed something both historical and important about the emergence of
Buddhism and its architecture in the United States. Buddhist temples,
monasteries, and monuments in many ways are transforming the spiritual
landscape of the nation. They introduce a new style and cultural custom
to the country’s structural, religious, and national identity. The sites and
buildings discussed below convey the diversity of expression in Buddhist
religious space in the America. Their unique Eastern heritage is compel-
ling enough to articulate their occurrence and contemplate their cultural
implications. Some scholarly studies claim that there are more than 1500
Buddhist temples in the United States, while other online databases list
nearly 2500 Buddhist communities.11 As such, it was not my goal to address
every occurrence of Buddhist architecture in the country. What the book
does accomplish, in a limited and imperfect way, is begin to demonstrate
the profound relationship between the belief and structural expression of
Buddhist thought in an American setting. It positions the United States
as country with a significant Buddhist architectural presence. In other
words, with Buddhists and their buildings existing in the country now for
over 170 years, it demonstrates that the United States is—strange as it may
seem—a Buddhist nation.
Building edifices of religious valence appears to be linked to the very
notion of being human, of creating a suitable place where individuals can
survive within a meaningful environment vis-à-vis the antipodes of mun-
dane existence and the larger sphere of divine/cosmic order. Arguably, this
is still the case in today’s scientifically-based positivist world. It is a pro-
clivity that is particularly germane to the manner in which some Buddhist
communities in the United States use ancient architectural forms to reveal
and communicate their goals and beliefs. The mandala-based architecture
resident at many Buddhist sites is a form of “spiritual technology” that
to some may seem alien, mystical, or even illogical when experienced and
explained. For in addition to drawing on their cultural heritage, these struc-
tures also intend “to emanate blessings in all directions and radiate spiritual
energy throughout the world.”12 To those unaccustomed to such language,
Introduction 5
the conflation of religious and scientific terminologies (such as “energy,”
“technology,” and “radiation”) may lead to skepticism about the soundness
of Buddhist belief. This book describes how these spiritual technologies
work to some extent. However, the truth of any religious claim is neither the
significant element nor the fundamental purpose of the present investiga-
tion. Paul Eli Ivey makes the comment that religious beliefs can have “truth
effects.”13 Buddhist groups that retain such views are compelled by faith
in the Buddha and his message to manifest their spiritual beliefs in mate-
rial form. The buildings they construct signify the ultimate “effect”—or
consequence—of maintaining the “truth” of those beliefs.
On the other hand, it should be said that engaging in this type of human-
istic research also entails “reading” a structure or environment as if it were
a text that one can interpret. When doing so, intuitions, feelings, surmises,
sensations, and reflections become important ways of understanding the
qualitative meanings of a site. In this study, therefore, the terms tends,
evokes, implies, and suggests permeate the narrative, since these predi-
cates help approximate the subjective attributes embedded in a humanistic
understanding of the objective world. While investigating, I found that
temple members and leaders were sometimes unaware of the stylistic deci-
sions that were utilized in the construction of their buildings. Records
did not always elaborate on any implied symbolic meanings associated
with a temple design. This is because traditions are often passed down
without much thought as to their cultural or aesthetic semantic content.
In such cases, as with the Japanese Jodo Shinshu churches discussed in
Chapter 3, my training in art history and philosophy was brought to bear
in trying to understand how certain structural forms relate to the history,
emotion, and religious syllogisms of a site. This can be precarious, since
the fear is that one can see something not explicitly intended or endorsed
by a community. Yet, such interpretations ought not be conceived of as
merely speculative. An outside look at things usually produces novel
understandings, and can illuminate embedded ideas through scholarship
and professional insight. Buddhists as a rule walk the earth with a com-
passionate spirit, and temple leaders and employees were always gracious
or pleasantly surprised when they engaged fresh observations about their
structures. This is consistent with the way in which religious communities
in general tend to engage the world via their beliefs and practices, where
the goal is more so to share or demonstrate perspectives rather than to
unequivocally prove a worldview.
A discussion on the emergence of Buddhist architecture in America tran-
sects the arc of a number of discursive narratives: ideas of sacred space,
alternative religions in the United States, technological modernity, the
concepts of space and place, and the legacy of America as a New World for
religious freedom. Each of these areas could constitute its own monograph
with respect to architecture. Yet, this study’s point of view starts from the
ground floor of the buildings, as it were, as a way to move deeper into the
6 Introduction
space of Buddhist practice, the mind that seeks enlightenment, and the
structures that help one to do so. It discusses Buddhist architecture in the
United States in a manner consistent with the intensely human context of
its use. By and large, the buildings and environments studied below teach,
symbolize, reveal, or embody the tenets of Buddhist belief as an expression
of a deep emotional connection to the Dharma and the places that they
originated: Chinese Buddhists built traditional Chinese temples, Japanese
Buddhists built traditional Japanese temples, American Buddhists built or
utilized traditional American buildings, etc. The instinctive and identity-
laden connection to homeland accesses a sentiment closely aligned in
mood and meaning with the feelings that the Buddha’s teachings generate
within the individuals amid those structures. Here, religious sentiment and
cultural sentiment both access a common humanistic space, where archi-
tectural form and spiritual belief converge in the emotional center of the
human heart. The physical and the spiritual are not understood as wholly
separate things, but as a mandala teaches, are unified in time, space, body,
and mind in three-dimensional form. Thus, a primary message that the
buildings emanate is one of the interconnectedness of things.
Notes
1 Michihiro Ama, Immigrants to the Pure Land: The Modernization, Accultura-
tion, and Globalization of Shin Buddhism, 1898–1941 (Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Press, 2011), 100–107.
2 Charles H Lippy and Peter W. Williams, Encyclopedia of Religion in America,
Vol. 4 (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2010), 149–152.
3 Paul D. Numrich, Old Wisdom in the New World: Americanization in Two
Immigrant Theravada Buddhist Temples (Knoxville: University of Tennessee
Press, 1996).
4 Jeff Wilson, ““A Dharma of Place.” Evolving Aesthetics and Cultivating
Community in an American Zen Garden” in American Buddhism As a Way of
Life, Gary Storhoff, and John Whalen-Bridge, eds. (Albany: State University
of New York Press, 2010), 195–208.
5 Jonathan H. X Lee., Fumitaka Matsuoka, Edmond Yee, Ronald Y. Naka-
sone, and ProQuest. Asian American Religious Cultures. American Religious
Cultures (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2015), 311–314.
6 Emma McCloy Layman, Buddhism in America (Chicago: Nelson-Hall
Publishers, 1976).
7 George J. and Willa Jane Tanabe, Japanese Buddhist Temples in Hawai’i
(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2013), xiii.
8 See, American Buddhism: Methods and Findings in Recent Scholarship, eds.,
Duncan Ryūken Williams and Christopher S. Queen (Richmond, Surrey:
Curzon Press, 1999), xix.
9 Fabio Rambelli, Buddhist Materiality: A Cultural History of Objects in Japa-
nese Buddhism (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007), 70.
10 For example, see Robert E. Fisher, Buddhist Art and Architecture (New
York: Thames & Hudson, 1993); Le Huu Phouc, Buddhist Architecture (USA:
Grafikol, 2010); Patricia Eichenbaum Karetzky, Making Sense of Buddhist
Architecture (London: Thames & Hudson, 2015); Shubham Jaiswal, Con-
temporary Buddhist Architecture: India, Bhutan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan
(Chennai, India: Notion Press, 2020).
Introduction 7
11 Diane Morgan, The Buddhist Experience in America (London; Westport,
CT: Greenwood Press, 2004), 17. More recently, Finke and Stark count 1656
temples as of 2005. See Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, The Churching of
America. 1776–2005: The Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy (New
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005), 241. See the World Buddhist
Directory from Buddhanet. http://www.buddhanet.info/wbd/.
12 Tarthang Tulku, Copper Mountain Mandala: Odiyan (Berkeley, CA: Dharma
Publishing, 1996), xxiii.
13 Paul Eli Ivey, Radiance from Halcyon: A Utopian Experiment in Religion and
Science (Minneapolis; London: University of Minnesota Press, 2013), 10.
References
Ama, Michihiro. Immigrants to the Pure Land: The Modernization, Acculturation,
and Globalization of Shin Buddhism, 1898–1941. Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press, 2011.
Finke, Roger and Rodney Stark. The Churching of America. 1776–2005: The Winners
and Losers in Our Religious Economy. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University
Press, 2005.
Fisher, Robert E. Buddhist Art and Architecture. World of Art. New York: Thames
and Hudson, 1993.
Ivey, Paul Eli. Radiance from Halcyon: A Utopian Experiment in Religion and
Science. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013.
Jaiswal, Shubham. Contemporary Buddhist Architecture: India, Bhutan, Thailand,
Sri Lanka, Japan. Chennai, India: Notion Press, 2020.
Karetzky, Patricia Eichenbaum. Making Sense of Buddhist Architecture. London:
Thames & Hudson, 2015.
Layman, Emma McCloy. Buddhism in America. Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers,
1976.
Lee, Jonathan H. X., et al. Asian American Religious Cultures. American Religious
Cultures. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2015.
Lippy, Charles H. and Peter W. Williams. Encyclopedia of Religion in America, Vol. 4.
Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2010.
Morgan, Diane. The Buddhist Experience in America. London; Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 2004.
Numrich, Paul D. Old Wisdom in the New World: Americanization in Two Immigrant
Theravada Buddhist Temples. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1996.
Phouc, Le Huu. Buddhist Architecture. USA: Grafikol, 2010.
Rambelli, Fabio. Buddhist Materiality: A Cultural History of Objects in Japanese
Buddhism. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007.
Storhoff, Gary and John Whalen-Bridge. American Buddhism as a Way of Life.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010.
Tanabe, George J. and Willa Jane Tanabe. Japanese Buddhist Temples in Hawai’i.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2013.
Tulku, Tarthang. Copper Mountain Mandala: Odiyan. Berkeley, CA: Dharma
Publishing, 1996.
Williams, Duncan Ryūken and Christopher S. Queen. American Buddhism: Methods
and Findings in Recent Scholarship. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 1999.
1 Buddhism and Architecture
Space, Time, and Heart
Overview
The general scope of this book is concerned with East-West cultural inter-
connections, but its architectonic breadth examines environment and sacred
architecture within the critical sphere of human spirituality. Buddhism and
architecture are considered in terms of their humanistic meanings and cul-
tural significance, as well as their doctrinal and aesthetic relationship to
Buddhist thought in the context of America. The narrative navigates the
major contours of their development. Emerging from the Chinese Joss
houses of the nineteenth century and the Japanese Pure Land Buddhists
temples constructed during the early twentieth century (both in Hawaii and
the mainland), we have seen an ever-growing effloresce of Buddhist com-
munities and buildings emerge over the last fifty years. Chinatowns and
Japantowns, grandiloquent temples and monasteries such as Hsi Lai and
Chuang Yen, hybrid “churches” like those of both the Nishi Hongwanji
and Higashi Honganji, monumental stupas (reliquaries), and other mandala-
based structures such as at Odiyan Buddhist Retreat and others: these are
all part of a story where Buddhists have sought to create a spiritual place
with an “old world” feeling in a New World context. Far from their home-
land, ambitious Buddhists initially sought to create personal and spiritual
places of refuge for a relatively small and somewhat isolated immigrant
population. They created organizations and communities to help promul-
gate their religion while simultaneously preserving a profound sensitivity
for their native culture. In the first instance, their architectural aspira-
tions and achievements express the desire for a lasting and stable presence
in America, one that we can see as consistent with the Christian religions
that emigrated from Europe since the dawn of the country’s founding. On
a deeper level, these communities created buildings absorbed in tradition.
Much like their Christian counterparts, Buddhist groups utilize classicism
and heritage as deliberate design strategies as a way to evoke the depth and
authority of their traditional pasts. Other communities, like those of the
Rochester Zen Center or the Washington Buddhist Vihara for example,
place their traditional practices in contemporary residential structures.
DOI: 10.4324/9781003311645-2
Buddhism and Architecture 9
Sites such as these reinforce the sentiment of home and the intensely per-
sonal meanings involved in Buddhist introspection, which are important
aspects of the story of Buddhism in America. As Richard Hughes Seager
writes, immigrant [Buddhist] religion in the United States “tends to be con-
cerned with the more intimate concerns of memory, solace, and spiritual
practice grounded in ethnic, linguistic, and ancestral identity.”1 Yet the
underlying dynamic uniting the multiplicity of structural forms under
investigation is the goal that these communities all seem to share of creating
places absorbed with varying degrees of cultural distinctiveness and human
emotion. This investigation examines the assorted ways in which Buddhist
communities in America do so architecturally as a function of a desire to
express their religious beliefs, preserve deep-rooted traditions, and exist
harmoniously within American life.
In this exploration into the humanistic aspects of Buddhist architecture
in the United States, care is taken to explain the homo-tectonic elements
from the perspective of the Buddhist practitioner and the communities of
the structures under discussion. It is important to allow the buildings to
speak for themselves, so to speak, while trying as diligently as possible to
avoid presuppositions or external biases. In this way, a certain level of objec-
tivity is obtained insofar, as Amos Rapoport emphasizes in his work with
respect to architectural theory, the goal here is “to understand the world (or
a particular part of it) rather than to change it.”2 Avoiding assumptions or
outside predispositions is an important responsibility. The aim of this book
is to explain what Buddhist groups believe with respect to the buildings
they construct. The mutability and adaptability of Buddhist thought allow
myriad interpretations to be forwarded, and it is not my role to necessarily
question or challenge the assertions made by the various communities, say,
as an investigative reporter might do when writing an exposé. As one trans-
lator of the Dīgha Nikāya (“the Long Discourses”) has stated, “It is not,
however, in the true spirit of Buddhism to adopt a ‘fundamentalist’ attitude
towards the scriptures, and it is thus open to the reader, Buddhist as well as
non-Buddhist, to regard the texts … with an open mind.”3 Since Buddhist
sutras form a foundational basis of Buddhist belief, which in turn inspire
the creation of Buddhist buildings, this approach carries over to the struc-
tures and environments explored in this study.
The growing corpus of scholarly and intellectual literature adds to the
situation. I found that when discussing Buddhism with monks or priests,
knowledge garnered from books usually corresponded with the informa-
tion they conveyed, but its living expression as articulated through per-
sonal talks often seemed somewhat pared down compared to the deep
tomes and intricate academic discourses read in preparation. Monks usu-
ally sought to provide a basic account of their beliefs to a new acquaint-
ance. At the same time, however, hearing the ideas and beliefs from
true practitioners fostered a personal connection that helped expose the
humanistic undercurrents that emerged as a result of my research, which
became the methodology of the study. Whether in the interpersonal con-
versations that have taken place, the statements of belief posted online and
in handouts, in the professional texts that communities have published at
great cost and effort, or in the primary texts and secondary scholarship that
exists, in seeking to understand how the deeply held beliefs of a community
relate to the structures that they create, the overwhelming discovery has
been one of the interaction between people’s hopes, feelings, values, and
worldviews with the art, buildings, monuments, and environments that exist
to evidence them. To put the findings succinctly, what we see in Buddhist
architecture in America is how ritual, heritage, and lineage work hand in
hand with family, heart, home, and the human body.
Overall, this study can be understood as a humanistic narrative that
examines various structural iterations of Buddhist heritage in the United
States deemed significant, both historically and stylistically. It privileges
buildings and monuments that exhibit compelling relationships to the
spiritual beliefs of their attendant communities. The humanistic approach
to these structures unearthed a range of themes that inform and contex-
tualize our understanding of the sites under consideration: the subjective
faculties of human experience; the nexus of belief, environment, and design;
the significance of lineage, heritage, and tradition; the didactic efficacy of
structural symbolism and religious metaphor; the historical currents of
technology and culture; and the communicative powers of architectonic
form. Together, such forces of human civilization help describe the polyva-
lent role of architecture in the real-life practice of Buddhism in an American
setting. In this history, larger, more monumental structures end up taking
precedence somewhat over smaller local sites; however, there is no substan-
tive correlation between structural size to historical impact. Nineteenth-
century Joss Houses were quite humble and relatively unimposing, while
many present-day Zen buildings utilize simple houses to conduct their
practice and services. Nevertheless, these buildings are just as historically
relevant as larger sites in understanding the emergence of Buddhist archi-
tecture in America. In the end, the objective of this research has been to
get a sense of how these buildings work as artifacts of human emotion and
spiritual expression, to gain a familiarity with what they seek to do experi-
entially from a blended structural, cultural, and religious point of view. The
hope is that one will come away from this investigation with an appreciation
of the symbolic intricacies, cultural importance, and humanistic meanings
associated with the structures under discussion.
Methodology: Heart and the Human Element

When writing about architecture from a humanistic perspective, one empha-
sizes the subjectivities surrounding the brute object of the buildings and
their environments. But what precisely does this entail? Humanistic things
and ideas are referred to as such because they help connect us to our own
humanity. Architecture and aesthetic meaning are intimately connected
to this endeavor. One of the implicit arguments of this book is that space
is not some amorphous abstract reality within which we passively live.
Rather, it is an interactive process of delineation informed by our subjec-
tive faculties as we navigate a putative objective externality. As Vernon
Hyde Minor writes in Art History’s History, “Finding correlations between
the built environment and the unconstructed landscape, between culture
and nature, is humanistic.”4
In the structural-humanistic history presented here, Yi-Fu Tuan’s writ-
ings end up becoming an important touchstone in understanding the
emergence of Buddhist architecture in an American setting. I use the term
“touchstone” here—as in benchmark or vantage point—intentionally
and pointedly. For it is important to keep in mind that Tuan’s work helps
explain my observations, which derive from the Buddhist communities
under consideration, and are not imposed synthetically from the vantage
point of scholarly investigation. The theoretical drive of Tuan’s life work
as a humanistic geographer is one of privileging attitudes, values, and
beliefs when investigating matters of culture and human life.5 An effec-
tive and affective way of doing so is by unpacking the mutually informed
interaction between human experience and environment. This basic dual-
ity takes form in the powerful binary of “space and place,” where within
this relation, “each term requires the other for definition.”6 Rather than
closed systems of limited scope, binaries can be valuable tools that both
sharpen and expand a particular concept, much like binocular vision pro-
duces three-dimensional images in the mind or how the totality of a sphere
can be understood via a bi-polar axis. As Tuan states, “The human mind
appears to be disposed to organize phenomena not only in segments but to
arrange them in opposite pairs.”7 Tuan maintains that environment can-
not be viewed solely in abstract or empirical terms, as an object without
a subject. “Man is the measure,” he writes in his seminal volume Space
and Place: The Perspective of Experience. Human products and expedients
of knowledge such as art, architecture, myth, religion, and history are all
involved in the generation and experience of spatial understanding. In his
view, the human body is at the core of any investigation into its interaction
with natural and built environments, while the phenomenological breadth
of human experience is understood as basic to the interconnected experi-
ence among all spatial realms.
In forwarding the binaries of space and place/experience and environ-
ment, Tuan is essentially stating that the structural form of the human
body has a great deal to do with the structural forms that humans create,
and that the experience of the world through the human form helps to for-
mulate the conditions for human understanding. This perspective on the
human form is pertinent here in that such a conception thereby imbues with
physical world with humanistic significance. In fact, the human body (of the
Buddha) is sometimes used explicitly as a structural framework (as with
stupas), and is an essential feature in sites designed for ritual circumambu-
lation (parikrama). In Tuan’s numerous works, qualities such as memories,
intuitions, insights, sentiments, dispositions, values, and the like are impor-
tant in understanding how natural and constructed localities relate to one’s
somatically informed human sensibilities. Research has shown that these
“soft” humanistic attributes are equally important as the “hard” features
of structural form when understanding Buddhist architecture in general. In
other words, Buddhist structures are understood here first and foremost as
humanistic artifacts imbued with cultural, religious, and personal value and
significance, and are therefore investigated as such.
Of the various humanistic attributes involved in Buddhist thought and
practice, the idea of heart takes precedence in a number of semantic ways,
whether in terms of symbolically expressing human emotion, figuratively
referencing the central core of an idea, or—most applicably—its metaphor-
ical connotation related to the Buddhist concept of compassion (karuna). In
this regard, a recurring hermeneutic motif at work in this humanistic nar-
rative is that of the inner and the outer. “Heart,” in its metaphoric capacity,
mediates the transition between the interior activities of a building and the
external forms extolling them. No other expression seems capable of amal-
gamating the disparate forms and textures associated with the interaction
of (inner) spiritual life and (outer) material entities. For instance, classical
forms that mimic a traditional architectural custom can in part warm the
heart of a forlorn immigrant by accessing nostalgic memories of the home-
land and one’s identity with it. “Heart” captures the deeply personal and
communal drama of human experience and emotion that is just as intimate
and internal as the vital organ so central to our physical body. Indeed, the
feelings of utter hopelessness and humiliation that came with being impris-
oned for no other reason but ethnic heritage, as with the incarceration of
Japanese-Americans during World War II, is such that its experience was
later characterized by those imprisoned as “The Heart of Community.”8
For the interned Japanese, it was the human heart in its collective unity that
helped transcend the physical barriers of confinement and injustice.
The emphasis Buddhists groups place on “heart” can be witnessed in
their present-day public activities as well as in the religion’s ancient writ-
ings. For instance, the annual “BuddhaFest: A Festival for Heart + Mind”
in Arlington, Virginia, partnered by the prominent American Buddhist
magazine Tricycle, is a current example of the Buddhist concern for human
emotional and mental well-being. Tibetans are particularly prodigious in
emphasizing the concept of heart. The present Dalai Lama sees the heart as
an indispensable counterpoint to the purely rational mind and its frequently
counterproductive effect on finding human contentment. In The Essence of
the Heart Sutra, he writes, “Ultimately, the unhappiness created by human
intelligence can only be alleviated by intelligence itself. Therefore, using
our intelligence appropriately is essential. To do this, we must conjoin our
intelligence to a warm, open heart. The warm compassionate, heart is the
basis for peace of mind …. This is what I mean by spiritual development.”9
The term is used poetically throughout Buddhist scripture. From various
parts of the Avatamsaka Sutra we read, “The Buddha cultivated an ocean
of compassion/His heart always as broad as the whole world/Therefore his
spiritual powers are boundless/Increasing Vitality can see this.” “Living
beings are helpless, wrapped up in sickness/Forever sunk in evil ways, pro-
ducing the three poisons/The fierce flames of a great fire always burning
them/With a pure heart to rescue them, this is the practice.” “Like a clear
mirror/Reflecting images according to the forms/So from Buddhas’ field of
blessings/Rewards are obtained according to one’s heart.”10 A poem (gatha)
from the Mahaparinirvana Sutra underscores the spiritually remunerative
power of the heart:
The Tathagata enters Nirvana

And eternally cuts off birth and death.
If one listens with a full heart,
One will gain unending bliss.11
According to the sutra, the Buddha’s enlightenment and example was not a
singular achievement, but one that contained within it a heartfelt compas-
sion for all sentient creatures. Addressing a large assembly of monks (bhiksus)
just prior to his death, the Buddha stated “Today, the Tathagata [i.e.,
Buddha] the Alms-deserving and Perfectly Awakened One, pities, protects
and, with an undivided mind, sees beings as he does his [son] Rahula. So,
he is the refuge and house of the world.”12 Written at the very beginning of
the text, underscoring its centrality and importance in what follows, we can
see in this passage—together with the poetic stanzas—the clear humanis-
tic associations that exist with respect to Buddhist practice, the affective
power of family, the spatial qualities connected with spiritual praxis (e.g.,
a “field of blessings”), and the metaphoric role that architecture can play
(i.e., the “house of the world”) in communicating the Buddha’s message of
compassion.
Heart also captures the doctrinal essence of organized Buddhist belief,
the Dharma. In Buddhist philosophy, the term “Dharma” is used as a
synonym for “Truth.” In Buddhism, one consequence of the Truth/Dharma
is its professed monumental and universal effect on the hearts and minds
of sentient beings (sometimes referred together as bodhicitta).13 In Buddhist
architecture, the Dharma is the energy source at the heart of both design
and function, and is the vital foundation unifying the various themes
touched on above. As the very basis of the religion’s belief system, how
could it be otherwise. Dedication and adherence to the Dharma is what
animates Buddhists, inspires donors, produces merit, and is the spirit that
elevates the buildings they construct. Of course, the central tenets of a
religion are important to believers of all faiths. However, heart is impor-
tant to the present study in that it explores the structural instances of
exclusively Buddhist culture in America in order to understand how their
design strategies and architectural configurations attempt to instruct and
inform human sensibilities with respect to the religion’s deeply held beliefs.
Of the many humanistic ideas found in Tuan’s work, his view that archi-
tecture can instruct and inform human behavior is also salient to this study.
He points out that in the biological realm, humans are not the only species
to construct built forms. Termites, beavers, bees, ants, etc. all create struc-
tures to support their existence. According to Tuan, if humanity can differ-
entiate in any hierarchical way from other living things, then it must be on
the grounds of “awareness.” (In a Buddhist context, we might even associate
this quality with “mindfulness.”) For Tuan, outside the mundane function
of providing shelter, constructed forms and religiously articulated space
have the ability to heighten our consciousness of the interior and exterior,
the physical and mental, the terrestrial and cosmic. He states,
Architectural space—even a simple hut surrounded by cleared

ground—can define such sensations and render them vivid. Another
influence is this: the built environment clarifies social roles and rela-
tions. People know better who they are and how they ought to behave
when the arena is humanly designed rather than nature’s raw stage.
Finally, architecture “teaches.” A planned city, a monument, or even a
simple dwelling can be a symbol of the cosmos. In the absence of books
and formal instruction, architecture is a key to comprehending reality.14
A fundamental aspect of the argument in this book is that the various

architectural forms under investigation retain this perceptual and didactic
character in a number of ways. A brief look at some fundamental Buddhist
texts places this approach in doctrinal context.
Architecture and Scripture

Architectural and spatial motifs, metaphors, and imagery are a continuous
theme in the Buddhist scriptural record throughout the various traditions or
schools. They very often refer to places where the Buddha disseminates his
teachings. For instance, in the Lankavatara Sutra of the Zen tradition, we
read how “Once the Bhagavan [Buddha] was staying in the South Seas on
the peaks of Lanka in a place adorned by countless jewels and flowers ….
At that time, the Bhagavan had been expounding the Dharma for seven
days in the palace of Sagara, the Serpent King.”15 In D.T. Suzuki’s trans-
lation, this palace is situated on Mt. Malaya in the “Castle of Lankā.”16
In the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Buddha “expounds all truths” in a similar
setting: “The palace chamber in which the Buddha was situated was spa-
cious and beautifully adorned. It extended throughout the ten directions. It
was made of jewels of various colors and was decorated with all kinds of
precious flowers. The various adornments emanated lights like clouds; the
masses of their reflections from within the palace formed banners.”17 In the
Lalitavistara Sutra, the Buddha dwelt in “a great celestial palace measur-
ing sixty-four leagues around, where he taught the Dharma to the gods of
Heaven of Joy.”18 Elevated places such as mountains and peaks help to sym-
bolically represent the elevated and exalted nature of the pedagogical event
taking place in Buddhist scripture. Structures typically associated with
kings and rulers—such as palaces, castles, and their accoutrements (e.g.,
guardian lions that signify royalty)—underscore the regality and ennoble-
ment resident in, and adhering to, the Buddha’s teachings (e.g., the Four
Noble Truths). As verse from the Lotus Sutra, one of the most important
Mahayana texts, asks: “Will the Buddha teach us the True Dharma/That
he obtained while he sat/on the terrace of enlightenment (bodhimaṇḍa)?”19
The terrace here is an architectural apparatus usually set high upon a land-
scape, providing a vista for those who can “see” a view of the world beyond
unaided vision.
Moreover, intrinsically valuable, precious, and ornate materials and set-
tings like the ones described above are used in Buddhist sacred texts in part
as a metaphor to evoke the effulgence and extraordinary spiritual value of
the Buddha’s message. In this regard, the concept of “storehouse,” as an
architectural structure that houses valuable goods, akin to a treasury, is
sometimes utilized to make the symbolic and mystical connection between
the mundane value of worldly wealth and the priceless spiritual worth of the
Dharma. In fact, in the Larger Pure Land Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra, the cen-
tral figure of Dharmakara—a monk whose name is variously translated as
“Storehouse of the Dharma” or “Treasure of Dharma”20 —vows to become
a buddha and establish a pure land for those seeking enlightenment. Amidst his
promises, he states: “I will open the Dharma storehouse for the multitudes/
And endow them all with treasures of merit. Being always among the multi-
tudes/I will proclaim the Dharma with the lion’s roar.”21 Examples like these
underscore the figurative and metonymic connection between architecture
and the expressive transmission of Buddhist beliefs. Arguably, the primary
arbitrator between material form and the human mind and spirit is the
language of symbolism (metaphor, analogy, metonymy, synecdoche, etc.).
And since symbolic connections between spiritual sensations and physi-
cal entities can be quite complex, abstract, or difficult to grasp on a literal
level, buildings, monuments, and environments—together with the example
of human experience—can undertake the role of a teacher. To the extent
that this is the case, the Buddha’s example and the structures and settings
described in the sutras reinforce the expressive and didactic importance of
Buddhist architecture.
Furthermore, the express purpose of the scriptures is, by and large, to
document and transmit the Buddha’s teachings. They inspire devotion by
addressing the reasonableness and discursive logic of the Buddha’s message
with language and imagery that aim at reaching the affective impulses of the
human heart. Scriptures evoke and rhetorically personify concepts that are
difficult to convey in a literal fashion, since knowledge of these ideas is meant
to transform as much as inform human sensibilities. These teachings are in
the end about the Truth or the Reality of things, of which the Buddha is
often both the one conveying the message and the embodiment of it. Thus,
the Buddha is metaphorically characterized as “the house of the world”
in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra since, for Buddhists, his enlightenment and
release from rebirth (parinirvana) represents the “place” that adherents seek
to be. Or, to put it another way, dedication to the Buddha and the Dharma is
a driving force in the structures Buddhists build, which help in apprehend-
ing the message of the reality of things at the heart of the Buddha’s teach-
ings. The below quote from the Vajrayana Vairocanābhisambodhi Sutra
helps to illustrate this observation:
Thus have I heard. At one time the Bhagavān (Lord) was residing in the
vast adamantine palace of the Dharma realm empowered by Tathāgatas,
in which all the vajradharas had all assembled; the great pavilion
[comparable to] the king of jewels, born of the Tathāgata’s faith-and-
understanding, play, and supernatural transformations, was lofty, without
a center or perimeter, and variously adorned with great and wondrous
jewel-kings, and the body of a bodhisattva formed a lion throne.22
One inference we can take away from scriptural entries like this and others
like it is that, in the very least, Buddhist architecture can be seen as peda-
gogical in nature; that the Buddhist temperament toward the Dharma and
its spiritual consequences has a great deal to do with the construction of
their temples and their use of space. This makes sense. Coming to grips
cognitively with the immensity and boundlessness conveyed in Buddhist
scriptures is difficult to do. The manifest reality and delimiting qualities of a
building can aid and ground the mind in comprehending the cosmic signif-
icance of the information being conveyed. Stupas, for instance, are under-
stood as architectural representations of the Buddhist universe and the
Buddha himself. In the Tibetan tradition, circumambulating around one is
associated with a meditative walk through a mandala palace.23 In the above
extract, however, the structure housing the Buddha, created out of faith
in the Dharma, is endless, “without a center or perimeter.” Such language
speaks to the open-ended reality of space and time immanent in the cosmos.
For it is the infinite nature of Reality itself that Buddhism ultimately seeks
to explicate.24 As Cheng Chien Bhikshu writes, “This is the reason why in
the first few centuries of Buddhist history the main object of worship for the
Buddha’s followers was the stūpa, which represents the Buddha as the form-
less reality realized by him. As someone who has perfectly comprehended
the ultimate reality—or rather realized his identity with it—and is able to
direct others to it, the Buddha symbolizes that reality.”25 In these ways, the
Buddha’s teachings and the purity of the example he sets imbue Buddhist
architecture with existential and didactic import, wherever it is found.
East and West
The discussion thus far has referenced writings from various sects of
Buddhist practice and have been analyzed under the generalized rubric of
“Buddhism.” This was intentional. As this work is conceived of as a broad
history, the discussion proceeds chronologically. Doctrinal divisions—such
as the Mahayana, Vajrayana, and Theravada traditions—are not explicated
separately, but are addressed as they appear as spiritual aspects of each
building and community under discussion.26 Investigation into various sites
place the Chinese, Japanese, Tibetans, Thai, and others on the common
ground of the American landscape, which blend into a humanistic and
holistic narrative consistent with the interconnectedness that the Buddha-
dharma professes. Given the country’s cultural diversity, this seems to be
the correct course of action. As Charles S. Prebish has stated, “One of the
most profound developments in the globalization of Buddhism is that
the various traditions, once so distinct in their respective Asian homelands,
in their new Western settings now find themselves in close proximity for the
first time in the history of Buddhism.”27 This unique development makes
research into Buddhist architecture in America particularly interesting with
respect to Buddhism as a global phenomenon. Reflecting upon what makes
Buddhism in America distinct, especially since the religion’s history is one
of continual migration and cultural transplantation, helps refine the role
that Buddhist architecture plays in our overall understanding of the faith.
Prebish further asks, “Is it possible to find some unifying principle or basis
by which the huge diversity of global Buddhism might reestablish the sense
of spiritual kinship among all Buddhists that prevailed in Buddha’s original
sangha of the four quarters?”28 The arrival of Buddhism and its associated
architecture in North America may perhaps answer this question to some
extent.
The emergence of Buddhism in the United States can be understood as
distinctive even from that of Europe, although both are considered “the
West.” For, part of the overall context of America has to do with its histor-
ical and humanistic mise en scène in both space and time. In a way, there is
a sense of finality, of endgame, or even of fate in Buddhism’s establishment
in an American setting. In terms of space, in a circular world America sig-
nifies the furthest West one can travel before reaching the cultural East.
(The north-south axis has not been as evocative on the imagination within
the overall drama of cultural expansion in human history.) Buddhists in the
United States of every denomination are consciously aware of this circum-
stance, and many make specific reference to it within their mission state-
ments. Hsi Lai Temple in California, for example, posits itself as a “bridge
between East and West.” In fact, the name Hsi Lai is literally translated as
“Coming West.”29 Interestingly, the idea of “coming to the West” is embed-
ded in both the Chinese and Japanese history of Buddhism as it relates to
its modern appearance in America. In establishing a lineage to serve as
frameworks for their ministries, groups such as the Japanese Pure Land
Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) and Hsi Lai’s Fo Guang Shan trace
the discovery of America back to the fifth-century Chinese explorer Hui
Shen, a Buddhist monk who purportedly traveled to North and Central
America and spread Buddhist ideas to natives a thousand years before the
voyages of Columbus.30 Actually, Hui Shen would have followed a route
across the Asia-America land bridge (called Beringia) that genetic scientists
have demonstrated was the path taken by Asian migrants at least since the
Ice Age 15,000 years ago.31 Tibetan Buddhists in the United States also ref-
erence a link to America derived from their ancient history. According to
the Tibetans, a well-known prophecy by Padmasambhava (“Lotus Born”),
the guru who in 770 A.D. introduced Buddhism to Tibet, foretold their
present diaspora in the modern technological era and their residence in
the New World: “When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the
Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the face of the world,
and the Dharma will come to the land of the red-faced man.” It is a fate-
ful prophecy that Tibetans tend to foreground—as with Tarthang Tulku
and his Odiyan Buddhist Retreat in Cazadero, CA—when discussing their
place in American cultural life.32 Asian Buddhists in these contexts seem
to be fulfilling their own “manifest destiny” in their modern era arrival in
North America. Without making any judgments as to the scientific truth or
validity of their assertions, what these claims index in the very least is the
importance such groups place on forming a spiritual and spatial foundation
or lineage for their social and religious presence.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of lineage within the Buddhist
religion, particularly to Zen and Tibetan Buddhists. As Siddhartha
Gautama did not forward himself as a divinity or underwrite his minis-
try with reference to a cosmological event, his teachings and the stories
surrounding his life have retained a somewhat supple cosmopolitan and
ecumenical character that has aided in its global expansion since its
inception. It is commonly noted that Buddhism’s lasting success has
been founded on its ability to adapt and blend to different spiritual
traditions outside of its birthplace in India, and we see this same phe-
nomenon occurring in the United States.33 Buddhism was introduced to
China, Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet and other places as
a foreign faith, but all of these countries have assimilated the essential
strands of the Buddha’s teachings into their indigenous religious insti-
tutions. One consequence of this tendency, however, has been the need
to find a link—spatial, temporal, or doctrinal—to the original Buddha
and his teachings, or a similarity to an older tradition that might serve
as a venerable and legitimizing foundation. Thus, as illustrated in the
following chapters, architectural structures quite often attempt to aug-
ment the spiritual lineage of Buddhist communities, which promulgate
their sacred descent in various other ways, whether scriptural, cultural,
or historical. The buildings themselves often have lineages, and become
monumental artifacts promoting and amplifying the deep roots of their
respective traditions.
Establishing a lineage, whether doctrinal, ancestral, or architectural, all
of which occur in the Buddhist faith, is a way to form a connection to the
past. It is a way of legitimizing and institutionalizing a particular belief
system or set of practices and conferring a foundation of objectivity and
authority upon a situation or event, important in matters of spiritual his-
tory or transcendental experience, especially when a religion has been
transplanted from a foreign source. We see this take place in the scrip-
tural record with almost systematic frequency, which among other things
seeks to establish the facticity (to borrow a word from Western sociology
and philosophy) of the reality of things that the Buddha expounds across
time. Sutras generally begin with setting the scene, which as discussed
above often involves situating the Buddha in elevated and noble places of
authority and lineage (e.g., Vulture Peak; the site of Enlightenment, etc.)
that legitimate the words that follow. This tendency has had significant
architectural repercussions. In the Pali Nikayas, which contain some of the
oldest Buddhist teachings, the Buddha informs his disciples where to ven-
erate him upon his death: Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnath, and Kushinagar:
the places where he was born, enlightened, transmitted the Dharma, and
died: places that “should be seen by a faithful man of family that will stir
his heart.”34 The Buddha then goes on to tell his disciples to build a stupa
“… where four roads meet” as a way to commemorate his memory and
message. Monuments have been built at these places and in accord with
his instructions ever since. In this regard, the use of architecture within
scripture, or in the world at large, helps emphasize the enduring and insti-
tutional force of the teachings being delivered.
Yet, another way that Buddhist scriptures communicate the legitimizing
facticity of the Buddha’s message is through testimony. In addition to being
a synonym for Truth and Reality, the Dharma—understood as both the
Buddha’s teachings and nature of the universe—is also referred to as the
Law. One of the most important poses in Buddhist art is a seated Buddha
displaying the dharmachakra-mudra (Chinese: chuan-fa-lun-yin; Japanese:
tembōrin-in). This mudrā, or hand gesture, symbolizes “Turning the Wheel
of the Law,” the Buddha’s first sermon where he communicated his teach-
ings in the Deer Park at Sarnath. Similar to any legal proceeding, the truth
and effectiveness of his message is underwritten through witnesses who
have achieved enlightenment and can thereby testify to the veracity of the
Dharma being delivered. Very often scriptures contain extended lists of
enlightened beings (bodhisattvas) who are present at the documented event
to establish a temporal and doctrinal ancestry. The presence of these aus-
picious witnesses bestows upon the proceedings the corroborating force
of truth and reaffirming weight of legacy necessary for any disposition of
Law, working somewhat like a family tree. Book One of the Avatamsaka
Sutra, for instance—“The Wonderful Adornments of the Leaders of the
World”—states, “A boundless host of enlightening beings, the congrega-
tion at the site of enlightenment, were all gathered there: by means of the
ability to manifest the lights and inconceivable sounds of the Buddhas …”35
The overwhelming numbers and reverence of these attendants, delivered in
systematic repetition, symbolically communicates the unimaginable impor-
tance and universal applicability of the Buddha’s teachings across time.
This imaginative and rhetorical device can be illustrated from Chapter 1 —
“The Setting” of the Lalitavistara Sutra, which is a tactic utilized in many
other Buddhist scriptures. As a setting, the scene confirms the environmen-
tal and spatial nature of the discursive event taking place:
Thus have I heard at one time. The Blessed One was staying in Śrāvastī
at Jetavana Grove, in the park of Anathapiṇḍada, along with a great
saṅgha of twelve thousand monks. Among them were venera-
ble Jñānakauṇḍinya, venerable Aśvajit, venerable Bāṣpa, venerable
Mahānāma, venerable Bhadrika, venerable Yaśodeva, venerable Vimala,
venerable Subāhu, venerable Pūrņa, venerable Gavāṁpati, venerable
Urubilvā Kāśyapa, venerable Nadīkāśyapa, venerable Gayākāśyapa,
venerable Śāriputra, venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana, venerable
Mahākāśyapa, venerable Mahākātyāyana, venerable Mahākaphila, ven-
erable Kauṇḍinya, venerable Cunanda, venerable Pūrṇamaitrāyaṇīputra,
venerable Aniruddha, venerable Nandika, venerable Kasphila, vener-
able Subhūti, venerable Revata, venerable Khadiravaṇika, venerable
Amogharāja, venerable Mahāpāraṇika, venerable Vakkula, venerable
Nanda, venerable Rāhula, venerable Svāgata, and venerable Ānanda.
Along with these monks were 32,000 bodhisattvas, all of whom had only a
single birth remaining and were adept in all the perfections of the bodhisat-
tvas. They enjoyed all the super-knowledges of the bodhisattvas and had
attained all the dhāraṇīs and all the confidence of the bodhisattvas.36
The appearance of these enlightened witnesses establishes a foundational

setting for the dispensation that is about to occur. They act in concert with
other matrices of authority, such as nobility and architecture, in order to
confirm the juridical ground from which the Truth, Reality, and Law of
the Universe is transmitted to the world. These venerable personages can
be understood as metaphorically foundational in the structural sense and
noble/elevated in the spiritual sense. In fact, the use of witnesses stems from
the very beginnings of the Buddha’s sacred history, as when he touched the
ground below him underneath the Bodhi Tree of Enlightenment in order to
“call the earth to witness” (bhumisparsha-mudra) against the demon Mara
who assailed him.
One final consideration can be touched upon with respect to the his-
torical East-West timeline at work in Buddhism’s arrival in America. It
was stated above that the Dharma is the animating force behind the cre-
ation of Buddhist temple architecture. Inspired by the Dharma, Buddhist
communities across the country advocate for a more compassionate and
peaceful human mind and world. These progressive goals for humanity
help inform the elevation of many Buddhist places of worship and prac-
tice. However, set against these elevating spiritual heights is the well-known
Buddhist prophecy of doctrinal degeneration—a spiritual eschatology that
predicts the ultimate “death of the Dharma.”37 Referred to as mappo and
mo fa in the Japanese and Chinese traditions respectively, the ancient leg-
end predicts a gradual decline in the dissemination, reception, and practice
of the Buddha’s teachings, a “Degenerate Age” that we are currently liv-
ing within according to the various timelines that are postulated in ancient
texts. The Degenerate Age is referenced in some, but not all, of the litur-
gies and publications of the Buddhist groups investigated here. However, as
a recognized downward regressive force within the religion, the prophecy
sets the upward elevation of Buddhist temples and their progressive goals
for humanity in stark relief. In fact, the idea of a Degenerate Age was a
large factor in the creation of the Japanese Pure Land Buddhism of Honen
(Jodo Shu) and Shinran (Jodo Shinshu) in twelfth- and thirteenth-century
Japan. At the time, Pure Land thought was seen as a counterpoise to the
fear that the end of the world was near. Pertinent to this discussion is that
Pure Land Buddhism is the most popular devotional (non-meditative) form
of Buddhism in the United States. As America signifies the final East-West
pole of the Asian-based spiritual tradition, Buddhism’s emergence in this
cultural and cartographic extremity might seem to imply that the “latter
days of the Dharma” have truly arrived.
To speculate further on this eschatology, Buddhism’s appearance in
the United States coincided with the present-day modernization and glo-
balization of the world. As discussed more fully in the following chapter,
America helped spearhead the profusion of modern technologies that have
created the global environment within which Buddhists now find them-
selves. Buddhists have found a home in this setting by acclimating in vari-
ous ways. Fo Guang Shan, a Taiwanese Mahayana organization, promotes
a “Humanistic Buddhism” that they maintain is “relevant and essential for
the well being and progress of humanity in modern times.”38 Hsi Lai Temple,
their architectural complex in California mentioned above, is evidence of a
vibrant and successful transition into contemporary times. Others, such as
Theravada Thai communities more grounded in their native and traditional
customs, have “Americanized” to a greater or lesser extent as they negoti-
ate their “liminality … their dichotomous cultural identity in the threshold
(Latin līmen) between Old and New Worlds.”39 But, what these and other
Buddhist communities share is their placement in a country situated at the
forefront of the globalized, technocentric world.
Having reached the furthest physical and cultural end of the globe,
Buddhism also has to deal with existing during a period of unprecedented
technological interconnectedness. The Internet and global telecommunica-
tion systems have now instigated a collapsing of cultural time and space
that pulls the world together in such an enveloping fashion that it is hard to
imagine that things can become significantly more integrated. Humanity
has mapped the earth from outer space down to the meter. One can reach
another individual in the remotest of regions of the world via the phone and
a video screen. There is a sense—which I believe is tangible underneath the
surface of contemporary life, whether consciously or unconsciously—that
we have almost reached the end of something, that as a collective group
of beings we are approaching some sort of boundary or threshold, beyond
which our abilities as humans to coexist as we once have is in serious ques-
tion. If this is true, then the way forward will be to identify and implement
ways to understand and cohabitate together successfully in this hyper-
technical environment. As shown below, Buddhism, as a so-called “religion
of science,” fits well within this technological age, and may provide the key
for humanity’s spiritual happiness as it proceeds into the future. To answer
Charles Prebish’s question raised earlier about whether Buddhists can rees-
tablish a widespread spiritual kinship, Buddhists around the globe are con-
sequently unified in this “latter day” possibility.
Historical Backdrop
The appearance of Buddhist architecture in the United States is one marked
by a path roughly leading from the simple and pragmatic to the more
monumental and institutional. The earliest Buddhist temples were built
on the West Coast, corresponding with Buddhism’s appearance in the
United States that began with the arrival of immigrant Chinese workers
during the California Gold Rush during the 1840s and 50s. It is difficult
to be certain as to when the first ever Buddhist temple was constructed
in America. Harvard University’s encyclopedic Pluralism Project claims
that by the end of the nineteenth century, “there were hundreds of Chinese
temples and shrines on the West Coast.”40 The Taoist/Buddhist Tin How
Temple of 1853 in San Francisco is often mentioned as the earliest known
Chinese temple on the mainland.41 For the most part, shops, homes, and
makeshift structures served as meeting halls and places where religious
services could take place until more suitable buildings could be found or
constructed. However, around the last decade of the nineteenth century,
Japanese Pure Land Buddhists began sending missionaries to Hawaii and
the mainland to attend to the spiritual needs of a burgeoning Japanese
population. By the first decade of the twentieth century, these groups
founded temples all along the West Coast of America. Sadly, draconian
immigration laws aimed specifically at Asian immigrants, as well as the
Japanese internment camps during World War II, limited the quantity and
diversity of Buddhist temple construction for a good part of the twentieth
century. However, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 utterly
changed this situation. Buddhists from all Asian countries were freely able
to migrate to the United States. This state of affairs has thus profoundly
expanded the production and diversity of Buddhist architecture to this
very day.
This brief historical account highlights the parallel narrative of Buddhist
thought and the religion’s architectural emergence in America. The story is
not unidirectional. For just as immigrant Buddhists from China and Japan
were coming to the States, Americans were beginning to explore the Eastern
religion with increasing attention. Interest in Asian religions in the West
had been steadily increasing since the eighteenth century, yet Buddhism’s
current presence in the United States began in earnest during the second
half of the nineteenth century. Although California was, and continues to
be, ground zero for the emergence of Asian culture in America, there has
long been a great deal of Buddhist activity in New York and other Atlantic
states.42 Roughly around the time that Chinese immigrants were moving to
California, the intellectual class along the Eastern seaboard helped inau-
gurate a flourishing interest in the religion in the United States.43 Thomas
Tweed’s The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844–1912: Victorian
Culture and the Limits of Dissent situates Buddhism’s intellectual emergence
in the United States in the year 1844. It was then that translated excerpts
of the Lotus Sutra were published in the Transcendentalist publication
The Dial and Edward Elbridge Salisbury’s lecture “Memoir on the History
of Buddhism” was given at the American Oriental Society in Boston,
Massachusetts. Tweed cites the American Transcendentalists as a major
contributor in what he labels an “encounter” with Buddhism, a term that
suggests the book’s underlying thesis that America’s early relationship with
the Eastern religion was not so much an enduring affair as it was a starting
point for future engagement.
Buddhism found a substantial place in the American religious landscape
following Sir Edwin Arnold’s impactful The Light of Asia in 1882 and the
successful Buddhist presence at the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions
in Chicago.44 One effect of the Parliament is that it highlighted the variety
of Eastern religions in existence and the various denominations belong-
ing to them. In a revised edition of his influential book, Tweed claims “we
are in the midst of a second Buddhist vogue, more intense and widespread
than the late Victorian ‘fascination’ with the religion.”45 The history of
Buddhism in America is marked by this multiplicity. The story is one of
emerging Buddhist sects vying for spiritual purchase in their New World
context. The motivating impetus of Charles Prebish and Kenneth Tanaka’s
significant book The Faces of Buddhism in America argues that this develop-
mental diversity necessitates a differentiation of American Buddhists that
underscores the issues surrounding their emerging presence. They distin-
guish between two separate groups: Buddhist immigrants in America and
Euro-American intellectuals who adopted or sympathized with Buddhism’s
message during the religion’s fruitful twentieth century.46 This collection
of articles addresses the different religious and cultural “Buddhisms” that
exist in the United States, whether Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean,
or Tibetan. As a whole, the text is in accord with Tweed’s thesis. For Prebish
and Tanaka, Buddhism’s emergence in America is a story that “presents a
struggle to acculturate and accommodate on the part of a religious tradi-
tion that initially appeared to be wholly foreign to the American mindset.”47
Another aspect of that story can be found in the temporal translation
inherent in the transplantation of an ancient religious tradition to the New
World. Many of the architectural styles that Buddhist groups utilize in
America derive from the most ancient spiritual traditions of the East. Much
of the research in this temporal respect has been concerned with assimi-
lation. Paul David Numrich’s Old Wisdom in the New World discusses the
challenges of immigrant Theravada Buddhism, and argues that the sect’s
Americanization is in accord with complexities of other transplanted reli-
gions. Steven Heine and Charles Prebish’s Buddhism in the Modern World:
Adaptations of an Ancient Tradition (2003) looks at “how a variety of tradi-
tional Buddhist schools and movements have been affected by … the myriad
forces of modernization.”48 In fact, the idea of modernization is central with
respect to how developments on the other side of the Pacific contributed to
the spread of particularly Japanese Buddhism in the West during the later
nineteenth century. When the centuries old Tokugawa Shogunate was over-
thrown in 1868, the subsequent Meiji Restoration ushered in the modern
era of Japan. The event, whose roots partially lie in American Commodore
Matthew Perry’s forcing open of Japanese harbors in 1853, is a signifi-
cant one insofar as it “led to the westernization of virtually all aspects of
(Japanese) national life.”49 Of importance in the present discussion is that
the Meiji authorities withdrew state support for Buddhism in favor of a
state-sponsored Shintoism.50 As a result, many Buddhists began to search
for friendlier political and economic climes, journeying abroad to locations
such as China, Korea, the Hawaiian Islands, and the United States.
Looking further back, Alexander the Great’s conquests that reached the
borders of what is currently India, the Silk Road linking China to Europe,
the travels of Marco Polo and the sixteenth-century missionary efforts of
the Jesuit priests, the voyages of Christopher Columbus seeking an oceanic
route to the riches of the Orient, the successful British East India Company,
in addition to Commodore Perry’s martial/economic incursion in Japan and
its political reverberations, are all elements of a long history of bilateral
East and West cultural interconnection. These events are sometimes over-
looked or downplayed when discussing Buddhism’s emergence in the United
States, yet they importantly refer to the larger history of East-West cultural
interchange that is the metanarrative undergirding this study. America is
enmeshed in this saga insofar as its Renaissance Era discovery was a direct
result of a Western fascination with the East, whether for Oriental silk, tea,
or spices. The East, too, was much captivated by the West, if only for its
interest in Western science, technology, and modern military prowess. In
fact, the United States was responsible for the most powerful and violent
military contact between the East and West in human history: the explosion
of two nuclear bombs on the Japanese mainland during World War II.
Spiritual interchange was inevitably integrated amid these mundane mat-
ters of culture, profit, and war. However, it is only a strange coincidence that
an overwhelming number of immigrant Pure Land Buddhists who came to
America during the nineteenth century hailed from Hiroshima prefecture.51
America’s developing interest in an “Old World” religion could in part
be related to notions of a finding a deeper, historical, and spiritual foun-
dation. Because Buddhism and its structural forms have existed for more
than two millennia, their emergence in the United States is relatively new.
Buddhists have lived in the country for more than a century and a half, yet
Buddhism is still considered an “alternative religion” in America.52 At less
than 250 years old, the United States retains one of the youngest cultural
histories among the major nation-states in the world today. In many ways,
the “newness” of America’s New World founding still resides within the
nation’s cultural DNA. Developing and living on the forward edge of tech-
nological modernism for over a century tends to place collective conscious-
ness perpetually on the present moment as it continually looks toward the
future. It may be that many Americans increasingly feel the need for an
alternative cultural and spiritual framework to augment the nation’s rela-
tively young Euro-technocentric history, and are attracted to the antiquity
and distinctive character of Asian spirituality as a counterpoint.53 Henry
David Thoreau’s A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers contains a
reflection on the antique quality of the Hindu religion amid the American
waterway landscape. Written during the burgeoning industrial progress of
the nineteenth century, Thoreau’s romantic meditation juxtaposes a rever-
ence for the cultures of the past with a concomitant and fervent respect for
the present. His oft quoted statement that “… there is an orientalism in the
most restless pioneer, and the farthest west is but the farthest east” is set
against his further thought that “Ancient history has an air of antiquity. It
should be more modern.”54
The reflective, perhaps even restive, tone that Thoreau expresses about
Asia and the past touches on something that, in my view, is still discern-
able in the population today.55 To the mind of many Westerners, the East
seems to retain an ancient, hidden, and mysterious character perched on
the edge of imagination. The recent success in the West of esoteric Tibetan
Buddhism may help point to this idea, given its exotic ceremonies and the
historically closed nature of Tibet.56 Esoteric means “secret” or “hidden,”
and the human proclivity to uncover the obscured may be an important part
of Buddhism’s appeal in the West, a phenomenon that is discussed more
fully in the next chapter. One need only look to Commodore Perry’s effort
to forcibly open the hidden Japan of the centuries old Tokugawa Shogunate
as an example of this.
In the modernity of the West, the ancient traditions and classical forms of
the East are set in stark relief. In many developing countries, the present era
of globalization, with its international economic and cultural integration,
regularly situates modern technological accouterments in direct proximity
with older forms of human life and subsistence. Much of the architecture
discussed in this investigation retains the same character with respect to
their immediate urban environments. Ancient looking temples exist amid
ultramodern metropolitan localities. In some instances, ancient Eastern
spiritual “technologies” coexist with contemporary Western-based scien-
tific structural artifacts without contradiction, as with the stupa atop the
Buddhist Church of San Francisco. It must be remembered, of course, that
the cities of the present-day Orient look very much like the modern cities
of the West.57 In this respect, one can say that the West has already gone
to the East, and that the influx of Asian religious thought since the nine-
teenth century is a logical consequence of the west wind of cultural, polit-
ical, and economic expansionism reverberating back like the ebb and flow
of an ocean tide.
Buddhist Non-Duality
The dualistic concepts of Yi-Fu Tuan’s humanistic geography—such as
space and place, interior and exterior, the terrestrial and the cosmic—
are a particularly valuable and fruitful way to approach Buddhist archi-
tecture humanistically. I have also emphasized the historical East-West
and Old-New divisions that have been a large factor in understanding
Buddhism’s emergence in America. Other relevant binaries are at work as
well in understanding Buddhist structural expression, such as the distinc-
tion between sacred and profane space, or the relationship between the
use of non-sacred/everyday places that can be transformed into spiritual
environments designed for meditation and contemplation. Even the use of
symbolism, so prevalent in Buddhist scripture and praxis, has been bifur-
cated by some philosophically into a symbol/metaphor opposition, where
the former refers to its static use as a tool of scientific practicality, while
the latter points to a deeper dynamic process “which leads into the realm
of art, ethics, and religion.”58 In this conception, Buddhist architecture
takes on the role of a symbol, while the humanistic themes surrounding
Buddhist belief (such as heart, as we have seen) are involved in meanings
most effectively communicated via metaphor. These dichotomies play a
role in the historical narrative presented in this book. Yet, one must be
careful when making such divisions when thinking about Buddhist archi-
tecture. Buddhist thought is holistic in nature. It emphasizes the inter-
connectedness of things. For Buddhists, ultimately all distinctions and
dualities are seen as illusory. Even the segregation of sacred and profane
space, which is a broadly accepted ontological distinction, in the end is
also untenable, since for Buddhists everywhere and everything can be an
opportunity for spiritual insight.59 The experiential expediency of binary
thought espoused by Tuan therefore reaches a limit in the non-duality of
Buddhist epistemology.
This holistic thought stems from the earliest notions of Buddhist belief,
and signifies a flash point of sorts when considering Buddhist architecture
in an American setting, in a country whose history is grounded primarily in
a Judeo-Christian heritage. While similarities exist between Buddhist archi-
tecture and those of the Abrahamic traditions, its far Eastern roots point to
a discrete set of doctrines that implicitly index an alternative history and
attendant meanings. Buddhism’s concepts of “no self” (anatman), imper-
manence (anitya), and emptiness (śūnyatā) are fundamental elements of its
belief system. These beliefs help distinguish Buddhism’s structures from
those of Islam and Christianity insofar as it forces one to consider Buddhist
buildings in a distinctive manner with regard to purpose and function, or in
other words, why they were built and what they are intended to do.
Since its inception roughly 2500 years ago, Buddhism directly engages
what we might see as the paradoxical nature of human existence.
Transcendental wisdom via the Dharma hinges on recognizing that attach-
ment to the idea of a fixed, immutable “self” is a delusion. In the West, the
idea of the self and its actualization is virtually unquestioned, and is the
foundation of the individual freedoms so important to its democratic insti-
tutions. The notion of an immutable self or soul is taken as an obvious fact
of human existence, and is a large factor in the Judeo-Christian worldview
so predominant in America. In fact, in puzzling reaction to such Buddhist
concepts, the non-Buddhist often asks: “who, then, is attempting to achieve
Nirvana in Buddhist practice if the self does not really exist?” However, in
the Buddhist religion enlightenment does indeed entail embracing the con-
cept of “no-self,” which is understood to be at the heart of eliminating the
suffering and dissatisfaction (dukkha) of sentient beings, while belief in the
śūnyatā doctrine refers to the idea that all things are ultimately “empty” of a
permanent, unchangeable self-existence. Buddhist belief involves realizing
the transient impermanence of all phenomena, understanding the karmic
implications of attachment to a craving immutable ego, and ultimately tran-
scending the parameters that lead to dualistic thinking (i.e., a “self” that
inherently sets up a binary opposition between you and everything else).60 In
varying degrees that fold back upon one another interconnectedly, imper-
manence, emptiness, and “no self” lie at the core of the Buddhist faith. They
exist as the spiritual foundation of Buddhist holism as it relates to the very
nature of existence itself. As Venerable Master Hsing Yun writes, “The
supreme path is one that integrates existence and emptiness (my emphasis).
This is the difference between the Chan (Zen) mind and the ordinary
mind.”61 Such integrated holist thought is succinctly stated in one of the most
important texts expounding the Buddha’s view of reality, the Heart Sutra:
“Form does not differ from emptiness, and emptiness does not differ from
form. Form itself is emptiness, and emptiness itself is form.”62 These beliefs,
although just briefly touched upon here, are central to Buddhism’s enduring
antique worldview, and need to be kept in mind when trying to understand
Buddhist structures of worship and practice in the United States.
For some Buddhist thinkers, this holistic thinking extends not only to
sentient beings, but to the material aspects of the world as well. The Zen
Master Dōgen of the Soto sect, for instance, taught that even non-sentient
objects in the world transmit the Dharma (mujō seppō): “According to
Dōgen, every single thing in the universe participates in, contributes to,
benefits from, and is, in fact, nothing other than the universal functioning
of Buddhahood.”63 The implications of this idea with respect to Buddhist
architecture manifest when discussing Zen sites in the United States. Zen
is a branch of Buddhist practice that Americans have embraced most
enthusiastically. Investigating Buddhist architecture from that perspective
will generate a deeper understanding of just how interconnectedness and
emptiness operate in a Western setting. Because buildings silently but not
literally “speak” their message, Zen is a form of Buddhist thought that is
particularly suited to address how architecture can teach and communi-
cate, as it “rejects the written word and claims an unwritten doctrine, trans-
mitted from mind to mind, where the heart of man directly sees into its own
nature.”64 As a subdivision of the Mahayana, Zen Buddhism embraces the
holistic idea that all sentient beings retain the “Buddha-nature” (tathāga-
tagarbha): like a seed in the womb of the mind, an intrinsic Buddhahood
is able to be born within us all. This idea stems in part from the intercon-
nectedness of the universe. The concept of Indra’s Net is a famous and
influential element of the Gandavyuha Sutra. Each node of the god’s vast,
unbounded net contains a jewel that reflects—in infinite measure—the
mirrored image of each of the other jewels.65 It is a mythological image that
is used throughout the Buddhist world to explain the complex interdepend-
ent nature of existence (pratītyasamutpāda), and thus also must be kept
in mind when considering Buddhist architecture of every tradition. In the
end, the message that Zen teaches is one that finds commonality with other
forms of Buddhist thought. It is a teaching expressed in different ways viz.
the various design strategies that Buddhists utilize to house and commu-
nicate the Dharma, which, as Lokesh Chandra compellingly states, “is an
appreciation of intuition and action, a cult of essentiality and purity, a love
of nature as the direct embodiment of the Absolute.”66
As a whole (pun intended!), the themes and methods introduced in
this chapter form the context and content of the narrative describing the
appearance of Buddhist architecture on the American landscape. In the
same way that architectural form can give structure to the nonphysical
concepts of religious thought, these ideas act as a framework in compre-
hending the religion’s emergence among the progressive currents of the
period within which it began to take shape in the United States. It is a his-
tory that is decidedly one of positivity, growth, and elevation (both struc-
tural and spiritual) that I believe is the exact opposite of the negativity—as
discussed in the following chapter—that many westerners attributed to
Buddhist thought upon its arrival in America. It optimistically entails,
as Georg Simmel writes of the architectural arts in the early twentieth
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CHAP. XI.
Also I do further declare, that God did never create any Spirit without
a Body, neither of Angels, nor Men, nor no other Creature, neither in
Heaven above, nor in the Earth beneath, nor the Waters under the
Earth. There is no Spirit or Life whatsoever that is created of God,
but it hath a Body to that Life or Spirit; but if a Spirit have any Being
without a Body, that Spirit is none of God's Creation; for God never
created any Spirit whatsoever without a Body, as I said before.
But the Imagination of Reason in Man, which is the Devil, hath
created all Creatures in the Imagination to have Spirits without
Bodies, both of Angels above and Man here on Earth, and all
Creatures upon the Earth, and in the Waters, that have the Breath of
Life, the Imagination of Reason saith, their Spirits may subsist
without Bodies, or go out of those Bodies they have, and enter into
other Bodies, and appear in the Shape of a Body, and yet be of no
Substance: so that the Devil's Creation is all of Spirits without
Bodies, and God's Creation is all with Bodies and Spirits together.
And this Darkness hath overspread the Nature of Man all the World
over, which is the Occasion of that Opinion of Houses and Places
being haunted with evil Spirits, and Spirits walking without Bodies,
and dealing with Familiar Spirits, that peep, and mutter, and whisper
as it were out of the Ground. These Things and many more are
produced by the Imagination of the Heart of Man, for the Imagination
of Man's Heart is evil, and continually evil; for it hath given a Being to
Spirits without Bodies, to fright it self to that which hath no Being of it
self.
For I declare and perfectly know, that there is no such Thing as
Spirits to walk without Bodies, nor assume any Shape after Death,
nor be raised out of the Ground by any Witch or any Familiar Spirit
whatsoever; it is all produced out of the dark Imagination of the
Heart, where Ignorance beareth Rule, for there is no such Thing can
be presented but to the Ignorant and dark minded People.
Thus I have given the Reader to understand something more
concerning the Power of Witches, and how they may be said to raise
Spirits out of the Ground, and from whence that low Speech doth
come, with those Scriptures opened that speak as if a Familiar Spirit
did hear whispering out of the Dust.
Also I have given the Interpretation of that in Samuel concerning the
Witch of Endor, and those Places of Scripture in Isaiah; these Places
are the most concerning Spirits being raised without Bodies, of any
in the Scriptures; but there have been some other Places of
Scriptures, that do seem to carry a shew as if Spirits might rise again
without Bodies, and I have been desired by some to open those
Scriptures that seem to tend to that Purpose, though the common
and general Objection amongst all People is, that of the Witch of
Endor and King Saul, which I have opened before; yet for the further
Satisfaction of the Reader, I shall open and interprete the other
Places objected, that seem to tend to the same thing.
The Places of Scripture are three; the first is Isa. lxi. 1. the Words
are these, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord
hath anointed me to preach good Tidings unto the Meek: He hath
sent me to bind up the Broken-hearted, to proclaim Liberty to the
Captives, and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound——
So Luke iv. 18. the Words in Luke are much to the same Purpose,
and little Difference; only that which Isaiah did prophesy of, it was
fulfilled by Christ in his time——So the first Epistle of Peter, Chap. iii.
and 18, 19, 20. Verses; the Words are these, For Christ also hath
once suffered for Sin, the Just for the Unjust; that he might bring us
to God, being put to Death in the Flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
Verse 19. By which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in
Prison: Verse 20. Which sometime were disobedient, when once the
Long-suffering of God waited in the Days of Noah, while the Ark was
a preparing, wherein few (that is) eight Souls were saved by Water.
CHAP. XII.
As for that Saying of the Prophet Isaiah, it was a Prophecy of Christ,

that he should be anointed to preach Glad-tidings, unto the Meek,
and that he was sent to bind up the Broken-hearted, to proclaim
Liberty to the Captives, and the opening of the Prison to them that
are bound. This Prophecy was fulfilled when he was upon Earth, as
may plainly appear by those Words in Luke aforementioned.
Also the Reader may understand, that these Places of Scripture
have no Relation at all to the raising of Spirits without Bodies; nor of
Spirits being in Prison, nor delivered out of Prison by the Power of
Christ without Bodies.
But the Meaning is this, that the Spirit of the Lord Almighty was upon
Christ, and in him, and did anoint him to preach Glad-tidings of
Salvation to the Meek in Heart, who did believe in him and trusted in
his Words; all such as were broken-hearted, who were led Captive
by the Error, Ignorance, and Darkness of the Mind; he came to
proclaim Liberty to the Spirit of Man, who was in Captivity; and to
open the Prison-door of Mens Hearts.
For this I say, all Mens Spirits by Nature are shut up in the Prison of
Spiritual Darkness in the Mind, and are lead Captive by the
Ignorance of Truth; so that the Spirit or Soul of Man is shut up a
Prisoner in the Body of Man, until the true God and Saviour hath
been preached to them, as it was by Christ himself, when on Earth
he was anointed to preach Glad-tidings of Salvation; and he
anointed his Apostles to preach Glad-tidings of Peace to Men, and to
open the Prison, and to deliver the Captive out of Captivity, and to
set the Spirits of many that were in a Prison of Darkness in their own
Minds go free: This Prophecy was fulfilled at that Time by Christ and
his Apostles in their Commission.
But the same Captivity and Prison of Darkness is now upon the
Spirits of all Men, as it was at that Time: For this I say, and many
People can Witness, that their Spirits have been shut up Prisoners in
Spiritual Darkness in their own Bodies, until the true God the Saviour
hath been preached unto them by his last Messengers.
For this I declare, that those Words of the Prophet Isaiah, they were
spoken with Relation to a Spiritual Liberty, and to a Spiritual
Captivity, of the Mind or Spirit of Man, and not to a Natural Captivity.
Neither was it meant the opening of the natural Prison Doors, to
them that were bound by the Powers of the Nations; but the Doors of
Mens Hearts were opened at the preaching of Christ and his
Apostles, in that Light, and Life, and Salvation was preached unto
them, that whoever Believed that this Jesus is the Christ, the Saviour
of the World, should be saved and delivered from the Fear of Eternal
Death: So that the Soul of Man that was lead Captive into Prison,
and bound in Chains of Darkness, and strong Doors lockt fast to
keep the Spirit of Men in Prison, by the Works of the Law, and the
Expounders of the Law before Christ came, the Spirit of Reason in
them did lead the Generality of People their Spirits into Spiritual
Captivity, and shut them up in Prison, and tied their Spirits up in the
Observation of the Ceremonial Law of Moses.
Which was as Chains of Darkness: and not only so, but shut the
Door of Hope upon them, so that there was no Hope to be saved in
them, but by observing the Law aforesaid, which Paul calls beggarly
Rudiments, Gal. iii. So that this Spiritual Captivity and being bound in
Prison, and the Doors being shut, it was the Spirits of People that
were Captives and Prisoners in their own Bodies, kept by the Legal
and Ceremonial Righteousness of the Law of Moses; and when
Christ came to preach, and to give Power to his Apostles to preach
the Gospel of Truth, both to Jew and Gentile, then was the Door of
Hope opened in People's Hearts, and many that were bound in
Prison, whose Spirits were led Captive, they were set at Liberty from
that Bondage of the Ceremonial Law, wherein they were bound, and
brought out of that Prison of Darkness in the Mind, into the glorious
Light and Life of Faith, by the preaching of Christ and his Apostles.
Then was this Prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled in the Apostles
Commission; then was Liberty preached to the Spirits of many that
were bound and in Prison in their own Minds, the Word of Faith
preached unto them, it opened a Door of Hope of Deliverance from
the Bondage of the Law as aforesaid, wherewith they were bound;
so that by Faith they had in Christ, their Chains fell off their Feet, and
Darkness of their Understanding; so that they were at perfect Liberty,
and delivered out of Prison, and the Prison-Door of Hope in Christ
being opened, all true Believers in Christ were set at Liberty, free
from Captivity, and out of that Spiritual Prison of Darkness into the
glorious Liberty of the Sons and Daughters of God for ever and ever.
So is it now in this Commission of the Spirit, we the Witnesses of the
Spirit have preached Glad-tidings of Salvation, and have opened the
Prison-Doors of Mens Hearts, and have let many out of that Spiritual
Prison, that were bound to the Righteousness set up by the
Imagination of Reason now in these last Days, who were led Captive
by their own Traditions, and kept in Prison in their own Bodies for
many Years; but by the Declaration of Truth in all our Writings and
our Speakings, many People have been delivered out of Captivity
and out of Prison, their Spirits have been let loose out of the Chains
of Darkness, because the Door of their Hearts hath been opened by
the Word of Faith in the true God, which we have preached and
written; this many can witness at this Day the Truth of it. So that now
that Scripture is fulfilled again these last days; and this is the true
Meaning of the Prophet Isaiah, in those Words concerning opening
the Prison, and giving Liberty to the Captives that were imprisoned in
their own Bodies by the Conceptions of the Imaginations of their own
Hearts.
So that there is not the least Colour or Ground from those Words, for
the Reason of Man to think that Spirits may be let out of Prison
without Bodies, or that the Spirit of Christ did Preach to any Spirit in
Prison without his Body.
CHAP. XIII.
And as for those Words of Peter aforenamed, where he saith, Christ

was put to Death in the Flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which
also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison, which
sometime were Disobedient, when once the Long-suffering of God
waited in the Days of Noah, while the Ark was a preparing, &c.
The Meaning of those Words are as followeth; that Christ was put to
Death in the Body of his own Flesh, this is confessed by most
People that profess the Scriptures of Truth, but very few do truly
believe, that the Soul or Spirit of Christ did die, or was put to Death
at all, notwithstanding the Scripture saith, that He poured out his
Soul unto Death; and he himself saith, His Soul was heavy unto
Death. Therefore that the Reader may understand what is meant in
that Christ was put to Death in the Flesh but quickened by the Spirit;
mind,
I declare, that it was the Soul or Spirit of Christ, which was the
Godhead-life that dwelt in that Body of Flesh and Bone of Christ; for,
as the Scripture saith, In him all the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt
Bodily: And this Godhead-life that dwelt in the Body of Christ's Flesh,
it was put to Death in the Body of Christ's Flesh, and the same
Godhead-life that was put to Death in the Body of his Flesh. And
when Christ's Body was crucified upon the Cross, then was the Soul
and Life of Christ, or the Godhead-life did die, and was put to Death
in that Flesh of Christ; for that Flesh of Christ was God become
Flesh, as the Scripture saith; and the Soul and Life of Christ was the
Soul and Life of God. And,
When Christ poured out his Soul unto Death, it was the Godhead
Life that was poured out unto Death; so that the Godhead Spirit was
put to Death, and did die in the Flesh of Christ when he was
Crucified. But this Godhead Life which was put to Death in the Flesh
of Christ, it quicken'd again where it was put to Death, even in the
same Flesh where it was put to Death. And in its quickening again, it
raised the same Flesh again, and so spiritualized the same Flesh
that suffered, and made it uncapable to suffer Death any more.
For this I say, no Spirit or Life that is put to Death whatsoever, could
possibly quicken again in the same Body, but the Life of God only, so
that Christ must needs be God as well as Man; for it was Christ that
was put to Death in the Flesh, and the same Life that was put to
Death, and did die, that which did die did quicken again, and so is
called a quickening Spirit.
Now observe, it cannot properly be called a quickening Spirit, if it
had not been once dead: For if the Spirit and Life of Christ did not
die, nor was not dead, then I say, there was no need that this Spirit
and Life, should quicken again, for it was always quick and alive.
For the Spirit quickening doth imply, a sensible Life is quickned out
of an insensible Life; as a Child in the Womb before it is quick, it
feeleth no Pain, neither doth it stir in the Womb, and the Midwife
doth not care to destroy it to save the Womans Life, because the
Child was not quick, it was an insensible Life, no more capable of
Pain then there is in Death, or a dead Lump of Earth; but when a
Child is quick in the Womb, it is capable of Pain, though it hath not
Strength to express it to us that are strong, yet it is capable of Pain,
because it is quickened into a sensible Life, that is, a living Soul, a
living Spirit, and so may be called a quickened Spirit of Life, out of
that which was dead; yet by the Appointment of God in his Creation,
and the Warmness of the Womb, there is new Life or Spirit doth
quicken in the Womb in its Season, according to the Appointment of
God when he created all Things, and placed a Law of Generation in
them.
So likewise the Spirit or Life of Christ was put to Death in his own
Body of Flesh, as aforesaid; and in its Season he himself had
appointed before, namely three Days and three Nights, this Spirit of
Christ so put to Death, it quickened again in the same Flesh a new
and Glorious Life, which made that Flesh that suffered Glorious also.
And this is the true Interpretation of Peter's Words, and the Faith of
all true Believers, that the Spirit, Life, and Soul of Christ did die, and
was put to Death in the Body of his own Flesh, that was Crucified on
the Cross by the Jews; and that the same Spirit that was put to
Death, it did quicken again out of Death into a new and Glorious Life
by his own Power, therefore called a quickening Spirit.
So that here is no Ground at all for that vain Conceit in People, who
do believe that Spirits may be raised without Bodies, or appear
without Bodies, but altogether to the contrary. And as for that saying
of Peter, By which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in
Prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the Long-
suffering of God waited in the Days of Noah while the Ark was a
preparing.
These Words do seem to carry some shew, as if the quickening
Spirit of Christ, after he was risen from the Dead, or in the time he
did lie in the Grave, as if his Spirit in that Interim of Time went into
some local Place where Spirits were in Prison without Bodies, to
preach unto them, who had been Disobedient in the Days of Noah:
This is the vain Conceit of most People from those Words of Peter,
who saith, By which he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison,
as if the Spirits of the Disobedient People in the Days of Noah had
been in Prison in some local Place in the Earth without Bodies, who
had been departed in the Days of Noah, in the Destruction of the
World by Water.
This the Imagination of Reason in Man doth imagine, that Spirits
may be shut up in Prison without Bodies, and that the quickening
Spirit Christ might Preach unto them without a Body.
But the true Light and Revelation of faith doth know to the contrary,
that no Spirits can have any Being at all without Bodies, neither of
God, Angels, nor Man, nor no other living Creature, who hath the
Breath of Life in it.
But to give the Interpretation of this Scripture, that the Reader may
understand, it is thus; the Spirit of Christ, that quickened from the
Dead to Life again, I say, is the same Spirit that preached to the
Spirits in Prison in the Days of Noah, and the Spirits of the
disobedient World were in Prison in their own Bodies in the Days of
Noah, as they were when Christ came upon Earth, for then he
opened the Prison to them that were bound, by preaching Glad-
tidings of Freedom to those that were bound, and Liberty to those
Spirits that were in Captivity.
Now (as I said before) this Captivity is Spiritual Captivity, and to be
bound and in Prison, it is meant a Spiritual Imprisonment in the Mind,
and not a natural Imprisonment of the Body. And this I say, the very
same Spirit of Christ that preached to the Jews when he was upon
Earth, did preach to the old World in the Days of Noah, though in a
twofold Manner.
And as the Spirits of Men were in Prison in their own Ignorance,
Blindness and Darkness of Understandings, in that they were led
Captives and Prisoners by their wicked and unnatural Lusts in the
Days of Noah: So were both Jews and Gentiles in the Days of Christ
when on Earth, their Spirits were led Captive, and into the Prison of
Unbelief and Persecution of the Lord of Life, in that their Fathers
persecuted the Lord's Prophets and Messengers he did send; so did
these Jews persecute the Lord himself, when he preached to their
Spirits that were in Prison, and led Captives by their wicked
murdering Wills into the Prison of Unbelief; for he did preach when
on Earth, that whosoever did believe in him should be saved. And as
many as did truly believe in him, their Spirits were brought out of that
Captivity of Unbelief, and out of the Prison of Darkness in the Mind,
into a glorious Liberty and Light of Life Eternal. And thus did the
preaching of Christ Spirit deliver many Spirits of Men and Women
out of Prison, in the Days when he was upon Earth.
So likewise this quickening Spirit of Christ, it preached unto the
Spirits in Prison in the Days of Noah. And why were their Spirits in
Prison in the Days of Noah? Because they were disobedient. And
how may they be said to be disobedient? Because they did not
believe that good Man Noah, who was a Preacher of Righteousness.
And how did he preach Righteousness unto that wicked People? In
that he prepared the Ark, and being so many as a hundred Years in
building, all that while God is said to wait for their Repentance, and
that they might believe that God would destroy the World by Water.
But instead of Repentance and believing they hardened their Hearts,
and mocked at Noah and the Ark; so that while the Ark was
preparing, God waited for the People's Repentance; and all that
while that Noah was building he preached to the People, that the
World would be drowned.
And the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of God which was put to
Death in the Flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which he went
and preached unto the Spirits in Prison in the Days of Noah, it was
the same Spirit that instructed Noah to build the Ark; so that the
building of the Ark by Noah, he being a Preacher of Righteousness,
in that he believed God, and built it as the Spirit of God had
commanded and instructed him; as God did Moses, shewed him the
Pattern of the Tabernacle in the Mount.
And in as much as Noah did obey the Commandment of the Lord,
according as the Spirit of the Lord did reveal unto him, Noah may be
said to be a Preacher of Righteousness; and he doing all things by
Inspiration of the Spirit of Christ, which was not at that time made of
Flesh, but in the Fulness of time became pure humane Flesh, and
suffered the Pains of Death. And the same Spirit that suffered Death,
that very same Spirit that quickened, was that Spirit that preached to
the Spirits in Prison in the Days of Noah, as aforesaid.
And the making of the Ark by the Inspiration of God's Spirit in the
Sight of the People, who were in Prison in Ignorance and Darkness
of Mind, is called by the Revelation of Faith, A preaching to the
Spirits in Prison: So that the Spirit of God in Noah may be said to
preach unto those Spirits in Prison, in the Days of Noah, and that
there was but eight Persons saved from the Flood.
So that this Place of Scripture doth no way prove, that the Spirit of
Christ did ever preach to Spirits in Prison without Bodies; neither did
Christ's Spirit preach in the Days of Noah without a Body; for he
always preached with a Body himself, or else chose Men that have
Bodies, and gave them Power to preach to Spirits in Prison, and to
deliver the Captives, and to set the Prisoner at Liberty, and the
bound in Prison to go free.
So that the Reader may see how and in what Manner the Spirit of
Christ did preach unto the Spirits in Prison in the Days of Noah, and
how their Spirits may be said to be in Prison, and how their Unbelief
in the Days of Noah was called Disobedience, to the preaching of
Noah all that while the Ark was building. And being built by the
Inspiration of the Spirit of God, it may and is called the preaching of
Christ's Spirit to them that were in Prison in Spiritual Darkness in
their Minds; for their Minds being darkened, they did those Things
that were unseemly; yea, unnatural as the People of Sodom did.
Now, were not the Spirits of these People in Prison, and led Captive
of those unnatural Lusts, I think no sober Man will deny; yet these
were those Spirits in Prison that Christ's Spirit preach unto in the
Body of Noah, in the Days of Noah; and that there was but eight
Persons in the Days of Noah, that were saved from the Destruction
by Water, by the preaching of that Spirit of God in Noah. This is the
true Interpretation and Meaning of those Words of Peter the Apostle
aforementioned; and how the Spirit of Christ went and preached unto
the Spirits in Prison in the Days of Noah.
CHAP. XIV.
Again, there are some other Places of Scripture, which several

People have objected, as if the Spirit or Soul of Man might go out of
the Body, and subsist in Bliss and Happiness, or in Misery and a
tormented Condition, without its Body it always lived in; from that
Place Luke xxiii. 43. Jesus said to the Thief on the Cross, Verily I say
unto thee, This Day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. Now observe,
this no way proves that the Thief's Soul went out of his Body into a
paradisiacal Place, and so escaped suffering Death, or did not die;
for if the Soul of Christ did die at that time, as is clear by Scripture it
did; then the Soul and Life of the Thief did die also.
Then where was the Paradise the Thief's Soul, and Christ's Soul that
was heavy unto Death, where did they go? To this, I say, they went
to a Place of rest, where all righteous Souls go, which is to the sleep
of Death, for their was nothing did die but the Souls of them both;
and the Paradise Christ and the Thief went into that Day they
suffered Death, I declare it was this, that Christ was sure in himself
that he should rise from the Dead the third Day, and afterward
should enter into eternal Glory, and this Assurance in Christ that he
should rise again the third Day, it was Paradise and Peace to his
Soul, that he should pass through that Death, he was now to suffer
that very Day into a new Life, that should not be capable to die any
more.
So likewise when the Thief did truly believe that Jesus was the
Christ, the Saviour from eternal Death to those that did believe; as it
is certain he did when he said, Lord, remember me, when thou
comest into thy Kingdom; for he did really believe, that Christ would
rise the third Day, and that he would raise him to eternal Joy and
Happiness at the last Day; and the Thief dying in this Faith, he
entred into Peace of Mind, and had Rest and Freedom to die, in
Hope and full Assurance that Christ would raise him up Soul and
Body to eternal Happiness at the last Day.
And this was that Paradise that Christ and the Thief were in, that
very Day they both suffered Death; for the Assurance of everlasting
Life in a Man's self here in Mortality, is the Paradise of Peace in this
Life. This I know to be true, and this was the Paradise Christ did
mean the Thief should be in that very Day he believed; and not that
either of their Souls went out of their Bodies to any other Place or
Paradise, then what was in their own Bodies, as aforesaid.
In like Manner People imagine, that the Soul of Man goeth out of the
Body at his Death, from that Saying Acts 7. 59. from those Words of
Stephen, when he was stoned to Death, he said, Lord Jesus, receive
my Spirit. The Meaning is this, that when any Man died in the true
Faith of Christ, in the Hope and full Assurance that Christ will raise
him up to eternal Happiness at the last Day, he commits his Spirit
into the Hands of Christ, knowing that though he doth lose his Life
for Christ's Sake here, that Christ will raise it again, and save his
Soul hereafter; and so Christ may be said to receive his Spirit. For
this I must tell the Reader, that there is not a quarter of an Hour's
time to the Dead to his rising again, no not a Minute; for there is no
time to the Dead, not a Minute of an Hour, though a Man have been
dead five thousand Years, yet it is not a Minute of an Hour to him
that is dead.
For all time belongs to the living; for after Death there is nothing but
Eternity, on the other side of Death either eternal Happiness or
eternal Misery: So that when Men die, they may be said to go
immediately to Heaven or to Hell, to Joy or Torment, to be receiv'd
into Christ's Hands of Mercy, or into the Hands of Christ's Wrath,
where they shall be tormented with the Devil and his Angels, yet
shall never see the Devil, nor his Angels, nor themselves, to Eternity;
as they did not know the Devil here, neither shall they know or see
him hereafter, yet be tormented with him.
And in this Sense a faithful Spirit or Soul, as Stephen was, may be
said to commit his Spirit into the Hands of Christ, and that Christ
doth receive his Spirit into his Hands, and will raise it up at the last
Day, which will not be a Minute of an Hour's time to the Dead, as I
said before; therefore let not the Seed of Faith think the time long
between Death and the Salvation of their Souls, because so many of
the Faithful have been so many hundred Years in the Grave: And let
not the wicked unbelieving People comfort themselves, that the
Dead shall never rise again, because the Fathers are Dead, and the
Prophets are dead, and we see none of them rise again; therefore
we conclude, their Spirits are gone to Heaven without Bodies, and
the Spirits of the Wicked are gone to Hell without Bodies, but a
Minute of an Hour's time will decide this Matter, when the dead are
raised: For they shall not remember they have been a Sleep in the
Dust one Minute of an Hour, for their is no Remembrance of time in
the Grave. Therefore let that vain Conceit that is in most People fall,
of Spirits going to God without Bodies: For I can assure you there is
no such Thing, neither can there be any true Peace in that Conceit. I
know it by Faith now, and by Experience, for I was of that Opinion
once my self, when I was zealous in Religion according to the
Puritan Way; but I knew no Scripture truly, neither was there one true
Interpreter of Scripture, no not one in those Days, that could shew a
Man the true Righteousness of God, or the true Way to everlasting
Life.
CHAP. XV.
There is another Place of Scripture that is objected, that seems as if

the Soul went out of the Body when they die; as in 1 Kings xvii. 21.
where Elijah prayed, that the Child's Soul might come into him again.
The Meaning is this, that Elijah did pray in Faith unto God, that he
would assist him in this or other Things; as in shutting up the
Heavens that it should not rain, and calling for Fire from Heaven to
destroy those two Captains and their Fifties, and many other
wonderful Things he did; so he prayed unto God to strengthen his
Faith, so that he might have Power to raise this Child's Life out of
Death again.
Therefore he stretched himself upon the Child, and prayed that the
Child's Soul might come into him again; that is, that the Child's Soul
or Life might quicken in the Body of the Child again; for Elijah knew
the Soul of the Child was dead, and by the warm Flesh of the
Prophet laid upon the Child's dead Flesh, and the Faith and Prayer
of the Prophet together, it begot Life in the Child again; so that the
Soul that was dead it became Life in the Child again; and that Life
that was quickened, it run through the Veins of the Childs Body, and
so the Child's Soul did come into him again.
For this I say, if the Soul of the Child had been gone out of the Body,
then Elijah did not raise the dead Child to Life again; for how can a
Man be said to be dead, when as Life doth not die, but slips out of
the Body, as most People do vainly imagine; but it may be clear to
those whose Understandings are enlightened, that Elijah did raise
the Child from Death to Life, and that the Child's Soul was dead in its
Body, and that the Soul of the Child was revived in the Child's Body
again by the Power of Faith in Elijah.
And the very same thing was done by the Prophet Elisha, as in 2
Kings iv. 34. the Prophet Elisha did the same thing to the Sunamite
Woman's Son, he went up, and lay upon the Child, and put his
Mouth upon his Mouth, and his Eyes upon his Eyes, and his Hands
upon his Hands, and he stretch himself upon the Child; and the
Flesh of the Child waxed warm, and Elisha stretched himself upon
the Child a second time: Here the Reader may see, that the Child
was dead, and by the Faith and Prayer, and by the Warmness of the
Prophet Elisha his Flesh, the Child revived to Life again both Body
and Soul. And Elisha did use the same Means and Way as Elijah
did? for he went in and shut the Door, and prayed unto the Lord as
Elijah did, and stretched himself upon the Child as Elijah did, and
raise the Child to Life again by the Power of Faith.
Yet Elisha maketh no mention of the Soul coming into the Child
again, but he delivered the Body and Soul of the Child, that were
both dead together, he delivered them both alive together to the
Child's Mother. It was the same thing done by Elijah, only some
difference in the Words, but the Sense and Meaning is all one.
So that the Reader may understand, if any true Light of Life be in
him, that the Soul of the Child went not out of its Body, but died in
the Body; and by the Power of Faith in the Prophet, it quickened
alive out of Death in the Child's Body again; for the Soul or Life of
the Child never went out of the Body as is vainly imagin'd; but the
Soul, Life, and Spirit of the Child was absolutely dead in the Body,
and by the Power of Faith in the Prophet, the dead Soul or Life of the
Child was quickened alive again, and caused the Body to live also.
For if the Woman should have had the Soul of the Child given unto
her without the Body, she would have given the Prophet no Thanks
for raising her Child's Soul without a Body; but the Body and Soul
being one Person, they were both dead together, and the Prophet
raised them both together alive, and the Woman received them both
together, and rejoyced greatly in God, and gave Honour to the
Prophet.
Thus in short, I have given the true Interpretation of all those
Scriptures that most seem, or most commonly are objected against
the Mortality of the Soul, or to prove that Spirits do go out of the
Body at the time of Death, or that Spirits may be raised without
Bodies, or have any Being without Bodies, or that a Spirit may
appear in a Shape without a Body, or that a Spirit can assume what
Shape it please, yet have no Body or Substance.
These things the vain Imagination of Reason in Man hath created in
it self, to fright it self with, for their is no such thing as Spirits walking
without Bodies, neither doth any Spirit go out of the Body when Men
die, as is imagined by most People; but these are Fictions of Mens
Brains, created by the Imagination in the dark Minds of Men and
Women, for God never created any such thing, as I have shewed
before.
And as for that saying of Solomon, Eccl. xii. 7. Then shall the Dust
return to the Earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return to God who
gave it. His Meaning (I suppose) in these Words is, as is generally
conceived by all People, the Body to the Dust, and the Spirit returns
to God that gave it when Men die: But these Sayings of Solomon are
no Scripture, for Solomon was no Scripture Writer, for his Writings
were not written by the Revelation of Faith, but by the Revelation of
Reason; yet it was the purest of Reason, and he had the greatest
Measure of the Wisdom of Reason, and the Knowledge of Nature, of
any that was before him since Adam, or any that shall come after
him.
Therefore God chose him King, and gave him the purest Wisdom of
Reason, according to his Desire in his Prayer to God, that his
Wisdom might resemble Heaven for Glory, as it did; for what Glory
could a King have upon Earth greater than he had? Which was a
true Resemblance of the Glory of Heaven; and this Glory was
procured by that Power and great Wisdom of Reason in him; yet for
all this he was ignorant of the Revelation of Faith, and of spiritual
and heavenly Things, ignorant of the true God, and of the right Devil,
and of some things in Nature.
As that the Spirit of a Man should return to God that gave it without a
Body; when as God never gave any Spirit to Man without a Body, nor
to no other Creature: But Solomon being ignorant, that the Spirit or
Soul of Man is generated and begotten by the Law of Generation as
well as the Body; this was in the Creation when God made Man in
his own Image, the Ignorance of this caused him to speak thus; for
he knew not where the Spirit went when the Body is laid in the Earth,
no more than the learned Philosophers do, who say, A Spirit cannot
die; as if the Spirit and Life of every Creature were the Spirit or Life
of God, else they think no Creature could move and have a Being.
And though Solomon was a wise Man, as the Heathen Philosophers
were wise Men in Nature; yet they were all ignorant in this one thing,
of the Law of Generation or Procreation, to increase and multiply, as
God hath placed in Nature, when he created the World in the
beginning; for every Creature as well as Man, were to increase and
multiply by the Law of Generation; and this I am sure, they begot
Spirit, Life, and Soul by Generation, as well as Bodies.
But if it be objected, that God breathed into Man the Breath of Life,
and he became a living Soul; and so Man's Spirit is of a more noble
divine Life or Spirit than any other Creature.
To this I say, the Law of Generation to increase and multiply, was
placed in Man's Seed and Nature by God the Creator, as in other
Creatures: For this is to be observed, that Adam did not come to be
a living Soul by Generation, as we do ever since; but he and Eve
were first made as a Foundation for Generation; so that God made
or created but one Man and one Woman, all Men and Women that
have been generated and begotten ever since, cannot properly be
said to be made nor created, but begotten by Generation; for God
never made and created but one Man and one Woman, all others
are generated and begotten.
Therefore when Man begets a Son or Daughter in the way of
Generation, he begets the Soul or Spirit of the Child as well as the
Body; and the Soul or Spirit came out of the Man's Loin well as the
Body: As it was said by Jacob, Seventy Souls came out of his Loins;
if so then that Spirit or Soul that is begotten by Generation, it must
and doth die: For this I say, God never breathed the Breath of Life
into no Man, but into Adam: The Spirit of Life in all Men and Women
else or since have been generated and begotten, and what Spirit
and Soul of Man that is generated, it doth die and turn to Dust, till the
Regeneration, when God shall raise it again, which will not be a
Minute of an Hour to the dead Spirit, as I said before. So it may be
clear to those that have the true Light of Faith in them, that the Soul
or Spirit of Man doth die as well as the Body: They both came into
the World together alive, and they shall both go out of the World
again dead, as I have shewed before. Also the Reader may see, that
those Scriptures have been misunderstood through the Ignorance
and Darkness of Mens Minds, to think that the Soul or Spirit of Man
doth not die, but slips out of the Body; but to imagine that Spirits may
walk without Bodies, or that any Witch can raise any Spirit without a
Body; and many other Conceits that do arise out of the dark Mind of
Man; which have been grounded upon those Scripture Words;
therefore I have given the Interpretation of all those Places of
Scripture that are of most Concernment, and seem to bear such a
Sense, as is generally conceived among Professors of the
Scriptures: So that whoever understands the Interpretation, may
receive great Satisfaction in their Minds in this Point; so much for
Satisfaction of the Understanding in Heart, and for the Discontent of
the Ignorant and Dark-minded People, who believe by Tradition that
their Spirits do not die, but slide out of the Body at the time of Death;
and if they have been evil and wicked Livers, their Spirits do walk
afterwards, and cannot be at rest. These Conceits have been
exceeding brief in the World heretofore, when People were in
Darkness, and so is still where the Darkness of Mind ruleth.
CHAP. XVI.
There is one thing more that would be necessary for the wise in
Heart to know, which the Scriptures speak of in several Places; but I
never heard any of the Ministry tell what that Satan is the Scriptures
speak of, therefore I shall speak a Word or two to shew what Satan
is, and so conclude. 1 Chron. xxi. 1. And Satan stood up against
Israel; and Job i. 6. And Satan came also among them; and Chap.
xxi. 22. And the Lord said to Sathan, From whence comest thou?
And God said to Satan, Hast thou considered my Servant Job?
Ezek. iii. 1. And Satan standing at his right Hand. Mat. xvi. 23. Get
the behind me, Satan. Luke x. 18. I beheld Satan as Lightning fall
from Heaven.
1 Chron. xxi. 1. And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked
David to number Israel. This Satan that provoked David, it was the
Motions of Reason in himself, being lifted up in his own Mind, in that
he had overcome the Children of Ammon, he thought to make
nothing of the Philistines; therefore the Thoughts of his Heart moved
him to number the People, to know his Strength. And this Motion that
did arise in his Heart, it was Satan, it is called Satan, because those
Motions proceed from the Spirit or Seed of Reason in him. In 2 Sam.
xxiv. 1. it is said, The Anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel,
and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel: that is,
the Lord suffered the Motions of Reason in David to be powerful and
strong in him, that no Arguments should disswade him from it, but
the People must be numbred; and this was that Satan in David, and
no Spirit without him.
So Job i. 6. The Sons of God came to present themselves before the
Lord, and Satan came also among them. To this I say, the Book of

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Buddhist Architecture in America

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Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture Robert

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Robert Edward Gordon

“As my eyes sweep over the pages of Buddhist Architecture in America,

This book is the first comprehensive overview of Buddhist architecture

Robert Edward Gordon is an Assistant Research Professor at the University

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Buddhist Architecture in America

Buddhism, Cognitive Science, and the Doctrine of Selflessness

Indian Buddhist Studies on Non-Buddhist Theories of a Self

Reimagining Chan Buddhism

Buddhist Visions of the Good Life for All

Women in British Buddhism

Buddhism, Meditation and Free Will

Theravada Buddhism in Colonial Contexts

Early Buddhist Meditation

THERAVĀDA BUDDHIST ENCOUNTERS WITH MODERNITY

Early Buddhist Metaphysics

Mipham’s Dialectics and the Debates on Emptiness

How Buddhism Began

Remaking Buddhism for Medieval Nepal

Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism

The Biographies of Rechungpa

The Origin of Buddhist Meditation

Robert Edward Gordon

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1 Buddhism and Architecture: Space, Time, and Heart 8

2 Buddhist Architecture and Its Nineteenth-Century

3 The Twentieth-Century Expansion of Architectonic

4 The Proliferation of Buddhist Architecture in America 104

5 The Mandala Form and Buddhist Space in America 127

6 Conclusions and Considerations 154

I would like to forward my genuine appreciation to the University of

2.1 Chinese Joss House, Weaverville, California, ca. 201246

Amitabha Stupa, Kunzang Palyul Chöling, Arizona

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A fundamental aspect of the argument in this book is that the various

Architecture and Scripture

The appearance of these enlightened witnesses establishes a foundational

As for that Saying of the Prophet Isaiah, it was a Prophecy of Christ,

And as for those Words of Peter aforenamed, where he saith, Christ

Again, there are some other Places of Scripture, which several

There is another Place of Scripture that is objected, that seems as if

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2.1 Chinese Joss House, Weaverville, California, ca. 201246