DIVISION
WITHIN
“Challenge your notions,” the
55-year-old woman with dreadlocks told them, sharing her journey as a black Christian turned
Buddhist, a racial rarity among
meditators. “I once thought there
was something devilish and ‘woowoo’ about this, that people would
find out, that they would say bad
things about me. There was a cultural ‘I can’t do this’ thing. But I
tell you: You can do it.”
This class of Buddhist meditation was for beginners, tailor-made
for minorities. Men could come,
but the group happened to be
women. No whites were allowed.
“Being an American Indian
woman, I am judged all the time. I
just feel more accepted if it’s not
white people telling me what to
do, how to meditate,” said Teresa
Powers, a 54-year-old university
researcher and mother of two who
was drawn to the study of meditation after losing her job. “It’s like
I’m among my own.”
Here in Seattle, one of the least
racially diverse cities with one of
the largest Buddhist communities in the country, a controversial
movement in American Buddhism
is forming. A handful of exclusive “people of color” Buddhist
groups have started to meet each
HUFFINGTON
03.17.13
week, far away from the longestablished — and almost entirely
white — major Buddhist meditation centers that have dominated
the Pacific Northwest’s wellknown Buddhist scenes. Many
members, who have until now
shied away from meditation and
Buddhism, say practicing away
“YOU CAN SEE DIFFERENCES, I CAN
SEE DIFFERENCES, BUT DOES IT HAVE
TO CREATE AN ANXIETY OR STRESS?”
from the white majority, among
whom they say they don’t feel
welcome, has spiritually empowered them — and they wouldn’t
have it any other way.
As the U.S. moves toward becoming a “minority majority” nation, the increasing awareness of
multiculturalism has made its impact on many faiths, with churches, synagogues and mosques
reaching out to recruit members
of ethnic groups to broader reflect
America’s growing diversity. But
in meditation-oriented Buddhism,
one of the most popular and fastest-growing strains of this ancient
religion — now the fourth biggest
spiritual practice in the U.S. —