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FACE TO FACE | EASTERN HORIZON 41
Adaptation and Change
– Lessons from Young
American Buddhists
By Chenxing Han
Chenxing Han is the author of Be Benny: Can you share how you Buddhist devotion and the beauty of
the Refuge: Raising the Voices of became interested in Buddhism Buddhist architecture moved me to
Asian American Buddhists (North when you were raised in an learn more about the religion.
Atlantic Books, 2021). She holds atheistic Chinese family?
a BA from Stanford University, Back in the United States for
an MA in Buddhist Studies from Chenxing: It’s hard to pinpoint a college, I was fortunate to join
the Graduate Theological Union, single moment when I became a nonsectarian Buddhist group
and a certificate in Buddhist interested in Buddhism, but I can on campus and to have access
chaplaincy from the Institute think of many factors that brought to a diverse range of temples
of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, me to the religion. Growing up, I and sanghas throughout the San
had many questions about life and
Francisco Bay Area. Some of the
California. She co-organized death, meaning and ethics, pain and first Buddhist communities I
May We Gather: A National suffering. My atheist upbringing visited were, unexpectedly, in South
Buddhist Memorial for Asian couldn’t satisfy these questions, Africa, where I studied abroad
American Ancestors, and lives in and I never felt a strong affinity and conducted research for my
the San Francisco Bay Area. www. for the religion that was most undergraduate thesis. My parents
chenxinghan.com. Following a accessible in the dominant culture— inculcated in me a suspicion of
request from Eastern Horizon for Christianity—so I sought out other religion—understandable given
an on-line interview, Chenxing avenues for spiritual inquiry. During their experiences during the
has kindly shared her thoughts a gap year between high school and Chinese Cultural Revolution—and
with Benny Liow about lessons college, I encountered Buddhism overcoming this suspicion took
from young Asian Buddhists in the in many forms in China, Thailand, many years, though South Africa
United States. Nepal, and Tibet. The power of was a turning point. Interviewing
