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FEATURES | EASTERN HORIZON 43

“They experience the dhamma in a much
more intimate way,” she said. “When I
experience the dhamma in Spanish — which
is my second language — it strikes me
differently, and sometimes in very beautiful
ways, sometimes in very interesting ways, and
sometimes in ways that make me question
what my understanding was.”

The spread of Buddhism is already changing
the broader Latinx community, said Bhante
of the Sarathchandra Buddhist Center in Los
A “naijin,” or altar, at the Orange County Buddhist Church in
Angeles.
Anaheim. Once predominately Asian, the church is attracting a
large number of Caucasian and Latino congregants. (Photo by
“They offer a potential for something different
Scott Smeltzer)
for other family members who feel like they’re
stuck in a certain culture or a certain belief,”
he said. “Things are opening up. I’ve seen with
While technology has solved many problems, it hasn’t erased
some of the meditators who are Latinxs, they
them all. Accurate translations are still one of the biggest
come and they start bringing their friends,
challenges for Spanish speakers interested in Buddhism, he said.
and their friends start bringing their friends,
And, even for English speakers, it can be difficult to find a temple
and they bring family members.”
to join, since many of them operate in Asian languages such as
Mandarin or Korean.
Three years ago, Bhante launched the
YouTube channel Monje en la Modernidad, or
“The temples were set up for a specific ethnicity and to help
“Monk in Modernity,” where he posts lectures
immigrants have a taste of their own culture and to help them
and interviews in Spanish. He also hosts live
integrate into the United States,” he said. “I don’t think they see it
online study classes and meditation sessions.
as a big role of theirs to bring in Latinxs or anyone else.”

These digital platforms, he said, are key to
Zen and meditation centers that cater to American Buddhist
reaching an audience that’s dispersed around
converts aren’t always a fit either.
the globe and may not have other ways of
getting information about Buddhism.
Marcia Taborga, a Bolivian American member of the Orange
County Buddhist Church in Anaheim, said when she started
“Technology just works for everyone,” he said,
looking for a temple five years ago, she wasn’t interested in
“the person who wants to spread that kind
meditation centers because they lacked a cohesive community.
of teaching and the person who’s looking for
And as a mother of two, she and her husband needed a place to
different kinds of teachings.”
practice with their young children.
In addition, Bhante also hosted a meditation
“In practice, in real life, I feel like you need community,” she said.
retreat in the Mexican state of Zacatecas this
year and has been working on translating
OCBC — a Shin Buddhist temple founded by Japanese immigrants
sutras and modern Buddhist books so that
in Southern California more than 80 years ago — appealed to her
Spanish-speakers can have access to more
instead because of its combination of English-language services
Buddhist source texts.
(the temple is now run primarily by second- and third-generation