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How the Swans Came to the Lake by Fields, Rick(July 7, 1992) Paperback
"If there is a lake, the swans would go there." So said the 16th Karmapa when asked why he visited America in 1976. Of course, the Karmapa wasn't the first swan to go to the lake. In a book of immense scope, Rick Fields surveys the history of Buddhism in America from the quasi-legendary Fu-sang in the sixth century to Asian immigrant communities to the latest trends in American Buddhism. Writing as a storyteller as much as a historian, Fields takes us back to the earliest European contacts with Buddhism, most notably, Sir William Jones, who was just about to go to America on the recommendation of Ben Franklin, when at the last minute, fortunately, he chose India. His work would influence the American Transcendentalists and eventually the great Theosophist and first American convert to Buddhism, Henry Steel Olcott. A sympathetic writer, Fields is also meticulously inclusive. Besides the obvious transmitters, like D.T. Suzuki and Philip Kapleau, Fields traces the forgotten influences of Paul Carus, Ernest Fenollosa, and Dharmapala. One memorable story is of the ex-Navy submarine mechanic Heng Ju, who walked, three steps then a kowtow, over and over, all the way from San Francisco to Seattle for a berry pie. Fields has countless other stories that make How the Swans Came to the Lake a priceless contribution not only to Buddhism in America but to Buddhism itself. --Brian Bruya
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First published December 12, 1981
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January 14, 2008
I originally read parts of this book for my Buddhism class and was so captivated by its narrative that I had to own it for myself and read the entire thing straight through, as if it were a novel.
What Rick Fields sets out to do is a daunting task: describe the entire history of a very complicated religion (Buddhism) making its way to, and taking root in, a very complicated country (the USA), all the while keeping an interesting enough thread of a storyline to guide, and even pull, the reader through its pages. Yet he succeeds, and in doing so, provides not only an account of Buddhism in America, but also an outline of the cross-cultural pollination between the East and West.
The title refers to a metaphor of the Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the Sixteenth Karmapa (a Tibetan monastic leader, much like the Dalai Lama), which he used in 1976 to describe the flocks of Asian Buddhists of all sects and orders who came to America in droves during the 20th century. Thus, the story of this book becomes the story of how Buddhism began to be reconciled with itself; Zen and Pure Land from the big three East Asian countries (Japan, Korea, and China), Tantra from Tibet and Mongolia, Theravadin from Sri Lanka and Myanmar, and an ecumenical mix of schools from Vietnam all converged in the Great American Melting Pot on the other side of the globe, often communicating for the first time in hundreds of years.
Who'd've thought Buddhism could be so good-ol' fashioned American?
In addition, Fields peppers his history with scores of interesting characters, from Sir William Jones, the 18th-century English renaissance man who unearthed "the mine of Sanskrit" literature for the first time to the West, to the Madame Blavatsky and Col. Olcott, the founders of the Theosophical Society at the end of 19th century, to the erudite Zen writer D. T. Suzuki who was a favorite of The New Yorker, to Csoma de Koros, the Hungarian linguist who studied Tibetan, about whom I can't resist inserting a paragraph from the book:
Csoma set out on foot for Asia in November of 1819 - he carried only a small bundle, a walking stick and one hundred florins in his pocket. He worked on his Arabic in Alexandria, continued overland to Mesopotamia disguised as an Arab, floated on a raft to Baghdad, and finally reached Teheran in 1820. Taking the name of Sikander Beg ("Gentleman Alexander") he reached Kabul in 1822, and then crossed the mountains to the capital of Labakh. Unable to find a pass through the Himalayas he turned back to the Kashmiri border, where he was befriended by the English explorer William Moorcraft.
As a footnote to de Koros's story, "in 1933, Japanese Buddhists pronounced him the first Western bodhisattva..." - i.e. a compassionate, enlightened person who forsakes entrance into nirvana in order to save all sentient beings.
The only thing that mars this book, keeping it from 5-star status, is the overemphasis on Japanese Zen Buddhism at the cost of everything. For long sections in the middle of the book, other sects of Buddhism are hardly given a mention, thus bogging the reader down in what are nearly catalogues of roshis who spent time in America.
Yet, despite this small problem, How the Swans Came to the Lake is a great introduction to Buddhism in America and East-West relations, reportedly objectively by a powerful writer.
What Rick Fields sets out to do is a daunting task: describe the entire history of a very complicated religion (Buddhism) making its way to, and taking root in, a very complicated country (the USA), all the while keeping an interesting enough thread of a storyline to guide, and even pull, the reader through its pages. Yet he succeeds, and in doing so, provides not only an account of Buddhism in America, but also an outline of the cross-cultural pollination between the East and West.
The title refers to a metaphor of the Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the Sixteenth Karmapa (a Tibetan monastic leader, much like the Dalai Lama), which he used in 1976 to describe the flocks of Asian Buddhists of all sects and orders who came to America in droves during the 20th century. Thus, the story of this book becomes the story of how Buddhism began to be reconciled with itself; Zen and Pure Land from the big three East Asian countries (Japan, Korea, and China), Tantra from Tibet and Mongolia, Theravadin from Sri Lanka and Myanmar, and an ecumenical mix of schools from Vietnam all converged in the Great American Melting Pot on the other side of the globe, often communicating for the first time in hundreds of years.
Who'd've thought Buddhism could be so good-ol' fashioned American?
In addition, Fields peppers his history with scores of interesting characters, from Sir William Jones, the 18th-century English renaissance man who unearthed "the mine of Sanskrit" literature for the first time to the West, to the Madame Blavatsky and Col. Olcott, the founders of the Theosophical Society at the end of 19th century, to the erudite Zen writer D. T. Suzuki who was a favorite of The New Yorker, to Csoma de Koros, the Hungarian linguist who studied Tibetan, about whom I can't resist inserting a paragraph from the book:
Csoma set out on foot for Asia in November of 1819 - he carried only a small bundle, a walking stick and one hundred florins in his pocket. He worked on his Arabic in Alexandria, continued overland to Mesopotamia disguised as an Arab, floated on a raft to Baghdad, and finally reached Teheran in 1820. Taking the name of Sikander Beg ("Gentleman Alexander") he reached Kabul in 1822, and then crossed the mountains to the capital of Labakh. Unable to find a pass through the Himalayas he turned back to the Kashmiri border, where he was befriended by the English explorer William Moorcraft.
As a footnote to de Koros's story, "in 1933, Japanese Buddhists pronounced him the first Western bodhisattva..." - i.e. a compassionate, enlightened person who forsakes entrance into nirvana in order to save all sentient beings.
The only thing that mars this book, keeping it from 5-star status, is the overemphasis on Japanese Zen Buddhism at the cost of everything. For long sections in the middle of the book, other sects of Buddhism are hardly given a mention, thus bogging the reader down in what are nearly catalogues of roshis who spent time in America.
Yet, despite this small problem, How the Swans Came to the Lake is a great introduction to Buddhism in America and East-West relations, reportedly objectively by a powerful writer.
October 12, 2015
It would be interesting to imagine what revisions Rick Fields would have made to any further editions to his contemporary classic narrative history of buddhism in America had he not died so young, from lung cancer at the age of 57. Much has happened since 1999.
And yet, he did get to offer what remains (in his Third Edition, Revised and Updated printing) the go-to history of buddhism's transmission from Asia to the United States. In his skillful hands, the story at times takes on the tenor of a suspense story, its first two chapters offering context by reviewing what we know of the life of the buddha and its growth in Asia, followed by the very first contacts with buddhism made by the early Greeks and Persians, through the reign of Asoka, the ironic tale of Barlaam and Josaphat (included in the Roman Catholic Church's calendar celebrated on November 27) up through the Portuguese and Dutch in Ceylon and the Jesuits in Japan.
His detailed relaying of the first British "Orientalists" and the founding of the Asiatic Society of Bengal shows the complexity of influences and relations that are part and parcel of colonialism. He describes the early influence of Indian thought on the American Transcendentalists followed by the rise of American Spiritualism and the Theosophical Society. Book One ends with the pivotal moment represented by the World Parliament of Religion held in Chicago in 1893.
Book Two describes the rooting of buddhadharma in American from 1905, Soyen Shaku, Nyogen Senzaki, D.T. Suzuki and Sokei-an and the First Zen Community in America through the fifties and the "Beat Zen" of Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg, and the hippie-trippie sixties with the rise of zen in America as taught by Shunryu Suzuki and Taizan Maezumi and Joshu Sasaki from whom most of the American born zen teachers in American descend. From there he writes about the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism thanks to the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet, bringing to the attention of the western world such figures as the Dalai Lama, Tarthang Tulku, Geshe Wangyal and the outrageous Chogyam Rinpoche.
Fields lived long enough to detail the growing influence of Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese Zen through such figures as Hsuan Hua, Soen-sa Sunim, Thich Thien-an and Thich Nhat Hanh. And he also covers the first of the major scandals among the zen and Tibetan Buddhist communities.
It's a densely packed narrative, and occasionally Fields seems to white-wash some of the history, but overall it attempts to offer a clear and as objective as possible narrative. As I often underline my books, it proved interesting to me to re-read this classic over twenty years after it came out to see what my earlier, younger self was thinking as he read this story!
And yet, he did get to offer what remains (in his Third Edition, Revised and Updated printing) the go-to history of buddhism's transmission from Asia to the United States. In his skillful hands, the story at times takes on the tenor of a suspense story, its first two chapters offering context by reviewing what we know of the life of the buddha and its growth in Asia, followed by the very first contacts with buddhism made by the early Greeks and Persians, through the reign of Asoka, the ironic tale of Barlaam and Josaphat (included in the Roman Catholic Church's calendar celebrated on November 27) up through the Portuguese and Dutch in Ceylon and the Jesuits in Japan.
His detailed relaying of the first British "Orientalists" and the founding of the Asiatic Society of Bengal shows the complexity of influences and relations that are part and parcel of colonialism. He describes the early influence of Indian thought on the American Transcendentalists followed by the rise of American Spiritualism and the Theosophical Society. Book One ends with the pivotal moment represented by the World Parliament of Religion held in Chicago in 1893.
Book Two describes the rooting of buddhadharma in American from 1905, Soyen Shaku, Nyogen Senzaki, D.T. Suzuki and Sokei-an and the First Zen Community in America through the fifties and the "Beat Zen" of Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg, and the hippie-trippie sixties with the rise of zen in America as taught by Shunryu Suzuki and Taizan Maezumi and Joshu Sasaki from whom most of the American born zen teachers in American descend. From there he writes about the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism thanks to the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet, bringing to the attention of the western world such figures as the Dalai Lama, Tarthang Tulku, Geshe Wangyal and the outrageous Chogyam Rinpoche.
Fields lived long enough to detail the growing influence of Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese Zen through such figures as Hsuan Hua, Soen-sa Sunim, Thich Thien-an and Thich Nhat Hanh. And he also covers the first of the major scandals among the zen and Tibetan Buddhist communities.
It's a densely packed narrative, and occasionally Fields seems to white-wash some of the history, but overall it attempts to offer a clear and as objective as possible narrative. As I often underline my books, it proved interesting to me to re-read this classic over twenty years after it came out to see what my earlier, younger self was thinking as he read this story!
March 10, 2009
How the Swans Came to the Lake could be translated as: How the Buddhist masters came to America. The book answers the implied question by reviewing the seeds of Buddhism as they were planted in America over the last several hundred years. As an interest in Buddhism developed in America a need for Buddhist masters also developed. Thus the Swans (Buddhist Masters) came to the Lake (America) because the need for them had arisen. This is a wonderfully informative book on the history of Buddhism in America. This was not a whitewash though; it showed the problems and scandals as well. If you have an interest in Buddhism it's well worth reading.
July 26, 2025
Thank you to my brother Jack for the Christmas gift!
The swans are the Buddhist teachers, the lake is North America, and the story of how they came together is well told by Rick Fields, with a few bumps.
The book starts with a frankly embarassing explanation of assorted legends of precolumbian contact and "ancient aliens" style speculation on whether Buddhism may have influenced indigenous North American religion. This outrageous ideas are treated with far more creduluity than they deserve, and this poisioned the rest of the book for me a bit.
Once past that nonsense and after lingering for just a second too long on the Theosophical Society, the book is quite interesting and informative as what it says on the cover. The "Narrative History" structure is one that Fields is comfortable in and that works well, and he is obviously a talented scholar and storyteller.
The book focuses a bit too much on the history of Zen Buddhism in the United States for my liking, with less mention of other traditions until later, but that is hardly a grave sin.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in an introduction to North American Buddhist history, on the strict condition that they start on chapter 3 and spare Fields the embarassment of reading his failure to dismiss outright the idea that the Ancient Chinese discovered America
The swans are the Buddhist teachers, the lake is North America, and the story of how they came together is well told by Rick Fields, with a few bumps.
The book starts with a frankly embarassing explanation of assorted legends of precolumbian contact and "ancient aliens" style speculation on whether Buddhism may have influenced indigenous North American religion. This outrageous ideas are treated with far more creduluity than they deserve, and this poisioned the rest of the book for me a bit.
Once past that nonsense and after lingering for just a second too long on the Theosophical Society, the book is quite interesting and informative as what it says on the cover. The "Narrative History" structure is one that Fields is comfortable in and that works well, and he is obviously a talented scholar and storyteller.
The book focuses a bit too much on the history of Zen Buddhism in the United States for my liking, with less mention of other traditions until later, but that is hardly a grave sin.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in an introduction to North American Buddhist history, on the strict condition that they start on chapter 3 and spare Fields the embarassment of reading his failure to dismiss outright the idea that the Ancient Chinese discovered America
August 9, 2017
A great overview of the history of Buddhism in America, with a lot of build up. The first few chapters feel fairly awkward, with long introductions on the Theosophical society and how there was rumors of people traveling to Tibet in the 1800s. They feel like tentative links, and the author probably could have exchanged them with other similar stories of people in the same nature of "discovery" and had the same outcome. However, once the narrative moved to the actual movement of Buddhists (both populations, and specific teachers) to the US, it was quite an intriguing tale. I certainly learned a lot of the nature of Buddhism in America--including the sheer vastness of the number of different teachers that came over.
It was great to read about the more famous teachers, like Suzuki Roshi, Thich Naht Hahn, Chogyam Trungpa, etc. However, it was obvious that it was funded by Shambhala, because WOW did they paint him out to be the patron saint of the book. They also dramatically underscored his alcoholism, attributing his famous car accident to a black out, not mentioning that he drank until the next chapter. Not that I didn't enjoy learning a lot about him.
All in all, it was a good book that covers vast ground, and it was well laid out.
It was great to read about the more famous teachers, like Suzuki Roshi, Thich Naht Hahn, Chogyam Trungpa, etc. However, it was obvious that it was funded by Shambhala, because WOW did they paint him out to be the patron saint of the book. They also dramatically underscored his alcoholism, attributing his famous car accident to a black out, not mentioning that he drank until the next chapter. Not that I didn't enjoy learning a lot about him.
All in all, it was a good book that covers vast ground, and it was well laid out.
April 5, 2021
Very important (and famous) book about the history of Buddhism in America, beginning with Emerson until the present. My edition only went up to the late 1980's, so it was interesting to read praise of the teaching methods of teachers and monks who would later be embroiled in scandals. I think there's another edition coming 2022 with more updates. Anyway, good read, but the naming conventions made it confusing, as the author would occasionally change up how he spelled or presented the name. For example, sometimes T.D. Suzuki would be Dr. Suzuki or just Suzuki, and there was a Soyen and then a Soean. This book mostly covers Zen Buddhism, as Tibetan Buddhism (the other big hit in America) didn't really come to America until the 1960's and 70's, so Zen has a much longer transmission history (mostly via Hawaii). He also covers various Theravada traditions and Vipassana's popularity. Seminal work, goes well with the more recent American Veda, a history of Hinduism in America, with some crossover material as the teachers interacted.
June 18, 2018
So the last chapter was what I wanted--more present day Buddhism in America (not too present, though, since the book was first published in '81 and updated in '92 which is, let's be honest, 26 years ago).
The first parts were rough going. I can't tell if it's because of the Asian names (that sometimes change when Americans are ordained), the undefined Buddhist terms, the dry writing, the subtle movements forward and backward chronologically. I don't know. But it was rough. Almost two full months to read.
Clearly, this book was a labor, with lots of research, but unless you're truly hardcore and interested in nitty gritty details of when person X sailed from country Y and landed in America (without an overarching narrative to connect the dots), this may not be the book for you.
The first parts were rough going. I can't tell if it's because of the Asian names (that sometimes change when Americans are ordained), the undefined Buddhist terms, the dry writing, the subtle movements forward and backward chronologically. I don't know. But it was rough. Almost two full months to read.
Clearly, this book was a labor, with lots of research, but unless you're truly hardcore and interested in nitty gritty details of when person X sailed from country Y and landed in America (without an overarching narrative to connect the dots), this may not be the book for you.
July 22, 2022
If you have read this book in an earlier edition, please make sure to check it out again with Benjamin Bogin's fine introduction. I am glad the decision was made that his contribution be an introduction to the book, rather than an effort to revise and update it. As a Buddhist scholar in his own right as well as Rick Field's nephew, he contextualizes the book in a way no one else can. Others can - and have - write new books, and there is a helpful list of suggested further reading provided by Bogin on that score as well.
June 11, 2019
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October 11, 2024Read this for class. It contains very clear information from the ancient to the now.
January 2, 2017
Comprehensive and conversational history of Buddhism in U.S. through mid-1990's. We really need an update!
December 7, 2008
This 1992 edition is a revised and updated third of a work that appeared in the 1980s (1981 and 1988). So much has occurred in the intervening years between then and now that it is probably of "historical" interest. While much in it is fascinating, there is actually limited continuity between the Buddhism brought to the West Coast of America in the 19th century and what occurred in the 1950s, 1960s, and thereafter. The chapter on "hip" Zen of the Beatniks of the 1950s seems today to be a curiosity in comparison with the work as a whole and could (should?) have been omitted. There is far too much detail given to the Zen scene of the West Coast of the 1960s; perhaps it seemed more immediate in 1981, but today it is remote. Buddhism in the United States has reached a stage where more survey histories of amazing array of Zen, Pure Land, Vipassana, Tibetan, etc., varieties of Buddhism would be useful welcome.
September 14, 2016
I don't remember how this book was on my reading list. Maybe because it sounded interesting, and I knew that there would possibly be something about the Beats involvement with Buddhism in the 1950s and 60s, but I was totally unprepared for the comprehensive look into the history of Buddhism, not only in America, but through its long history. There are a lot of stories, and Rick Fields managed to present them clearly. It is an overwhelming history, and to keep things straight and making sense is quite a feat. The real accomplishment, though, is that the ideas with each story came through strongly. You get a clear idea of how people approached the practice of Buddhism and how it changed depending upon where it was from and its interpretations.
It was an intense read, and I wish I had taken notes while reading to be able to look up certain things that made an impression.
It was an intense read, and I wish I had taken notes while reading to be able to look up certain things that made an impression.
October 3, 2012
This was a fascinating general survey of the history of Buddhism in America, from the Transcendentalists and Theosophists all the way to modern-day groups. It was inclusive of immigrant Asian populations (particularly Pure Land Buddhist groups) as well, though it was predictably, heavily focused the white Zen-fried Beats of the 1950's. All in all I found it very engaging and even inspiring to learn the context in which I've been learning to practice the dharma.
June 14, 2012
The author tends to lean more towards Taosim and Zen Buddhism than any other, but there aren't many books out there like this one, so it's worth reading if you're interested in the history of Buddhism entering into the Western world.
March 15, 2014
A fascinating account of the coming of Buddhism to the west. You might be surprised how early it started! Focused with most detail on Zen Buddhism but it covers Tibetan and other forms as well. Includes startling life stories of unique individuals who have made a difference in this saga.
September 14, 2011
A fascinating look at Buddhism in America which has been here longer than one would think.
November 10, 2012
Definitive survey of American Buddhism.
January 14, 2013
Rick Fields provides the best account yet of Buddhism in America and its particular appeal which makes it among the country's fastest growing religions.
March 18, 2016
Good historical read of how Buddhism came to America
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews