What do you think?
Rate this book
Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists
A must-read for modern sanghas—Asian American Buddhists in their own words, on their own terms.
More than two thirds of U.S. Buddhists are Asian American. But you’d never guess this from mainstream representations, which all too often whitewash the racial and cultural diversity of American Buddhist communities.
Be the Refuge is both critique and celebration, countering the erasure of Asian American Buddhists while uplifting their stories and experiences. The Oriental monk, the superstitious immigrant, the banana Buddhist: dissatisfied with these tired tropes, Han asks, Will the real Asian American Buddhists please stand up? Her journey to answer this question led to in-depth interviews with a pan-ethnic, pan-Buddhist group of eighty-nine young adults.
Weaving together the voices of these interviewees with scholarship and spiritual inquiry, this book reenvisions Buddhist Asian America as a community of trailblazers, bridge-builders, integrators, and refuge-makers. Encouraging frank conversations about race, representation, and inclusivity among Buddhists of all backgrounds, Be the Refuge embodies the spirit of interconnection that glows at the heart of American Buddhism.
More than two thirds of U.S. Buddhists are Asian American. But you’d never guess this from mainstream representations, which all too often whitewash the racial and cultural diversity of American Buddhist communities.
Be the Refuge is both critique and celebration, countering the erasure of Asian American Buddhists while uplifting their stories and experiences. The Oriental monk, the superstitious immigrant, the banana Buddhist: dissatisfied with these tired tropes, Han asks, Will the real Asian American Buddhists please stand up? Her journey to answer this question led to in-depth interviews with a pan-ethnic, pan-Buddhist group of eighty-nine young adults.
Weaving together the voices of these interviewees with scholarship and spiritual inquiry, this book reenvisions Buddhist Asian America as a community of trailblazers, bridge-builders, integrators, and refuge-makers. Encouraging frank conversations about race, representation, and inclusivity among Buddhists of all backgrounds, Be the Refuge embodies the spirit of interconnection that glows at the heart of American Buddhism.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 26, 2021
37 people are currently reading
1549 people want to read
About the author
Chenxing Han
3 books47 followersChenxing Han is the author of the widely reviewed Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists and one long listening: a memoir of grief, friendship, and spiritual care, both with North Atlantic Books. She is a regular contributor to Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Buddhadharma, and other publications, and a frequent speaker and workshop leader at schools, universities, and Buddhist communities across the nation. She has received fellowships from Hedgebrook, Hemera Foundation, the Lenz Foundation, and the Institute of Buddhist Studies.
Chenxing holds a BA from Stanford University and an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Graduate Theological Union. She is a coteacher of Listening to the Buddhists in Our Backyard at Phillips Academy Andover and a co-organizer of May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial for Asian American Ancestors.
Chenxing holds a BA from Stanford University and an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Graduate Theological Union. She is a coteacher of Listening to the Buddhists in Our Backyard at Phillips Academy Andover and a co-organizer of May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial for Asian American Ancestors.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
December 31, 2020
It’s become commonplace to talk carelessly about two American Buddhisms (a phrase attributed to famed Buddhologist Charles Prebish), one often described as “convert” or “white” Buddhism, and the other as “heritage,” “birthright,” “immigrant” or “Asian American” Buddhism. According to this simplistic dichotomy, “convert” Buddhists are mostly older, well-off, European-descent Buddhists who grew up in non-Buddhist households. “Heritage” Buddhists, on the other hand, are Asian Americans raised within Buddhist households. According to this dichotomy, convert Buddhists practice meditation and study Buddhist philosophy, whereas heritage Buddhists make offerings and burn incense for the Buddha and their ancestors, and engage in rituals and chanting. Heritage sanghas also serve important social and community functions for immigrant families whose English may be a second language, and participation within them is often a family affair, in ways that convert participation often is not. Convert Buddhism all-too-often smugly assumes its Buddhism is “authentic” Buddhism, whereas heritage Buddhists are mired in superstitious practices reflecting their ethnic culture of origin rather than the Buddha’s suttas and sutras.
In her illuminating new book, "Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists," author Chenxing Han introduces us to all the nuances and complexities of being a young Asian American Buddhist in America today, and shows how inadequate, misleading, and harmful the simplistic dichotomy of two American Buddhisms can be. Han bases her book on her own personal journey as well as 89 extensive interviews she conducted with a diverse group of young Asian American Buddhists about their Buddhist identity and experiences as part of fulfilling the requirements for her master’s thesis at the Institute of Buddhist Studies.
The complexities of the young Asian American Buddhist experience can be mind-boggling. While the so-called “convert” Buddhist communities are often overwhelmingly white, they also have Asian American members who may be converts (having grown up in Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or atheist families), or who may be practicing a different school of Buddhism than the one they were raised in. They also may include a smaller number of non-convert European-descent white Buddhists who were raised within Buddhist or mixed-religion families. In the same way, many so-called “heritage” Buddhist sanghas also have white convert members who participate in their congregations. In addition, there are many Asian Americans who grew up in mixed-race, mixed-ethnicity, and/or mixed-religion households (or married into them) that defy and transcend any of these categories.
Chenxing Han shows that many young Asian American Buddhists find themselves in an ambiguous and uncomfortable situation. Their parents may have engaged in Buddhist religious practices without explaining their meaning, or conducted them in a language their children did not understand. Second- and third-generation Asian Americans can be in the ambivalent position of both devaluing their parents’ ways as “old world” and “superstitious,” while simultaneously experiencing a nostalgia for it, and a wish not to break the thread of family tradition. Even when trying to follow family tradition, they can be riddled with uncertainty and anxiety over possibly not carrying on these only partially-transmitted traditions in exactly the correct way.
Another complication is that many heritage Buddhist sanghas may be comprised of mostly “Sunday school” children and their parents and grandparents, with a dearth of young adults in their 20s and 30s. These sanghas often conduct their services in languages second-, third-, and later generation immigrants can no longer speak or understand. This creates barriers that discourage young adult Asian Americans from affiliating with these sanghas, but the all-or-mostly white convert sanghas also don’t feel particularly welcoming. Asian American visitors to all-white sanghas almost inevitably have to deal with the prejudices and mistaken assumptions white sangha members make about them. It is often assumed, for example, that Buddhism is their family of origin religion, or white members will ask “where they are from.” In addition, convert Buddhist publications rarely feature Asian American teachers, and often erase the long presence of Asian American Buddhism in America, as if American Buddhism was the solely the product of white pioneers (and their Asian teachers) who created the first mostly white convert sanghas.
There can also be strong pressure on Asian Americans to “become more American,” to blend in, and to not attract attention by being different. Their Asian physical features already mark them as different, and being a “Buddhist” becomes just another way they do not fit in with their white American peers at school and at work. Dropping a Buddhist identification and becoming Christian is one way to fit in better. In addition, many Asian American immigrant communities came to America as already predominantly Christian communities, including many Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino communities. Within those communities, becoming a convert Buddhist carries none of the social cachet that Buddhism carries for many white European-descent converts who come from communities where their peers might consider Buddhism to be “cool” and “evolved.”
Chenxing Han also addresses the interesting question of what it means to be a “convert” Buddhist in the first place, as “conversion” is not really a Buddhist thing. She suggests that “becoming a Buddhist” is a little like steeping a cup of tea. How long does the hot water have to steep before it is “officially” tea? Becoming “Buddhist” is much the same. It can be a gradual process over a long period of time, and is often not an all-on-none affair, as many American Buddhist practitioners, white and Asian American, end up with a hybrid identities.
Since many heritage Buddhist Sanghas originated to meet the needs of ethnic immigrant communities, there are ways that they continue to serve the unique and specific needs of Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tibetan, Nepalese, Cambodian, Lao, Thai, Burmese, Sinhalese, and other Asian immigrant communities. Pan-Asian American sanghas, to the extent they exist, are rare. Convert Buddhist sanghas, on the other hand, tend to be mostly English-language sanghas that serve the needs of acculturated (all-too-often meaning “white”) Americans in general, and do not cater to the needs of any specific ethnic group. As heritage sanghas age without newer immigrants arriving in great numbers, there is a tendency for these sanghas to dwindle in membership. Heritage sanghas may feel an urgent need to cater more to second-, third-, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation Asian Americans whose needs are quite different from the original communities they were designed to serve. There is also pressure on these sanghas to reach out to members of other ethnicities, to become more inclusive and universalistic, and to offer more of their services in English. Something is lost and gained in the process, and it’s not uncommon for younger members of these communities to feel ambivalent about these changes.
It is remarkable fact that while Asian Americans make up two-thirds of the U.S. Buddhist population, it is hard for many white American Buddhists (and even Asian American Buddhists) to name even a single major Asian American Buddhist religious figure. In fact, it may even be easier for white American Buddhists to name prominent African American Buddhist figures than it is for them to name prominent Asian American Buddhist ones. It is hard to account for this almost complete erasure of the Asian American Buddhist community in the minds of many or most convert white Buddhists without thinking in terms of white privilege and unconscious racism. When Asian American Buddhists angrily protest their erasure by “mainstream” Buddhist publications, their complaints have often been met with incomprehension, dismissiveness, anger, and defensiveness. Ann Gleig has recently been pointing out there are white, cis-gender, male, right-wing on-line Buddhist communities that are unsympathetic, if not hostile, to the distress of excluded, marginalized, or demeaned communities. Sometimes, it seems, the racism isn’t unconscious at all, but outright and in-one’s-face.
Chenxing Han writes that her manuscript was declined by mainstream Buddhist publishing houses, as well as by academic presses. We should be grateful that North Atlantic Books, an independent, non-profit press, recognized its value and became the venue for its publication. We should also be grateful that Chenxing Han chose to not write the kind of book that would appeal to academic presses. Her book is readily accessible to all readers, and her writing is personal, intimate, and urgent. Her informants are not just research subjects, but often become personal friends, and important figures in her own growth. She owes a great debt, for example, to Aaron Lee, AKA, “arunlikati,” the creator of the Angry Asian Buddhist blog. Aaron’s life, writing, friendship, support, and untimely death play a major role in Han’s own personal journey, growth, and development. We get to know him as she did, and her writing is a living testament and tribute to his contributions to the Buddhist community.
"Be the Refuge" reveals the hidden stories of young Asian American Buddhists, allowing them to tell their stories in their own voices. It makes a major contribution to the long-term project of undermining the mythology of two Buddhisms, leading the way to a pluralistic and inclusive American Buddhism that respects the diversity of our ways of practice while also recognizing their fundamental underlying commonality.
In her illuminating new book, "Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists," author Chenxing Han introduces us to all the nuances and complexities of being a young Asian American Buddhist in America today, and shows how inadequate, misleading, and harmful the simplistic dichotomy of two American Buddhisms can be. Han bases her book on her own personal journey as well as 89 extensive interviews she conducted with a diverse group of young Asian American Buddhists about their Buddhist identity and experiences as part of fulfilling the requirements for her master’s thesis at the Institute of Buddhist Studies.
The complexities of the young Asian American Buddhist experience can be mind-boggling. While the so-called “convert” Buddhist communities are often overwhelmingly white, they also have Asian American members who may be converts (having grown up in Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or atheist families), or who may be practicing a different school of Buddhism than the one they were raised in. They also may include a smaller number of non-convert European-descent white Buddhists who were raised within Buddhist or mixed-religion families. In the same way, many so-called “heritage” Buddhist sanghas also have white convert members who participate in their congregations. In addition, there are many Asian Americans who grew up in mixed-race, mixed-ethnicity, and/or mixed-religion households (or married into them) that defy and transcend any of these categories.
Chenxing Han shows that many young Asian American Buddhists find themselves in an ambiguous and uncomfortable situation. Their parents may have engaged in Buddhist religious practices without explaining their meaning, or conducted them in a language their children did not understand. Second- and third-generation Asian Americans can be in the ambivalent position of both devaluing their parents’ ways as “old world” and “superstitious,” while simultaneously experiencing a nostalgia for it, and a wish not to break the thread of family tradition. Even when trying to follow family tradition, they can be riddled with uncertainty and anxiety over possibly not carrying on these only partially-transmitted traditions in exactly the correct way.
Another complication is that many heritage Buddhist sanghas may be comprised of mostly “Sunday school” children and their parents and grandparents, with a dearth of young adults in their 20s and 30s. These sanghas often conduct their services in languages second-, third-, and later generation immigrants can no longer speak or understand. This creates barriers that discourage young adult Asian Americans from affiliating with these sanghas, but the all-or-mostly white convert sanghas also don’t feel particularly welcoming. Asian American visitors to all-white sanghas almost inevitably have to deal with the prejudices and mistaken assumptions white sangha members make about them. It is often assumed, for example, that Buddhism is their family of origin religion, or white members will ask “where they are from.” In addition, convert Buddhist publications rarely feature Asian American teachers, and often erase the long presence of Asian American Buddhism in America, as if American Buddhism was the solely the product of white pioneers (and their Asian teachers) who created the first mostly white convert sanghas.
There can also be strong pressure on Asian Americans to “become more American,” to blend in, and to not attract attention by being different. Their Asian physical features already mark them as different, and being a “Buddhist” becomes just another way they do not fit in with their white American peers at school and at work. Dropping a Buddhist identification and becoming Christian is one way to fit in better. In addition, many Asian American immigrant communities came to America as already predominantly Christian communities, including many Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino communities. Within those communities, becoming a convert Buddhist carries none of the social cachet that Buddhism carries for many white European-descent converts who come from communities where their peers might consider Buddhism to be “cool” and “evolved.”
Chenxing Han also addresses the interesting question of what it means to be a “convert” Buddhist in the first place, as “conversion” is not really a Buddhist thing. She suggests that “becoming a Buddhist” is a little like steeping a cup of tea. How long does the hot water have to steep before it is “officially” tea? Becoming “Buddhist” is much the same. It can be a gradual process over a long period of time, and is often not an all-on-none affair, as many American Buddhist practitioners, white and Asian American, end up with a hybrid identities.
Since many heritage Buddhist Sanghas originated to meet the needs of ethnic immigrant communities, there are ways that they continue to serve the unique and specific needs of Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tibetan, Nepalese, Cambodian, Lao, Thai, Burmese, Sinhalese, and other Asian immigrant communities. Pan-Asian American sanghas, to the extent they exist, are rare. Convert Buddhist sanghas, on the other hand, tend to be mostly English-language sanghas that serve the needs of acculturated (all-too-often meaning “white”) Americans in general, and do not cater to the needs of any specific ethnic group. As heritage sanghas age without newer immigrants arriving in great numbers, there is a tendency for these sanghas to dwindle in membership. Heritage sanghas may feel an urgent need to cater more to second-, third-, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation Asian Americans whose needs are quite different from the original communities they were designed to serve. There is also pressure on these sanghas to reach out to members of other ethnicities, to become more inclusive and universalistic, and to offer more of their services in English. Something is lost and gained in the process, and it’s not uncommon for younger members of these communities to feel ambivalent about these changes.
It is remarkable fact that while Asian Americans make up two-thirds of the U.S. Buddhist population, it is hard for many white American Buddhists (and even Asian American Buddhists) to name even a single major Asian American Buddhist religious figure. In fact, it may even be easier for white American Buddhists to name prominent African American Buddhist figures than it is for them to name prominent Asian American Buddhist ones. It is hard to account for this almost complete erasure of the Asian American Buddhist community in the minds of many or most convert white Buddhists without thinking in terms of white privilege and unconscious racism. When Asian American Buddhists angrily protest their erasure by “mainstream” Buddhist publications, their complaints have often been met with incomprehension, dismissiveness, anger, and defensiveness. Ann Gleig has recently been pointing out there are white, cis-gender, male, right-wing on-line Buddhist communities that are unsympathetic, if not hostile, to the distress of excluded, marginalized, or demeaned communities. Sometimes, it seems, the racism isn’t unconscious at all, but outright and in-one’s-face.
Chenxing Han writes that her manuscript was declined by mainstream Buddhist publishing houses, as well as by academic presses. We should be grateful that North Atlantic Books, an independent, non-profit press, recognized its value and became the venue for its publication. We should also be grateful that Chenxing Han chose to not write the kind of book that would appeal to academic presses. Her book is readily accessible to all readers, and her writing is personal, intimate, and urgent. Her informants are not just research subjects, but often become personal friends, and important figures in her own growth. She owes a great debt, for example, to Aaron Lee, AKA, “arunlikati,” the creator of the Angry Asian Buddhist blog. Aaron’s life, writing, friendship, support, and untimely death play a major role in Han’s own personal journey, growth, and development. We get to know him as she did, and her writing is a living testament and tribute to his contributions to the Buddhist community.
"Be the Refuge" reveals the hidden stories of young Asian American Buddhists, allowing them to tell their stories in their own voices. It makes a major contribution to the long-term project of undermining the mythology of two Buddhisms, leading the way to a pluralistic and inclusive American Buddhism that respects the diversity of our ways of practice while also recognizing their fundamental underlying commonality.
December 1, 2021
I wish this book had been written when I could call myself a young adult. It's more comprehensive than a social media collection of opinions and the comments seem real and authentic. It's a compelling collection of a wide variety of opinions.
Regardless, of the definition of young adult or even Asian American Buddhists, it's an important read for anyone remotely considering or actively practicing Buddhism. The interviews are very current to the situations troubling society now. While the author doesn't give solutions or suggestions of what needs to happen, the summaries give the reader much to contemplate in order to "Be the Refuge."
Thank you Chenxing Han for getting this challenging book published. It is an example of someone using their unique talents to make things more hopefully more hopeful. Namo Amida Butsu
Regardless, of the definition of young adult or even Asian American Buddhists, it's an important read for anyone remotely considering or actively practicing Buddhism. The interviews are very current to the situations troubling society now. While the author doesn't give solutions or suggestions of what needs to happen, the summaries give the reader much to contemplate in order to "Be the Refuge."
Thank you Chenxing Han for getting this challenging book published. It is an example of someone using their unique talents to make things more hopefully more hopeful. Namo Amida Butsu
June 17, 2024
This book really grew on me!! I learned about angry Asian Buddhist from another book on religion, Stealing My Religion. I loved hearing about his friendship with the author. Also the Ruth ozeki and Thai temple shoutouts!
Excited to get more involved with the east bay meditation center from afar, along with other diverse, radical sanghas.
Feeling more comfortable with my meandering journey toward Buddhism
I like this quote from Prumsodun Ok:
“There is a trope in American literature and culture of the minority torn between two cultures. A supposedly fast-paced American life is incompatible with the conservative values of the motherland. Somehow America always gets to play the force of liberation and freedom in this oversimplified scenario, with the places our parents come from being exoticized and flattened as backward. As a young person, I was trained to think this way.
A big shift occurred when I recognized myself as a center. I am a being with the power to draw diverse forces together, am in, of, and between many different cultures, communities, histories, and approaches. Instead of trying to place myself in a spectrum, I contained the spectrum inside me. And, suddenly, my struggles became a richness.
I believe we are all situated as center.”
Excited to get more involved with the east bay meditation center from afar, along with other diverse, radical sanghas.
Feeling more comfortable with my meandering journey toward Buddhism
I like this quote from Prumsodun Ok:
“There is a trope in American literature and culture of the minority torn between two cultures. A supposedly fast-paced American life is incompatible with the conservative values of the motherland. Somehow America always gets to play the force of liberation and freedom in this oversimplified scenario, with the places our parents come from being exoticized and flattened as backward. As a young person, I was trained to think this way.
A big shift occurred when I recognized myself as a center. I am a being with the power to draw diverse forces together, am in, of, and between many different cultures, communities, histories, and approaches. Instead of trying to place myself in a spectrum, I contained the spectrum inside me. And, suddenly, my struggles became a richness.
I believe we are all situated as center.”
July 29, 2021
Bought this book at a small bookstore behind a cafe in Venice, not expecting it to completely transform how I view my practice and other Buddhists. I wish I could meet Ms. Han and thank her for writing it.
June 11, 2023
This book raised some very important points about racism and appropriation, but it was basically 300+ pages of repetitive whining by one person after another. Whole thing could’ve been wrapped up in 50 pages. It was part memoir and clearly a labor of love for the author and all the many participants. Everyone has very valid points, and I agree with basically everything that was said. But it did feel like a never ending research project as well. Hence, the low score.
April 21, 2021
fascinating ...
June 22, 2025
There’s just no other book like this, so there’s nothing to compare it to. It’s very strong and potent, though the middle felt less potent. My favorite section was the final one.
December 13, 2021
while i’m not buddhist, i loved learning about asian american buddhism, distinct, and yet still shaped by, the orientalized version of zen buddhism
author has a lot of anecdotes and narratives that give both diversity and coherence to the asian american buddhist community
author has a lot of anecdotes and narratives that give both diversity and coherence to the asian american buddhist community
February 9, 2021
This is an important work for Buddhists in America. For Buddhists who come from non-Asian, non-Buddhist roots, it is a critical view into the perspective of those who come from an ethnic, national or religious background that is more commonly Buddhist.
Being a white convert to Buddhism (I married into, you might say), and having recently gone through a realization process about racism - in America and my own - I have to admit that this book ruffled my feathers at first. Once again, I have to apologize for being white, for being male, and now for being a white American convert to Buddhism? Decades of Buddhist study and the ego is still raging. But, those feelings subsided as I read on, lost track of myself, and finally "listened" to what the author was saying.
The fact that many of the people interviewed are known to me, and that several of the institutions noted are important to me, helped to establish a connection. In my own temple, which is more than 90% Japanese-American, we have discussed the need to reach beyond the Japanese-American community if our temple is to survive in the long-run. How interesting it is to read about the need for Asian-American Buddhists to be more visible. But, as I look at the books on my own bookshelf, I understand - Dobbins, Minor, Kornfield, Salzberg, Chödrön, Rhodes, Williams (both Paul and Duncan).
But, for the sake of my own grown children and their children, I want my temple to be here. I want them to experience the joy of hearing the Dharma. I don't want the Dharma to be set aside for the sake of novelty, or so that someone can claim to be part of some mysterious or exotic tradition.
The book is easy to read and, if you are interested in the academics, well notated. But it is written on a personal level. It touches the heart, maybe more so than the mind. But it does make you think.
Being a white convert to Buddhism (I married into, you might say), and having recently gone through a realization process about racism - in America and my own - I have to admit that this book ruffled my feathers at first. Once again, I have to apologize for being white, for being male, and now for being a white American convert to Buddhism? Decades of Buddhist study and the ego is still raging. But, those feelings subsided as I read on, lost track of myself, and finally "listened" to what the author was saying.
The fact that many of the people interviewed are known to me, and that several of the institutions noted are important to me, helped to establish a connection. In my own temple, which is more than 90% Japanese-American, we have discussed the need to reach beyond the Japanese-American community if our temple is to survive in the long-run. How interesting it is to read about the need for Asian-American Buddhists to be more visible. But, as I look at the books on my own bookshelf, I understand - Dobbins, Minor, Kornfield, Salzberg, Chödrön, Rhodes, Williams (both Paul and Duncan).
But, for the sake of my own grown children and their children, I want my temple to be here. I want them to experience the joy of hearing the Dharma. I don't want the Dharma to be set aside for the sake of novelty, or so that someone can claim to be part of some mysterious or exotic tradition.
The book is easy to read and, if you are interested in the academics, well notated. But it is written on a personal level. It touches the heart, maybe more so than the mind. But it does make you think.
August 19, 2022
As an Asian American Buddhist who grew up in an Asian American Buddhist congregation, I both felt very affirmed by this book and also saw the differences between Han’s need to find an Asian American Buddhist community and my own experience of a deeply intertwined racial-religious space.
January 10, 2024
Hovering between 3 and 4 stars, but for me personally, this book didn’t quite answer the questions I had, so it’ll be 3 stars.
If you’re an Asian-American Buddhist and feel moored between the “two Buddhisms” (that of the silent meditating white practitioner and the superstitious ritual-obsessed immigrant), I would give this a read ASAP. Han and the other 89 Asian-American Buddhists give voice to a diversity of insights on racial dynamics in the US and how they affect POC Buddhists, particularly of Asian descent. More thoughts to come!
Personally, I didn’t feel as connected to the narratives—I’ve been lucky to grow up in an ethnically diverse area and moreover, I don’t share many Asian-Americans’ struggle with the language barrier (if anything, my Vietnamese Buddhist vocabulary is more developed than my Vietnamese slang), so I’ve always felt very secure with identifying as the same Buddhist tradition that my family follows. I’ve also grown up attending a variety of sanghas, from Mahayana Vietnamese to Tibetan to Burmese to convert White retreat spaces, throughout which I’ve met Asian American Buddhist leaders. My struggle with Buddhism lay more in my conflict with the “immigrant Buddhism” that I grew up with and which I did/do (?) perceive as culturally conservative compared to my more radical progressive political views. I understand that I’ve been more privileged than others in that I’ve never had to fight to feel represented in my faith, so I feel much less strongly about owning the label of Asian American Buddhist.
Still, a lot of this book focused on how participants were able to reconnect with their racial identity through the means of Buddhism, which beautifully acknowledges how many cultural traditions in various areas of Asia are tinged with Buddhism. I like the idea of reclaiming a religion that’s so historically intertwined with your ethnic identity for yourself, despite society’s desire to categorize you as a banana or an exotic immigrant.
(More thoughts about White Dharma publications & their obligation to promote more diverse Buddhist voices, the idea that all Buddhist sanghas should connect with each other more, and others to come.)
I think I came into this work expecting something more academic (I am also finishing up an academic analysis of Black Buddhism & the radical Black tradition) and instead found something that was more conversational in tone, like a 300-page blog. Unfortunately, this writing style really did put me off. I think I just dislike paragraphs comprising only incomplete sentences. I also don’t know why Han is so obsessed with vegan cookies.
I appreciate Han’s efforts to humanize her interview subjects by providing in depth descriptions of their appearances and demeanors, down to literal transcriptions of what they say, but to me, it came off gauche and a bit cartoonish. This impression likely comes from the fact that she organizes each argument simply but predictably: she’ll draw from the Angry Asian Buddhist blog and ask her subjects to react, some will be totally against his argument, some will be ambivalent, but then most will agree with him. It’s interesting that this book reads almost like a memoir of the Angry Asian Buddhist, Aaron Lee, as his story frames the narrative of the entire book. From her loving descriptions of her interactions with Aaron, I know that they were close friends and that she respects his input a lot, but I wish that she could have provided each point with more contextualization (maybe descriptions of what each “rite” consisted of and their liturgical importance?) and connections to other academic/theological work rather than just listing Aaron and other people’s narratives (again, not to look down on the importance of personal narrative).
If you’re an Asian-American Buddhist and feel moored between the “two Buddhisms” (that of the silent meditating white practitioner and the superstitious ritual-obsessed immigrant), I would give this a read ASAP. Han and the other 89 Asian-American Buddhists give voice to a diversity of insights on racial dynamics in the US and how they affect POC Buddhists, particularly of Asian descent. More thoughts to come!
Personally, I didn’t feel as connected to the narratives—I’ve been lucky to grow up in an ethnically diverse area and moreover, I don’t share many Asian-Americans’ struggle with the language barrier (if anything, my Vietnamese Buddhist vocabulary is more developed than my Vietnamese slang), so I’ve always felt very secure with identifying as the same Buddhist tradition that my family follows. I’ve also grown up attending a variety of sanghas, from Mahayana Vietnamese to Tibetan to Burmese to convert White retreat spaces, throughout which I’ve met Asian American Buddhist leaders. My struggle with Buddhism lay more in my conflict with the “immigrant Buddhism” that I grew up with and which I did/do (?) perceive as culturally conservative compared to my more radical progressive political views. I understand that I’ve been more privileged than others in that I’ve never had to fight to feel represented in my faith, so I feel much less strongly about owning the label of Asian American Buddhist.
Still, a lot of this book focused on how participants were able to reconnect with their racial identity through the means of Buddhism, which beautifully acknowledges how many cultural traditions in various areas of Asia are tinged with Buddhism. I like the idea of reclaiming a religion that’s so historically intertwined with your ethnic identity for yourself, despite society’s desire to categorize you as a banana or an exotic immigrant.
(More thoughts about White Dharma publications & their obligation to promote more diverse Buddhist voices, the idea that all Buddhist sanghas should connect with each other more, and others to come.)
I think I came into this work expecting something more academic (I am also finishing up an academic analysis of Black Buddhism & the radical Black tradition) and instead found something that was more conversational in tone, like a 300-page blog. Unfortunately, this writing style really did put me off. I think I just dislike paragraphs comprising only incomplete sentences. I also don’t know why Han is so obsessed with vegan cookies.
I appreciate Han’s efforts to humanize her interview subjects by providing in depth descriptions of their appearances and demeanors, down to literal transcriptions of what they say, but to me, it came off gauche and a bit cartoonish. This impression likely comes from the fact that she organizes each argument simply but predictably: she’ll draw from the Angry Asian Buddhist blog and ask her subjects to react, some will be totally against his argument, some will be ambivalent, but then most will agree with him. It’s interesting that this book reads almost like a memoir of the Angry Asian Buddhist, Aaron Lee, as his story frames the narrative of the entire book. From her loving descriptions of her interactions with Aaron, I know that they were close friends and that she respects his input a lot, but I wish that she could have provided each point with more contextualization (maybe descriptions of what each “rite” consisted of and their liturgical importance?) and connections to other academic/theological work rather than just listing Aaron and other people’s narratives (again, not to look down on the importance of personal narrative).
January 28, 2022
“Be The Refuge” explores the invisibility and erasure of Asian Americans in contemporary spaces of Buddhist sangha (community) in the United States. Through interviews with young Asian Americans who study and practice Buddhism from various cultural and spiritual orientations, author Chenxing Han centers the narratives of diversity and inclusion – or lack thereof – among multi-generational, multi-ethnic Asian Americans. While there are differences in the challenges shared by second-generation and convert Buddhists, there are also many similarities in the constant struggle to define Asian American Buddhist identity in the U.S..
Han analyzes the internal spiritual lives of dharma seekers and highlights the historical and current experiences of racism among diverse Asian American communities. The practice of Shin Buddhism, brought over by newly arrived Japanese workers in the early 1900s, became one of the casualties of racist and xenophobic policy that imprisoned Americans of Japanese descent during World War II. Han discovers that fifth-generation Japanese-Americans – whose families endured incarceration – are proudly bringing back the rituals and traditions that define Buddhism as practiced by their immigrant forebears.
The practice of Buddhism requires a nurturing sangha. In Be The Refuge, Buddhists from all backgrounds will find truth in the words of like-minded people from various Asian streams, dealing squarely with the complexity of “betwixt-and-between” racial identities and life experiences. While reclaiming traditional Buddhist rites in their practice, Asian American Buddhists are also defining engaged practice by incorporating social justice advocacy and action in their commitment to faith. Han’s analysis is cause for celebration and hope: both of enduring cultural heritage and the power of unifying and empowering experiences, rooted in equanimity.
This review was originally published in San Francisco Book Review.
Han analyzes the internal spiritual lives of dharma seekers and highlights the historical and current experiences of racism among diverse Asian American communities. The practice of Shin Buddhism, brought over by newly arrived Japanese workers in the early 1900s, became one of the casualties of racist and xenophobic policy that imprisoned Americans of Japanese descent during World War II. Han discovers that fifth-generation Japanese-Americans – whose families endured incarceration – are proudly bringing back the rituals and traditions that define Buddhism as practiced by their immigrant forebears.
The practice of Buddhism requires a nurturing sangha. In Be The Refuge, Buddhists from all backgrounds will find truth in the words of like-minded people from various Asian streams, dealing squarely with the complexity of “betwixt-and-between” racial identities and life experiences. While reclaiming traditional Buddhist rites in their practice, Asian American Buddhists are also defining engaged practice by incorporating social justice advocacy and action in their commitment to faith. Han’s analysis is cause for celebration and hope: both of enduring cultural heritage and the power of unifying and empowering experiences, rooted in equanimity.
This review was originally published in San Francisco Book Review.
October 20, 2021
Truly extraordinary work - everyone should read this, it should be assigned in classes, it should win awards. Han has created a really unique resource, combining deeply rigorous research including survey data and 89 in depth interviews with young Asian American Buddhists with her own personal story of building community between that under-served and sometimes ‘invisibilized’ group, and moving more deeply into Dharma practice, understanding of race and racism in religious practice and formation, and relationships of love, care and ritual (weddings, funerals, conferences, blogs, dinners) that create new possibilities for being in the world.
Invaluable for a practitioner or scholar of Buddhism in the Americas, it is also valuable for anyone thinking through thorny questions of building spiritual community in the radically new circumstances the modern world has placed us in, and of discerning spiritual identity and practice amidst the sometimes crossing pressures of ethnic and familial connection, intellectual searching, and for lack of a better phrase the ineffable movements and instincts of the soul. Really cannot recommend this book enough, and hope despite the struggles in finding a publisher the author, and other spiritual leaders (who might not identify themselves that way) she profiles in the text, will continue to share their wisdom and experience in public facing ways.
Invaluable for a practitioner or scholar of Buddhism in the Americas, it is also valuable for anyone thinking through thorny questions of building spiritual community in the radically new circumstances the modern world has placed us in, and of discerning spiritual identity and practice amidst the sometimes crossing pressures of ethnic and familial connection, intellectual searching, and for lack of a better phrase the ineffable movements and instincts of the soul. Really cannot recommend this book enough, and hope despite the struggles in finding a publisher the author, and other spiritual leaders (who might not identify themselves that way) she profiles in the text, will continue to share their wisdom and experience in public facing ways.
March 11, 2022
5/5 stars :,)
Back in May 2021, my old friends from the summer Buddhist camp I attended yearly up until I was 17 messaged our alumni group chat. They asked if anyone was interested in starting a book club to discuss how we still include (or exclude lol) Buddhism in our daily lives as young adults. This was the book that started it all. Almost a year later (?!), here we are, finally finished.
I’m so grateful to this book - for many reasons. It opened my eyes to a world of Buddhism beyond my own. Even though I grew up as a practicing Theravada Buddhist, I admittedly did not know much about other sects of Buddhism, nor did I realize the stark cultural appropriation that lay in the shadows of this gleaming, pedestaled, white-washed version of Buddhism the media tries to portray. Be the Refuge has also taught me so much about identity and just how much Buddhism has impacted who I am as a person. I am as intrinsically Buddhist as I am Burmese-American.
Tldr; this book singlehandedly re-introduced Buddhism back into my young adult life and provided such a springboard for rich conversation and re-connection with old friends. For that, again, I am forever grateful! <33
Back in May 2021, my old friends from the summer Buddhist camp I attended yearly up until I was 17 messaged our alumni group chat. They asked if anyone was interested in starting a book club to discuss how we still include (or exclude lol) Buddhism in our daily lives as young adults. This was the book that started it all. Almost a year later (?!), here we are, finally finished.
I’m so grateful to this book - for many reasons. It opened my eyes to a world of Buddhism beyond my own. Even though I grew up as a practicing Theravada Buddhist, I admittedly did not know much about other sects of Buddhism, nor did I realize the stark cultural appropriation that lay in the shadows of this gleaming, pedestaled, white-washed version of Buddhism the media tries to portray. Be the Refuge has also taught me so much about identity and just how much Buddhism has impacted who I am as a person. I am as intrinsically Buddhist as I am Burmese-American.
Tldr; this book singlehandedly re-introduced Buddhism back into my young adult life and provided such a springboard for rich conversation and re-connection with old friends. For that, again, I am forever grateful! <33
June 15, 2023
This is probably one of the most important books I've read for my emotional and spiritual development.
Also it's probably the best book I've read in a long time. I found myself annotating it halfway through and this is the first book I've annotated I think since I graduated from graduate school a few years ago..
The narrative is Rich and beautiful and the interviews are so nuanced and complicated and show the very intricate relationship that second generation Asian American Buddhist have with their cultural heritage.
The unfortunate reality for Asian American Buddhists is that unlike white converts our Buddhism is tied with our racial identities. And because of this interconnection we experience prejudice both as Asian Americans and as Buddhist practitioners. She brings up so many excellent points and gives language to thoughts that I've had in my head for my entire life but I wasn't able to put into words.
This book was pure poetry in the form of prose. It is a must-read for Asian American Buddhists and anyone who wants to convert to Buddhism to have a deeper understanding of the community that they're about to enter.
Also it's probably the best book I've read in a long time. I found myself annotating it halfway through and this is the first book I've annotated I think since I graduated from graduate school a few years ago..
The narrative is Rich and beautiful and the interviews are so nuanced and complicated and show the very intricate relationship that second generation Asian American Buddhist have with their cultural heritage.
The unfortunate reality for Asian American Buddhists is that unlike white converts our Buddhism is tied with our racial identities. And because of this interconnection we experience prejudice both as Asian Americans and as Buddhist practitioners. She brings up so many excellent points and gives language to thoughts that I've had in my head for my entire life but I wasn't able to put into words.
This book was pure poetry in the form of prose. It is a must-read for Asian American Buddhists and anyone who wants to convert to Buddhism to have a deeper understanding of the community that they're about to enter.
August 14, 2023
Relevant and impactful, this book provides such deep and meaningful perspective covering everything from religion to culture, race, gender, worldviews, etc. It is thorough and insightful and covers an array of intersecting identities that many of us share. Even as a person who isn't Buddhist, I found great information and knowledge within this book. I loved the interviews. The one and only thing I would have liked to see was a wider variety of educational backgrounds of the interviewees as most interviewed were college educated. Maybe a sequel (I'd love that!)? Regardless, this is a must read for broadening one's perspective and lens.
April 12, 2024
I really enjoyed this. I think it was wonderful to hear so many people from the Asian American Buddhist community. The way that it was formatted and spaced out helped in making it more digestable since it was an academic read. The emotion behind it also seemed to make it a great reading experience.
In my own experience, I could not name a single buddhist practitioner besides the Dalai Lama, so this book was really eye-opening. It was interesting to me that Buddhism was so far off my radar that even popular white practitioners didn't come to me. I really appreciated that this gave me a sense of the religion and the particular struggles that Asian American Buddhists face.
In my own experience, I could not name a single buddhist practitioner besides the Dalai Lama, so this book was really eye-opening. It was interesting to me that Buddhism was so far off my radar that even popular white practitioners didn't come to me. I really appreciated that this gave me a sense of the religion and the particular struggles that Asian American Buddhists face.
January 19, 2021
This book tells a deep intersectional story of a growing ethnic and religious minority that exists and grows quietly in the background of the loud political and cultural chatter. The cultural and religious value, or stereotype (?), of staying quiet makes it hard to hear their voices. Chenxing Han is a great listener and an even greater story teller. She has spent a good part of the last decade researching and listening to these quiet voices. I look forward to reading this book and will come back to report.
July 13, 2021
I received this book as a GoodReads give away and I’m so glad I did.
There is a lot of great information in this book as well as an emotional journey that mirrors the title: Be The Refuge”.
I think the last chapter is my favorite. Mixed in with events and facts and history and the difficult conclusion of one person’s fight with cancer are the interviews of different Asian American Buddhists having their voices heard.
I am so glad the author didn’t give up trying to get this published after so many rejections.
There is a lot of great information in this book as well as an emotional journey that mirrors the title: Be The Refuge”.
I think the last chapter is my favorite. Mixed in with events and facts and history and the difficult conclusion of one person’s fight with cancer are the interviews of different Asian American Buddhists having their voices heard.
I am so glad the author didn’t give up trying to get this published after so many rejections.
June 30, 2023
The first book from a childhood friend since age 5!
Not being a Buddhist myself, a lot of the Buddhism stuff went over my head, though I did learn way more about it than I’ve ever known. I connected with the Asian American part of it, being between two worlds, as well as the overall human aspect of community, belonging, and representation, especially as a few of my hobby communities are undergoing dramatic shifts. I can tell that this would be an excellent book for its audience of young Asian American Buddhists.
Not being a Buddhist myself, a lot of the Buddhism stuff went over my head, though I did learn way more about it than I’ve ever known. I connected with the Asian American part of it, being between two worlds, as well as the overall human aspect of community, belonging, and representation, especially as a few of my hobby communities are undergoing dramatic shifts. I can tell that this would be an excellent book for its audience of young Asian American Buddhists.
Read
November 23, 2023Read this for inspiration in self-reflection of Buddhism's sister religion Hinduism and shifts in identity. This beautiful book had so much empathy and examined erasures of Asian Americans in American Buddhism. Vehemently declared "Asian Americans have always been here in Buddhism and here to stay". Loved it and can't wait to reflect with my Hindu community.
January 3, 2025
Teetering on a five- surprisingly- because this book didn’t grab me until the third and fourth sections! Felt very slow and limited in insight in the beginning but it ended up giving me a lot of food for thought, moments of curiosity, made me feel represented, and has sparked a new appreciation and curiosity for Buddhism!
February 11, 2021
Excellent! Insightful! Inspiring. As a young Asian American Buddhist, this book spoke to me on so many levels. I just wish she could have gone even deeper. I can't wait to see more books like this in the future.
March 1, 2024
I’m going to hesitantly say this my favorite book I’ve read this year.. SUCH AN URGENT INTERVENTION,, THIS BOOK IS MEDICINE eeee thinking about my own emergent relationship to Jodo Shinshu Buddhism and it feels joyful and ancestral and ughhh yes this book was everything
July 28, 2025
Essential for anyone who considers themselves a Buddhist or even just a serious meditator in the United States and who is not of Asian descent. The narrative around Western Buddhism and mindfulness is so myopic and exclusionary, and this limits how the dharma itself is taught.
March 14, 2021
I enjoyed reading this book. As an Asian American Buddhist myself, it was informative and a good read.
May 15, 2021
Very interesting.
January 29, 2022
Not really sure exactly how to rate this but a book I wish I had had earlier and a book I did not know I needed.
March 26, 2022
It was alright. Sheds a platform for young Asian American Buddhists.
December 10, 2022
intimate, rare, and much needed look into asian am spiritual life
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews