American Buddhism continues to grow and change as the United States’ religious landscape is transformed by immigration, according to recent analysis of the 2025 Pew Religious Landscape Survey and the 2024 Cooperative Election Study conducted by Harvard University.

Buddhism came to America in the 19th century along with Chinese immigrants who traveled to Hawai‘i and various locations on the West Coast of the US to work. These laborers were heavily influenced not only by Buddhism, but also by Daoism and Confucianism. 

The influx of Chinese immigrants, which was fueled by the California gold rush of the mid-1800s and the construction of the transcontinental railroad led to San Francisco becoming home to eight Buddhist temples by 1875. Religious services were most often held in Chinese association buildings, which served multiple purposes. Tin Hou Temple and Kong Chow Temple, both found in San Francisco’s Chinatown, are two examples from that era.

Japanese laborers came to the US in the 1880s, introducing the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist tradition. The Japanese government provided support to Jodo Shinshu practitioners in the West by sending priests to support fledgling communities.  As a result, 20 temples were established by 1912.

Chua Quang Minh, a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Georgia, also has its roots in the stories of immigrants. In the case of Chua Quang Minh, they were refugees who fled persecution by communist dictators. The temple served as a spiritual sanctuary and as a source of community services for people who had lost everything.

The president of Chua Quang Minh’s temple board, Lam Ngo, described the situation of the immigrants: “Some people have lost their whole family, all their dear ones, their home, their brothers and siblings. . . . Or imagine you spend your youth in a reeducation camp, and you work like a slave.” (Deseret News)

Immigration has had a direct role in the lives of many American Buddhists. Forty per cent are immigrants or have at least one immigrant parent. This has resulted in traditional Buddhist practices being adapted to blend more easily with American culture. It is also common for more than one language to be spoken during religious services.

American Buddhists also have a strong interest in interfaith collaboration. Historically, Buddhist temples have worked alongside individuals of other faiths to offer support to refugees, immigrants, and the victims of natural disasters. One example is the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which originally focused on Jewish immigrants. However, it has expanded its focus to include people of all faiths, including Buddhism.

This interfaith collaboration reflects societal shifts that have occurred as younger generations of Asian Americans work to blend their cultural identities with life in the US. The result is a reinterpreted Buddhism that includes social justice, environmentalism, and mindfulness in addition to the traditional practices. These changes have been accelerated by non-Asian Americans who practice Buddhism.

One example of this is the author Henry David Thoreau, who was credited for translating part of the Lotus Sutra into English from French.* In his essay, “A Week on the Concord and Merrimac,” he described his relationship with Buddhism: “I know that some will have hard thoughts of me, when they hear their Christ named beside my Buddha, yet I am sure that I am willing they should love their Christ more than my Buddha, for the love is the main thing . . .” (The Pluralism Project: Harvard University)

There have also been Americans who emigrated to Asian countries, some of whom began practicing Buddhism as a result. Henry Olcott and Helena Blavatsky, for example, traveled to Sri Lanka in 1878 and took the five lay Buddhist precepts.

As immigrants continue to journey into the US and non-Asian Americans continue to pick up the practice, it is a given that American Buddhism will continue to transform to meet the ever-changing needs of the present moment.

* An earlier version of this article said that Henry David Thoreau translated part of the Lotus Sutra into English. Actually, it was was Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1804–1894), an American educator and the second publisher of The Dial, the Transcendentalist magazine where Thoreau’s works were published.

See more

Buddhism in the American West (The Pluralism Project: Harvard University)
How Immigration is Changing Religion in America (Deseret)

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