American sutra : a story of faith and freedom in the Second World War /
Duncan Ryūken Williams
- Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, (c)2019.
- 1 online resource (viii, 384 pages) : illustrations
Prologue: Thus have I heard: an American sutra -- 1. America: a nation of religious freedom? -- December 7, 1941 -- American Buddhism: migrations to freedom -- Buddhism as a national security threat -- Surveilling Buddhism -- Compiling registries -- 2. Martial law in the land of aloha -- Buddhist life under martial law -- Camps in the land of aloha -- 3. Japanese America under siege -- War hysteria -- Tightening the noose -- Executive Order 9066 -- The forced "relocation" -- 4. Camp Dharma -- The Dharma in the high-security camps -- Lotus blossoms above muddy water -- 5. Sangha behind barbed wire -- Horse stable Buddhism -- "Barrack churches" in camp -- 6. Reinventing American Buddhism -- Adapting Buddhism -- Sect and trans-sect -- Interfaith cooperation -- Rooting the Sangha -- 7. Onward Buddhist soldiers -- Richard Sakakida, American spy -- The military intelligence service (mis) -- Draftees and volunteers -- The 100th Battalion -- The 442nd Regimental Combat Team -- 8. Loyalty and the draft -- The loyalty questionnaire -- Tule Lake Segregation Center -- Leave clearance and the draft -- 9. Combat in Europe -- Dog tags -- Chaplains -- Fallen soldiers -- 10. The resettlement -- Return to a hostile West Coast -- Temples as homes -- Resettling in Hawai'i and Japan -- Buddhism in America's heartland -- Epilogue: The stones speak: an American sutra
On December 7, 1941, as the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, the first person detained was the leader of the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist sect in Hawai'i. Nearly all Japanese Americans were subject to accusations of disloyalty, but Buddhists aroused particular suspicion. From the White House to the local town council, many believed that Buddhism was incompatible with American values. Intelligence agencies targeted the Buddhist community, and Buddhist priests were deemed a threat to national security.In this pathbreaking account, based on personal accounts and extensive research in untapped archives, Duncan Ryūken Williams reveals how, even as they were stripped of their homes and imprisoned in camps, Japanese American Buddhists launched one of the most inspiring defenses of religious freedom in our nation's history, insisting that they could be both Buddhist and American
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Japanese Americans--Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945. Buddhists--History--United States--20th century. Buddhism and state--History--United States--20th century. Buddhism and politics--History--United States--20th century. World War, 1939-1945--Japanese Americans.