Burmese American Youth Experiences with Theravada Buddhism in the San Francisco Bay Area
Issued Date
2024-01-01
Resource Type
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-105024174223
Journal Title
Oxford Handbook of Lived Buddhism
Start Page
330
End Page
350
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Oxford Handbook of Lived Buddhism (2024) , 330-350
Suggested Citation
Saruya R. Burmese American Youth Experiences with Theravada Buddhism in the San Francisco Bay Area. Oxford Handbook of Lived Buddhism (2024) , 330-350. 350. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197658697.013.19 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/113535
Title
Burmese American Youth Experiences with Theravada Buddhism in the San Francisco Bay Area
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Author's Affiliation
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Abstract
How do children and young people in the Burmese diaspora learn Buddhism? What strategies do teachers use? And how do the students themselves view their experiences? This chapter attempts to answer these questions through the cases of two young lay females who both had short-term but highly impactful experiences: one as a temporary nun, and the other as a repeat attendee at a Buddhist youth camp. These experiences are contextualized, in the first instance with descriptions of the monastic space and the Burmese-language classes that prompted the subject’s choice of monastery, and in the second, with the history of the camp and exploration of its monastic spaces. In both these cases, Buddhism was not always taught directly by monks; that is, while they physically recalled the Buddha and Buddhism in terms of aesthetics, comportment, and the practice of sīla or “morality,” they were not usually the ones teaching Buddhism in the strictest sense. Thus, this research demonstrates the importance of studying lived Buddhism and how the laity—and especially the female laity—serve as active agents in the maintenance of Burmese Buddhism, and of Burmese culture more generally.