This paper presents the experiences of black women who participate in Western convert Buddhist sanghas in Northern California.  It is an excerpt from a larger study in which I interviewed black women and men. 

When I mentioned to my younger sister that I was exploring being a Zen priest she asked, “What’s Buddhism got to do with black people, anyway?  Although Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings came from the earth of ancient India, I knew in the moment when she asked the question, that the teachings had everything to do with me and with every other suffering living being.  She needed to know how I was going to help her by being a Zen priest.  In that instant, I couldn’t find a way to convey to her that much of what I experienced in being black was much like what the Buddha taught.

This paper is an intimate inquiry among African American women practitioners about the impact of Buddhism on their lives, using the question my sister asked me.  I thought it would be interesting to explore the question in a group dialogue format.  What brought us to Buddhist practice when most black people are of the Christian faith?

At the same time, the paper is not only about Buddhism or being black, as much as it is about the freedom to explore one’s daily life, to let down a veil so that life is illuminated, and to make meaning of one’s subjective understanding of the human condition. We mined the stories we have lived with and the personal challenges expressed in those stories.  I wanted us to capture the breath of our lives and lose sense of control and critique. What stories would we tell and not tell?  Would we need to challenge ourselves to divulge more than we normally would in a group?  In being sensitive to these questions, and instead of telling our entire life stories, we focused on those fleeting experiences that affected our practice, those experiences that brought us some realization.