Talk Title: Building The WWII National Japanese American Incarceration Monument: ​A Buddhist Approach to Transforming The Racial Karma of America

Sponsor: American University Dept. of Philosophy & Religion and Oberoi Foundation for Religious Studies

“American Sutra: Buddhism and the WWII Japanese American Incarceration” Lecture. Sponsored by the Thich Nhat Hanh Program for Engaged Buddhism, Union Theological Seminary.

Please RSVP if you will be attending.

Please join us for a discussion on this recently published book, with its author Duncan Ryūken Williams​. This groundbreaking history tells the little-known story of how, in one of our country’s darkest hours, Japanese Americans fought to defend their faith and preserve religious freedom.

In the face of discrimination, dislocation, dispossession, and confinement, Japanese Americans turned to their faith to sustain them, whether they were behind barbed wire in camps or serving in one of the most decorated combat units in the European theater. Using newly translated sources and extensive interviews with survivors of the camps and veterans of the war, American Sutra reveals how the Japanese American community broadened our country’s conception of religious freedom and forged a new American Buddhism.

“There are many works on Japanese-American incarceration in World War Two—especially those that recount the government and the media’s perspective on this history—but American Sutra is the first to highlight the role that Buddhism played in this history, telling the story from the inside out.” Duncan Ryūken Williams​

This program is sponsored by the Thích Nhất Hạnh Program for Engaged Buddhism

“American Sutra: Buddhism and the WWII Japanese American Internment” lecture followed by conversation with Jolyon Thomas (Religious Studies). Co-sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies and the Asian American Studies Program.

Through a Buddhist Lens: Faith and Freedom in America”, Tricycle Magazine Conversation with Writer Pico Iyer 

Co-hosted by Tricycle Magazine and JCC Manhattan. Reception and book sales/signing will follow.

Tickets required - $20 with discount code: TRIKELIVE