There are two distinct but related histories of American Buddhism: that of Asian immigrants and that of American converts. The presence of the two communities raises such questions as: What is the difference between the Buddhism of American converts and Buddhism of Asian immigrant communities? How do we characterize the Buddhism of a new generation Asian-American youth—as a movement of preservation or transformation?... Read more about One Buddhism? Or Multiple Buddhisms?

Khmer refers to the indigenous people of Cambodia and their language, the official language of Cambodia.

Pali is an early middle-Indic language in which Buddhist texts were written. The group of Theravada Buddhist texts is collectively referred to as the Pali Canon.

Shunryu Suzuki (d. 1971) arrived in America in 1959 to serve as the priest of the Soto Zen Mission in San Francisco. Unlike his predecessors at the Mission, Suzuki not only served the Japanese congregation, but also devoted himself to teaching the practice of shikantaza (“just sitting”) to Euro-Americans. In 1966, he established Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (located in Los Padres National Forest) as America’s first mountain retreat for Zen practice. That same year, he opened the Zen Center on Page Street in downtown San Francisco to accommodate the ever-increasing number of Euro-Americans... Read more about Suzuki-roshi, Shunryu

Beat Zen is a term used to refer to the views of Zen Buddhism made popular to the American public through the Beat poets. Such poets included Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac.

Patterned after the Sunday schools of Christian churches, Dharma schools in some Buddhist organizations provide weekly instruction to youth in the basics of Buddhist teachings and practice.