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What comes to mind when you
think about the state of North Carolina? It might be
basketball or barbecue. Maybe dogwoods. It could be NASCAR or kudzu.
But it probably isn't Buddhism. If you think of religion at all,
it's probably Methodists or Baptists. And if an image of a religious
leader comes to mind it might be the state's famous Baptist
preacher, Billy Graham, and not Phramaha Somsak Sambimb, the Thai
Buddhist monk who serves as spiritual advisor to the hundreds of
Cambodian Khmer refugees at the Greensboro Buddhist Center. It's not
likely that Somsak, or any other Buddhist leader in the Tar Heel
State, will soon rival Graham's visibility or clout. But the
religious landscape of the state has been changing during the past
quarter century, and Buddhism now has an increasing presence. As
twenty students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
discovered when they criss-crossed the state doing research for this
collaborative project, by 2001 the Tar Heel State boasted at least
thirty-three Buddhist temples and centers. The Buddha has come
to the land of barbecue, Baptists, and basketball.
Although the class has
now ended, the Buddhism in North Carolina Project continues.
This website is being updated continually by UNC grad student Jeff
Wilson as new groups form. Currently sixty-five Buddhist
groups are listed in North Carolina. Please contact us at the
numbers/email listed below if you have information on groups that
are not included in our directory.
Last updated:
9/30/04 |
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