GREATER BOSTON BUDDHIST COMMUNITY CENSUS

PRESENTED TO HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA

1 GREATER BOSTON BUDDHIST COMMUNITY CENSUS PRESENTED TO HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA

OVERVIEW This census is happily offered in response to a request from the office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in preparation for his visit to the Kurukulla Center in October of 2012.

Abstract The findings of this census of Buddhists in the Greater Boston area are in line with the national estimate that 0.7% percent of the US population is Buddhist. Middlesex County, one of 3 counties above the national rate, has the highest percentage at 1.35%, almost twice the national mark.

33,095 Buddhists were counted as being active or associated with the Buddhist Sanghas queried in this survey. About 18% of those counted in the survey are actively involved in Sangha activities on a weekly basis.

Of the 74 Sanghas identified, 16 did not respond or declined to participate in the census. More than half of the communities are English speaking, but there are significant Khmer, Chinese and Vietnamese speaking communities in Massachusetts.

Vipassana/Theravada traditions appear in the greatest number, followed by the Tibetan and Vietnamese traditions.

MAY 2012 For as long as space

endures

and as long as

sentient beings remain

May I too abide

to dispel the miseries

of the world.

-Shantideva

2

CONTENTS OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................................... 1

Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. 1

Methodology ...................................................................................................................................... 3

Sanghas in Greater Boston ................................................................................................................ 4

Massachusetts Sanghas .................................................................................................................... 4

New Hampshire Sanghas ................................................................................................................... 6

Data by County .................................................................................................................................. 7

Census by Town ................................................................................................................................ 8

Concentration by County .................................................................................................................... 9

Percentage of Buddhists in Greater Boston Compared to the Nation ............................................... 10

Language ......................................................................................................................................... 11

Tradition ........................................................................................................................................... 12

Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... 14

3 Methodology

Research was conducted by a team of nine volunteers in several stages using the following methodology:

• Scope of Data Collection – A committee was formed and the scope and definition of data was determined. Data was collected by Sangha. The following data elements were determined in scope

o Tradition o Type of Center o Primary Language o Active Community o Total Community

• Identification of Sanghas in the greater Boston Area - primarily drawing on sources found on the

world wide web, Sanghas were identified and contact information was collected for Sanghas that met in the following Counties

o Massachusetts Essex Middlesex Norfolk Plymouth Suffolk

o New Hampshire Rockingham Stratford

• Contact with Sanghas – Volunteers were then

engaged at the County and Sangha level to establish contact with Sangha leaders and to collect data

• Summary – Once data was collected this report was created to categorize and summarize the data in the context of a number of other regional variables

4 Sanghas in Greater Boston We discovered and contacted 74 Sanghas in the Greater Boston Area. The image below depicts the towns in which Sanghas exist. There are several towns, for example Boston and Cambridge, which have multiple groups.

Massachusetts Sanghas

Town Sangha Name Allston Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Arlington Arlington Meditation Group Arlington Arlington Street Zen Center and Buddha's Belly Book group Arlington Drikung Meditation Center Arlington Jokhang Institute Arlington Tara Sadhana Group Arlington The Arlington Center/Insight Meditation Group Belmont Mountain Bell Sangha Beverly Vajra Vidya - Thrangu Rinpoche Boston Old Path Sangha Boston Universal Buddhist Congregation Braintree Bo De Buddhist Meditation Center

5 Town Sangha Name Braintree Samantabhadra/Pho Hien Buddhist Center Brighton American Buddhist Shim Gum Do Association Brockton Bodhicitta Center for the Encouragement of Compassion in the

World Brookline The Shambhala Meditation Center of Boston Brookline Diamond Way Buddhist Center: Boston Cambridge Bodhimarga Cambridge Sangha Cambridge Boston Buddhist Culture Center Cambridge Buddhist Community at MIT Cambridge Cambridge Insight Meditation Center Cambridge Cambridge UU Sitting Group Cambridge Cambridge Zen Center Cambridge Foundation for Active Compassion Cambridge Harvard Buddhist Community Cambridge Open Awareness Sangha Cambridge Sakya Institute for Buddhist Studies Cambridge Tergar Meditation Group Chelmsford Cambodian Buddhists Concord Jhamtse Buddhist Center - Thursday PM Concord Jhamtse Buddhist Center - Wednesday AM Dedham Dharmata Foundation Framingham New England Buddhist Vihara and Meditation Center Haverhill BuddhaheartUSA @ UUC of Haverhill Hingham Buddhist and Hindu Meeting Group at Old Ship Church Parish

House Hingham Buddhist Sangha Meditation and Discussion at Old Ship Church

Parish House Hingham South of Boston - Mindful Living Network Hingham Zen Buddhist meditation group at Old Ship Church Parish House Jamaica Plain Foundation for Active Compassion Jamaica Plain Serlingpa Buddhist Meditation Center Lexington Massachusetts Buddhist Association Lowell Glory Buddhist Temple/Banlieu Buddha Cakra Marblehead Marblehead Zen Marshfield Porcello Gallery Meditation Circle Maynard Clock Tower Sangha Medford Kurukulla Buddhist Center Medford Spring Hill Zen/Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford Newbury Newbury Insight Meditation Center Newburyport Meditation Group @ First Religious Society UU Newton Henry Thoreau Zen Sangha First Unitarian Society North Andover Great Pond Sangha @ UUNPoNA Plympton Shanti Shala Quincy Mass Budhi Siksa Society Thousand Buddhists Temple

6 Town Sangha Name Quincy Perfect Enlightenment Buddhist Association of Massachusetts, Kuan

Yin Temple Reading Buddhist Meditation Group @ UUCR Revere Wat Ratanarangsi Rockport Vajramudra Center, ACI - Cape Ann Roslindale Vietnamese Buddhist Association/Temple Vietnam Sherborn Jhamtse Buddhist Center Somerville Triratna Buddhist Community Somerville Won Buddhism of Boston Stowe Meditation Group Sudbury Ligmincha Bon Sangha Wakefield Mun Su Sa Buddhist Temple Wakefield Wakefield UU Meditation Practice Group Waltham Rigpa Boston Watertown Hôun-an, Dharma Cloud Hermitage* Opted Out Wellesley Wellesley College Buddhist Community Woburn Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Woburn Woburn Aikikai

New Hampshire Sanghas

Town Sangha Name Barrington Barrington Zen Center Lee Seacoast N.H. Meditation Group Newmarket Triratna Buddhist Community Windham Southern New Hampshire Sangha

7 Data by County As pointed out in the abstract, Middlesex County had twice the percentage of Buddhist than the national average.

The bar graph below gives a sense of how the counted populations compared across counties. If one were to presume that the counties scoring below the national 0.7% mark were not counted because a Sangha was not convenient to them, then these counties could be defined as underserved and under counted.

8 Census by Town The following map displays the concentration of active Buddhists throughout the greater Boston Area. The larger the red dot, the higher the number of Buddhists in that area.

9 Concentration by County This map provides a slightly different view of the concentration of active Buddhists in the Greater Boston Area. Middlesex County has the highest concentration with Norfolk and Suffolk right behind.

It’s interesting to note that the concentration of Buddhists does not coincide with the more populated areas. While the City of Boston probably has the largest population, its county, Suffolk County, does not have the highest concentration of Buddhists.

10 Percentage of Buddhists in Greater Boston Compared to the Nation According to Wikipedia (Wikipedia, 2012) the percent of the US population who are Buddhists is 0.7%. Middlesex, Norfolk, and Rockingham Counties show numbers ahead of the national average

The following graph shows how each county (in blue) compares to the national 0.7% percentage (in orange)

11 Language A significant majority of Buddhist Sanghas and their members’ primary language is English, but there are significant numbers of Khmer, Vietnamese, and other Asian language communities.

12 Tradition This first graph shows how the major traditions in the region compare to each other

This graph shows more granular tradition data as reported by the Sanghas. For example this graph separates out various Tibetan traditions.

13 Here is a more granular view of the traditions as they are dispersed throughout the counties of Greater Boston.

14 Acknowledgements The Kurukulla Canter is grateful to the following volunteers who made this census possible

• Barbara Arsnow • Caren Cowie • Ken Flanders • Andrew Furst • Mimi Izzo • Alison Landoni • Matthew McCall • Joan Schwartz • Bill Seaver