ABSTRACT
Buddhism arrived in the United States during the World Parliament of Religions, part of the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Stark and Bainbridge offer a very different means of classifying Buddhists in America, and their categorizations include those who attend formal teachings and participate in other group endeavors, those who have a relationship with a teacher of Buddhism, and those who have an interest in Buddhism and choose to label themselves as a Buddhist. Prebish discusses few primary categories of Buddhist presence on the Internet; websites created by American Buddhists as a means of communication with others, virtual temples created by traditional Buddhist sanghas, and cybersanghas that have no physical home and exist solely in an online environment. Interesting questions could include whether Tibetan Buddhists in the United States utilize the Internet for Tibetan advocacy, whereas American Theravada or Mahayana Buddhists might contain their social engagement to activities within the United States.
