Buddhism Is Never Apart from Who I Am

Eight percent of Hawaiians are Buddhists, which is the highest percentage of any state. What does it mean to you to be a Hawaiian Buddhist?

For those of us who grew up Buddhist in Hawaii, it’s not something that’s ever apart from who we are. When I was growing up, we had a sense of family and community around Buddhist traditions, like celebrating Obon. There was language school to learn Japanese and Buddhist school to learn about religion. In many instances, Buddhist temples were the heart of the