< Issue No. 9 (2013)Article
Outpost Buddhism: Vietnamese Buddhists in Halifax
Soucy, Alexander, Saint Mary’s University
Abstract
The study of Buddhism in the Canadian context is in a nascent phase, so it is not surprising that most studies focus on the major urban areas, especially Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver. Studies that look at Buddhism as practiced by ethnically homogenous groups have all been on communities that are big enough to establish temples and organisations to sustain their religious needs. This paper addresses this imbalance by considering how Vietnamese Buddhists approach their practice in Halifax, where the community is too small to sustain an organisation, services or a religious space. It looks at the current Buddhist institutions in Halifax and how they have not met the needs of the Vietnamese community, and then goes on to explore the strategies employed to compensate for the lack of a temple of their own.