Peruvian Buddhism, oldest in South America

Ashley Wells, Xochitl, Wisdom Quarterly; Annie Murphy, The World (PRI.org/BBC)

Peru is a land of ancient mysteries and Japanese Zen immigrants (apoturperu.org)

 

Buddhist meditation in Peru (pri.org)

A small group of people from the Japanese community recently gathered at the temple in Lima to chant and make offerings to their deceased relatives.

On the altar were plates of sandwiches and cakes, even a bag of Lay’s potato chips.
 
One of the unintended consequences of Peru’s booming economy is that life in the capital is becoming more stressful. Lima is covered in construction sites, competition for the best jobs, and housing is brutal, and traffic is horrendous. Still, people there are finding creative ways to relax in the midst of all that. Some of them are turning to Buddhist meditation.

• AUDIO: popout LISTEN NOW
• Download  segment

In 1903, Zen Buddhism arrived (SZ)

The oldest Buddhist temple in South America is just outside Lima, in a town called Cañete. It’s one large room with tile floors that feel cool under bare feet. The enormous altar is filled with incense, flowers, and small wooden statues that represent members of Japanese families that started migrating here in the early 1900s. Some families have also chosen to leave actual remains, in urns wrapped in knotted bundles of white cotton.

“Those urns contain remains of the first immigrants who came to Peru,” says Carmen Toledo, the temple caretaker, pointing to a few urns on the highest shelf.

She tells me that after Brazil, Peru has the second largest Japanese population outside of Japan. They hung onto a lot of traditions, Toledo says, building this temple and also incorporating Japanese food into Peruvian cuisine. More

Two suicide bombings kill at least 31 people in Volgograd

• Buddhism came to America 1,000 years ago, research reveals: How the Swans Came to the Lake
• Buddhist temple in Peru custodian of waning custom
• 110th anniversary of Soto Zen in South America 
• The first Buddhist missionaries in Peru
• Why Peruvians lock public streets, pay to use public parks 
• Dodging Molotov cocktails to protect Peru's ancient sites
• Peru: Book writing as spectator sport, writer combat
• Ballerina turns at-risk kids in Peru into pro dancers
• New interest in Mormonmission around the world 
• Theosophy: Peru "A Land of Mystery" Mdme. Blavatsky
  There, all along the coast of Peru, all over the Isthmus and North America, in the... as to the splendour of the temples, palaces, and cities of Mexico and Peru,.... modern ruins, and the images of Buddha and of some deities [devas], not to mention our.... existence of the largest and most ancient forests growing on the buried cities.

Buddhism arrived very early