From the 30th Anniversary Edition of Shambala Sun:
How the Swans Came to the Lake laid the foundation for future narrative histories of how Buddhism has taken root in the West. We find ourselves now, about thirty years on, with more of the story to tell. If [Rick] Fields’ sprawling account was about how Buddhist ideas and teachers and practices first found their way to the West, the next part of the story is about how Buddhism is acculturating itself to America, and America to Buddhism. Many of the groundbreaking teachers he talked to or interviewed, the swans, have passed on, but the lake is still here. On the Sun’s thirtieth anniversary, it seems like a good time to ask ourselves what’s been happening since Fields wrote the first chapter of Buddhism’s history in the West. …
