c. 2000 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

At first, the tongue-contorting Sanskrit chant seemed worlds away from the Roman Catholic prayers that had glided with ease from Michele Chargoais’ lips since childhood.

But the Buddhist principles of cause and effect and harmony the words evoked were exactly what Chargoais felt was missing from the catechism classes she had attended as a child.

“The basic tenets of Buddhism were very much in agreement with my own intuitive beliefs about life that really had been in conflict with Catholicism,” said Chargoais, who was introduced to Buddhism at age 28 by the wife of a college friend. “Three to six months after I first really started looking into Buddhism, I made a commitment to practice it seriously.”

So seriously that 21 years later daily chanting is as much a fixture in Chargoais’ weekly routine as Sunday Mass once was. She has become the spiritual kin of an untold number of African-Americans _ from jazz pianist Herbie Hancock to rock legend Tina Turner _ who have found a spiritual haven in the ancient religion.

There are no hard figures on the number of American Buddhists in the United States, but estimates hover somewhere around several hundred thousand, said Bill Aiken, vice general director for the Buddhist sect Soka Gakkai 13th International USA. The group is the American lay organization of Buddhism’s Nichiren Daishonin denomination.

“No one knows exactly how many Buddhists _ let alone African-American Buddhists _ are in the United States,” said Aiken, noting that his 100,000-member denomination has some 20,000 African-Americans, the most of any Buddhist group. “There are a lot of people who identify themselves as Buddhists, but it’s still hard to get an accurate count because of the people we call `nightstand Buddhists’ _ they have a book by the Dalai Lama on their nightstand and they’re influenced by Buddhist teachings but they maintain their affiliation with another church.”

Buddhism began with the teachings of the sixth century B.C. Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama, but the religion requires no allegiance to a central religious authority. Buddhism’s estimated 300 million followers worldwide are found mainly in the Far East and share, among other things, a belief that meditation and study can lead anyone to ultimate wisdom and peace.

Such an egalitarian principle appeals strongly to African-Americans, said Ronnie Smith, a Soka Gakkai regional director who converted to Buddhism about 28 years ago after his mother lured him to a meeting in the hopes he could find help to turn his life around.

“In Buddhism there’s a sense of equality because all people can attain enlightenment,” said Smith, whose wife and two teen-age children share his faith. “People like the idea that this is something everyone can do.”

Chargoais agreed. “That’s such a powerful message for African-Americans in this country because in so many areas of life they remain frustrated by obstacles that limit what they can achieve despite their hard work and dedication,” said Chargoais, managing director of the W.E.B. DuBois Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

For Smith, Buddhism’s message of peace and harmony was instantly appealing, but the Eastern religion seemed light-years away from his Baptist heritage. Many of Smith’s family and friends were skeptical of his new faith.

“In the beginning people were very surprised that I was interested in Buddhism because traditionally African-Americans come from a Christian background,” he said. “Some people would tell me I was going to hell and those sorts of things, but now they respect me for (becoming Buddhist) because they have seen its positive effect on my life and my family’s life.”

Chargoais remembers facing similar skepticism.

“My parents and many of my friends had heard of Buddhism so it wasn’t entirely foreign to them, but my parents were a little concerned that (Buddhism) might be a cult or associated with the Moonies,” she said, referring to followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church.

To help allay their fears, Chargoais bought her parents a subscription to a weekly Buddhist newspaper. That helped, but even more convincing was the change they saw in their daughter.

“They told me that what convinced them most was that they saw changes in me they felt were positive,” said Chargoais. “My mother told me she could see that I was a much calmer and happier person.”

That sort of change doesn’t surprise Smith, who credits the strength he gained from Buddhist philosophy and chanting _ a hallmark of Soka Gakkai _ with giving him the courage at age 19 to shake a drug addiction he began in junior high school.

“It’s through practicing Buddhism that people learn more about themselves and realize there are no limits to what they can accomplish in life,” said Smith. “Within about five months I had changed so much that my mother started practicing it too. She was raised as a Baptist, but she’s been a Buddhist ever since then.”

Embracing Buddhism can be a prickly issue for African-Americans, said Dana Williamson, 28, who was introduced to Buddhism by her mother 19 years ago. While studying African-American history at the University of Michigan, Williamson began to wonder where she _ an African-American woman _ fit into Buddhism.

“As a black woman from Chicago practicing an Eastern religion, I wanted to make sure I was on the right track,” said Williamson, a stockbroker with the investment firm Salomon Smith Barney in Chicago. “What renewed my sense of commitment to Buddhism was the realization that Buddhism is about humanity _ it allows me to see the dignity in each person and embrace and celebrate differences. So for me, there is no conflict in being a black woman practicing Buddhism.”

Writer Patricia Elam, who converted to Buddhism 13 years ago, remembers fending queries from family and friends who wondered how she could reconcile her cultural heritage with her new faith.

“I remember people saying to me, `Oh, you’re so Afrocentric _ how can you be in an organization that came from an Asian country?’ They wondered why I didn’t practice an African religion,” said Elam, 46, a former attorney who is also a commentator for National Public Radio. “But the truth is Buddhism required me to look into myself and figure out who I was. Finding out who I was brought me closer to my African roots, and I started wearing my hair in dreadlocks.”

Now Elam believes that years of daily meditation and prayer have not only affirmed her ties to her culture, but changed her life for the better.

“Buddhism has helped me grow as a person _ it has improved my relationships with other people, and I don’t feel weighed down anymore. I feel lighter,” she said. “I’m grateful for those discoveries. I don’t know that they would have happened without Buddhism.”

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