Guide for the Young Buddhist Association handbook collection. ARC Mss 99
Collection processed and arranged by Campbell Hannan, 2024. Finding aid prepared by Campbell Hannan, 2024.
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara 93106-9010
Phone Number: (805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
2024-05-01
Title: Young Buddhist Association Handbook
Identifier/Call Number: ARC Mss 99
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
Physical Description:
0.2 Linear Feet
(1 half size document box)
Creator:
Young Buddhist Association
Date: 1958 April
Abstract: The Young Buddhist Handbook was produced by the National Young Buddhist Association and Western Young Buddhist League Handbook
Committee, affiliates of the Buddhist Churches in America in April 1958.
Condition Description: Large quarto (284 x zr5 mm). Dark blue flexible card binder, front cover lettered in silver, housing 66 Xeroxed typescript
leaves, text recto only divided into six sections by 5 coloured file dividers. Binder a little rubbed and creased, several
minor splits to extremities, internally bright. An excellent example.
Physical Location: Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
Container: 1
The collection is open for research.
Library purchase, 2023.
From Peter Harrington (seller):
Founded in 1898 and headquartered in San Francisco, by the 1950s the BCA had grown to include 52 churches located in California,
Utah, Washington, and Colorado. The Western Young Buddhist League was responsible for 45 chapters of the the National Young
Buddhist Association, a wing of the BCA. Berkeley Busse1; published by the Berkeley temple on Channing Way, regularly carried
articles by Kerouac, Snyder, Walen, and Alan Watts.
Introduction of political-tinged Buddhism in California
From the dealer description:
A rare copy of the instructional guide issued to young Californian affiliates of the Buddhist Churches of America (BCA), a
leading force in the post-war explosion of interest in Buddhism in the United States. The BCA temple in Berkeley led by Kanmo
and Jane Imamura, played host to many young Beat poets including Jack Kerouac, Philip Walen, and Gary Snyder.
Following a title page and two-page table of contents, the handbook consists of five sections: "organizational", "officer's
guide", "services and activities", "religious background", and appendices, the latter including the text of the group's constitution,
nomination procedures for the Outstanding Young Buddhist Award, a list of recommended reading, a list of Buddhist churches
in America, and even the rules and regulations of the internal basketball tournament.
Loosely inserted is a four page clipping from Horin, a Japanese-American magazine, a mimeographed flyer on "the meaning of
incense offering", and a six-page mimeographed syllabus for a 196o seminar held by the BCA at Pacific Grove, titled "Theme:
For Buddhists - Today's Challenge".
[Identification of Item], Young Buddhist Association handbook collection, ARC Mss 99. Department of Special Research Collections,
UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through
the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to
the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and are retained by the creator
and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.
All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department
of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of
California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is
not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright
owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or their assigns for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Young Buddhist Association -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Western Young Buddhist League -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Buddhist Churches of America