Asian religious ideas pervade twentieth-century American music even more than Asian musical influences do. This surprising cross-cultural narrative weaves together strands of orientalism, war, imperialism, commerce, counterculture, and immigration.
The religious traditions of Asia discussed herein—Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism—have reached North America in three principal ways. Countercultural contact came first, enabled by translations of major Asian religious texts. Second, increased...