There are obvious theological, ritualistic and practical differences between American Buddhism and Mormonism, but both use a lay clergy, reinforce the importance of family and share a view of morality that embraces wisdom and compassion, says Charles Prebish, who will offer these and other insights in a paper at next week's conference on "Buddhism Without Borders" in Berkeley, Calif.
Prebish -- a pre-eminent Buddhist scholar in America who has published 21 books and more than 75 scholarly articles -- accepted a position as director of Utah State University's newly created religious-studies program three years ago after teaching at Penn State for more than three decades.
The Buddhist scholar-practitioner knew little about Utah's LDS-dominated landscape before he moved to the state, he says. "Yet no group has been more interesting, and challenging to understand, than the Buddhist communities in my new Utah homeland."