Overwhelm: Buddhaland Brooklyn by Richard C. Morais

When a Buddhist monk, content with his serene life at a rural monastery in Japan, is sent to Brooklyn to build a temple for a small community of believers, he does not easily adjust to his new duties.

In Richard C. Morais’ 2012 novel, Buddhaland Brooklyn, Seido Oda enjoys a settled, quiet life as a monk and art teacher in a Japanese mountain village.  When his superiors tap him to become the sect’s first American priest and to finish building a temple in Brooklyn, he insists he’s a horrible match for the job.  Though he knows English, he argues that he lacks the people skills to nurture any community, let alone one overseas.  Alluding to his reputation for being self-righteous, prideful and rigid, he cites the disparaging nicknames that acolytes at the monastery call him.