"Toronto sustains a remarkable variety of distinct Buddhist communities. Over sixty Buddhist temples and associations represent a diversity of ethnic, national, and linguistic identities. Here, for the first time, is a rigorous, richly detailed, comparative examination of several groups within five Asian Buddhist communities: Japanese-Canadian, Tibetan, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Chinese.".

"With an intimate knowledge of her subject matter, McLellan documents each group's establishment in Canada, and the specific shape of that group's practice today. She examines how innovative forms of worship and ritual services developed from the groups' confrontation with Canadian social attitudes, constraints, and policies, and how transplantation acts as a catalyst for alterations in gender roles for both Sangha (ordained clergy) and laity."--BOOK JACKET.