Part of a special section on Buddhist Chaplaincy in the United States and Japan.
How do we connect Buddhist teachings with effective service? Buddhists uphold the ideal to respond compassionately to suffering in our ever-changing world. Buddhist chaplains in particular take on roles of serving those who are in crisis, imprisoned, sick, dying, or grieving. Yet what compassionate engagement looks like evolves and continues to change because Buddhist chaplaincy is shaped deeply by historical and cultural factors that shift across time and place. This becomes clearly visible when we compare how Buddhists from different contexts approach chaplaincy.