As the sun sets on Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2011, I’d like to extend my thanks to Maia Duerr (@fivedirections), Jack Daw (@ZenDirtZenDust), Chris Hoff (@NarrativeChris), Adam (@flylikeacrow) and Nathan (Dangerous Harvests) for their posts that delve into the ocean of the Asian American Buddhist community.

• 10 Asian+Asian American Buddhists Who Make a Difference [The Jizo Chronicles]
• Asian Pacific American Heritage Month ~ Rev. T. K. Nakagaki [Point of Contact ~ Subtle Dharma Mouth Punch]
• Guest Post – Angry Asian Buddhist (or “Why I decided to celebrate APAHM”) [Dharma Bum]
• Buddhists from Burma Practicing in Minnesota [Dangerous Harvests]
• Thai Association of Washington at Folklife Festival [Fly Like a Crow]

Many thanks also to the very supportive nods from Danny Fisher and Caine Das, who posted about APAHM on their blogs.

This month’s A Gift of Dharma posts from Danny Fisher included a unique focus on Asian and Asian American Buddhist quotes. You can read the words of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama (5/1, 5/4, 5/8, 5/9, 5/15), Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh (5/2, 5/12), Siddhartha Gotama (5/7), Chögyam Trungpa (5/11, 5/17), Sulak Sivaraksa (5/18), Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (5/19), Preah Maha Ghosananda (5/20), Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne (5/21, 5/22, 5/23), Venerable Cheng Yen (5/24), B. R. Ambedkar (5/25), Bhante Henepola Gunaratana (5/26) and Mushim Ikeda-Nash (5/27).

My hope is that, in the future, Buddhist bloggers, editors and journalists will make more of an effort to incorporate the voices of Asian American Buddhists—not merely post about us in the third person or fish up writings off the web that we published years ago. Just as I have to put in a little extra effort to welcome in the voices of Asian American Buddhist women, there will be obstacles for other bloggers who aren’t used to reaching out to Asian American voices. Even so, for those of us who speak out in the name of equality and diversity in the Buddhist community, our actions should follow our words.

It’s another eleven months till APAHM 2012, but I’m already making a list of whom I’d like to interview. Anumodami to all who participated this year!