A point that I don't believe has been made yet by Gombrich or another poster here yet, is that of logistics.Gomrich wrote:Rather than teaching Buddhism to the indigenous people of their host countries, they mainly run cultural centres for the Buddhist immigrants from their countries of origin, centres which indeed operate largely in Sinhalese, Burmese, Thai, etc., not in the language of the country where the missions operate.
At many temples in the West, there is not enough support from 'indigenous' people of the host countries yet. Many temples would have probably closed down if they only relied on running meditation programs for spreading Dhamma and ignored the needs of their immigrant communities. I remember one monk telling me once that the donations were $xxx (well over $100) amount of funds from a traditional poya chanting day (attended by ethnic Buddhists only) and then on another day when he led a meditation class which included instruction and Dhamma talks (attended by convert Buddhists only), the collection-dana bowl from the group of 'indigenous' convert Buddhists was only $2. Setting aside the possible greed factor for now, there are real expenses in running a temple which includes utilities, repairs, etc. and $2 is not going to pay the bills.
The convert Buddhists need to seek instruction from the monks as has been mentioned earlier and they also need to assist in creating community. Often those attending programs are those between 25 to 45 years old with no kids. There needs to be more family oriented programs to kick-start the feeling of community and not just a place for some meditation fix and then back to their 'non-Buddhist' worlds when the contemplative programs are finished. My experience has been that the monks are very receptive to Western-born Buddhists attending their functions and to organize meditation programs at the 'ethnic' temples. Sometimes the programs do not last too long due to lack of participation, from both Buddhist born and convert Buddhists. When there is more of a sense of community, the convert Buddhists might participate on a much more regular basis, including the participation in regular dana to keep the temple going and not just payment for when they hear a 'good' Dhamma talk or program.
My point is not to place blame or to generalize any group (apologies if I have inadvertently done so), but just to say that there can be more effort made among all Buddhists, regardless of background to produce more community, which will also help spread the Dhamma to those interested.