Yes that was the idea in the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives,Jikan wrote:It seems to me that the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, founded by Jiyu Kennett roshi, may be pointed to as one example of what you're describing, MuMun. The liturgy is in English, and a lot of the forms and functions (titles, liturgies, and so on) seem as Anglican as they are Soto to an outsider looking in.
I'll leave it to someone with a better knowledge of that context to speak further on it.
To make the Dharma more accessible to an American and western audience, so that people could practice it in English, and it seem less Japanese and less foreign.
Making it "ours" so to speak.
As Huseng pointed out this happens anyway, and other Zen organizations in the west are following suit, some more slowly and some faster.
Also, in Asia, there is the thing where most of a continent can read written Chinese, so even if they don't speak the same language, they can often read the same newspapers.
So from there view, maybe it's why don't we just use the Chinese?
Everybody uses the Chinese? Even the Japanese use the Chinese...
But that just doesn't work for us.
Some western cowboy farmer doesn't want to read Chinese or Japanese to do Zen practice.
That just "ain't American".
It ain't British either. Or German, or French, or Swedish, or what have you.
Sooner or later these Buddhist texts will be translated in to good translations into English and other western languages.
We're already making good progress with this.
Other "asian-specific" cultural aesthetics that are not necessarily dependent upon Buddhism may and will likely also change.
We tend to use western architecture for instance, and don't use much lacquer, or curved, tiled roof tops.
For us, eating with chopsticks is a novelty, something one does at a sushi bar, or with noodles for fun, not something we do every day.
Things like that will slowly or quickly depending on the organization change, for practical reasons like cost and money, and availability.
It's just kindof the natural way Buddhism is settling in to our culture.
In Gassho,
Sara H