American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese is an allusion to buddhism
In Danny's story Danny is  avoiding his ultimate Chinese stereotype of a cousin that keeps ruining his reputation. Danny is symbolically running from who he is. When he realized that he was running from his heritage he accepted who he was and didn't care about what others thought of him as much. So he realized that he was trying to be something he is not. This is telling us to be proud of who and what we are.

In the monkeys story, it is related to buddhism. Monkey was king of flower mountain. But he wanted to be a god, not a monkey. So he gathered followers and disciples so he could be accepted. It is symbolic because he strived and aimed for heaven. But instead he was "punished" for 5 hundred years. Monkey disguised himself Danny's cousin. But when danny knocked off his mask monkey came out of hiding. He was not worried about himself anymore and was therefor enlightened like Sidartha.

In Jin's story, he is a new exchange student from china. He doesn't fit in with the other students so he "hides" himself. He is embarrassed of his heritage. When a new exchange student similar to him comes to school he tries to avoid him. But he soon makes friends with him. When he realizes that he has been ignoring and trying to hide who he is he gained confidence and stopped caring about what people think about him as much.

This concludes my points why these stories are allusions to Buddhism. The morale could be to be comfortable with yourself and be confident for who you really are.