Inherited Buddhists and Acquired Buddhists 2006

Buddhist-Christian Studies

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2013

The reach and appeal of Buddhism are its faculty of adaptation to other cultural backgrounds and languages, and its egalitarian view of sentient beings. Taking a cultural anthropology perspective, this paper would like to illustrate the fact that Buddhism as a globalized and multi-faceted religion is not a new phenomenon, and that Tibetan Buddhism’s diffusion in the West is due to different factors.

Public lecture at Rangjung Yeshe Institute and Tergar Institute, Nepal, 2024

In this paper I’ll briefly review the history of Buddhist adaptation to cultures, focusing on two key goals that Buddhist traditions have maintained as they adapted to cultures in Asia and now in the West: the primary goal of nirvana and enlightenment and the secondary goal of applying Buddhist powers to meet mundane needs of people and societies. I’ll also discuss two kinds of constructive reflection that Buddhists have employed in support of those two key goals: 1) applying indigenous cultural frameworks and knowledge to inform Buddhist modes of teaching and practice, and 2) applying Buddhist concepts and practices to newly inform cultures and to meet many of their needs. This essay briefly summarizes these two kinds of Buddhist constructive reflection over Asian history, and then gives examples of such constructive reflection today, which includes ways modern Buddhists apply Buddhist ideas and practices, informed by areas of social and natural science, to address current problems, questions and needs. But as modern Buddhism makes new contributions to contemporary societies in these ways, it also risks succumbing so much to modern assumptions and values that its ability to offer important alternatives to them may be reduced. Focusing on modern socially engaged Buddhism as example, I’ll offer a few critical, constructive reflections of my own on positive and problematic aspects of engaged Buddhism in light of that history.

Religion, 2012

Review of book edited by David L. McMahan, Routledge: London and New York, 2012, xiv + 329 pp. ISBN 978 0 415 78014 8, US$125.00 (cloth); ISBN 978 0 415 78015 5, US$39.95 (paperback).

East Asian Journal of Philosophy, 2024

Contents -Dynamic Encounters Between Buddhism and the West Introduction Laura Langone & Alexandra Ilieva 1-6 -Early Encounters With Buddhism Some medieval European travelogue authors offer first insights into a foreign religion. Explorations of an unchartered territory Albrecht Classen 7-24 -Declaring Buddhism Dead in the 19th Century The Meiji oligarchy and protestant mission in Japan a foreign religion. Explorations of an unchartered territory Tomoe I. M. Steineck 25-45 -Between Awakening and Enlightenment The first modern Asian Buddhist and the first Buddhist Englishman Iain Sinclair 47-73 -Sublime Disappearances Feeling Buddhism in late-nineteenth-century Western music Julian Butterfield 75-93 -Absolute Nothingness and World History Universalizing Asian logic as a world-historical mission Niklas Söderman 95-113 -Befriending Things on a Field of Energies With Dōgen and Nietzsche Graham Parkes 115-137 -Wabi-Sabi and Kei How Sen no Rikyū’s Zen-inspired ideas of human placedness and interpersonal respect enable a human-present world-harmonizing (Wa) within object-oriented ontology Jason Morgan 139-157 -The Question Concerning Technology A Japanese reply Tiago Mesquita Carvalho 159-187 -Madhyamaka and Pyrrhonian Approaches to the Skeptical Way of Life Christopher Paone 189-209 -Two Paths A critique of Husserl's view of the Buddha Jason K. Day 211-232

2003

Journal of Global Buddhism, 2009

This chapter explores issues of diasporic Buddhist movement and cultural adaptation, as well as how individuals affiliate with Buddhist denominations in diverse settings worldwide. One of the enduring features of religion worldwide is mobility. Ideas, concepts, practices, prohibitions, and cosmologies circulate beyond cultural and political boundaries in ways ranging from intentional to spontaneous. The transregional and multicultural dimensions of Buddhism have been central to its history, institutional growth, and conceptual development, yet we also see specific ethnic versions of Buddhist practice shaped by very local concerns. Using the term “diaspora” for coerced as well as voluntary relocations of Buddhist traditions and practitioners helps track issues of accommodation, hybridity, discourse, and experimentation as new sociocultural contexts shape existing practices and patterns. The discussion also investigates how individuals affiliating with Buddhist traditions, whether as a form of heritage or as new converts, experience “taking refuge” in the Three Jewels in culturally conditioned ways. Keywords: Three Jewels, convert, diasporic Buddhism, transregional, Buddhist denominations

Contemporary Buddhism, 2013

2013

According to Professor Diana Eck, a specialist in contemporary American religions at Harvard University, “Buddhism is now an American religion.” That Buddhism is seen as an American religion reflects the status of Buddhism in the United States today. Buddhists currently make up 1 to 1. 3 percent of the American population, or 3. 5 million, making it the third-largest religion in the United States and constituting a seventeen fold increase from the 1960s. Of course, the largest by far is Christianity, with about 75 percent of the population being Christian, followed by Judaism with 2 percent who are Jewish. Other faiths such as Hinduism are each less than 1 percent. Beyond the three and a half million Buddhists, there are also those who do not claim to “be Buddhists” but are keenly interested in Buddhism, especially its meditation. These people are called sympathizers or, somewhat humorously, “Nightstand Buddhists.” They may not be members of any temples or centers but practice Buddh...