Global Buddhism: Developmental Periods, Regional Histories, and a New Analytical Perspective

The article is divided into four principal sections. The first outlines the historical periodization of Buddhism and develops the concept of global Buddhism as a fourth developmental phase following canonical, traditional, and modern Buddhism. The second surveys the regional and chronological histories of Buddhism’s worldwide dissemination, including early contacts, nineteenth-century textual scholarship, the formation of Buddhist organizations, Asian migration, postwar expansion, the popularization of meditation, and the rapid institutional growth occurring after the 1970s. The third proposes a new analytical perspective on Buddhism in Western societies by examining plurality, globalization, migrant and convert communities, and the limitations of the “two Buddhisms” model. The concluding section considers the coexistence and interaction of traditionalist, modernist, and global Buddhist forms and evaluates the implications of this framework for the comparative study of contemporary Buddhism.