The Making of Buddhist Modernism

The book begins with a Note on Buddhist Terminology, clarifying the author’s use of Sanskrit, Pāli, Tibetan, Chinese, and translation conventions, then proceeds to Chapter 1, “Introduction: Buddhism and Modernity,” which introduces Buddhist modernism as a hybrid formation shaped by Asian Buddhist reformers and Western cultural forces, especially Enlightenment rationalism, Romantic expressivism, Protestantism, science, and modern individualism. Chapter 2, “The Spectrum of Tradition and Modernism,” distinguishes traditional and modernist forms of Buddhism through themes such as demythologization, detraditionalization, psychologization, and new patterns of lay practice. Chapter 3, “Buddhism and the Discourses of Modernity,” examines how Buddhism entered into modern debates concerning Christianity, scientific rationalism, Romanticism, disenchantment, and the search for meaning. Chapter 4, “Modernity and the Discourse of Scientific Buddhism,” analyzes the modern claim that Buddhism is uniquely compatible with science and rational inquiry. Chapter 5, “Buddhist Romanticism: Art, Spontaneity, and the Wellsprings of Nature,” explores the influence of Romanticism, especially in modern interpretations of Zen, creativity, and natural spontaneity. Chapter 6, “A Brief History of Interdependence,” traces how dependent origination and interdependence were reinterpreted in ecological, ethical, and global terms. Chapter 7, “Meditation and Modernity,” studies the modern transformation of meditation into a central, individualized, and often deinstitutionalized practice. Chapter 8, “Mindfulness, Literature, and the Affirmation of Ordinary Life,” explains how mindfulness became linked with modern literary sensibility, psychology, and the sacralization of everyday experience. Chapter 9, “From Modern to Postmodern?” considers later developments, including tensions between detraditionalization and retraditionalization, private spirituality and social engagement, and Buddhism’s capacity to critique modernity while also adapting to it.