Buddhist Modernism – What is That?
The new course Understanding | Buddhist Modernism is now available. You may wonder what is that?
The popular image in the West of Buddhism is of a religion or philosophy of life that emphasizes meditation, relaxation, exploration of the mind and compassion. According to this image, there are no strict rules, it is undogmatic, non-ritualistic, and just encourages creativity and freedom of thoughts which may seem compatible with a modern scientific world view. It is getting more towards spirituality rather than a religion.
Some people who claim themselves as Buddhist are active in democratic social and political freedom, human rights and ecological and environmental movements. If, however, Western seekers of Buddhism go to a typical Buddhist temple, monastery, or pilgrimage site in Asia, they may often be surprised to see that the practice of Buddhism navigating many rituals, bowing before Buddha images, and belief in mythical cosmology, magic, stories of heavens and hells, and many kinds of unseen beings such as buddhas, bodhisattvas, natural gods, ghosts, spirits, and demons whom you may respond to in prayers, invocation and making offerings.
Well, how do you think we can account for this apparent discrepancy? Should we make it easy to say that the Buddhism learned in the West is just a misrepresentation that has nothing to do with real Buddhism? But, many Asian Buddhists particularly the more educated and affluent also subscribe to the description mentioned above.
While this explanation of Buddhism is not an adequate representation of the vast variety of schools of Buddhism in Asia as they have been practiced throughout many centuries, it does describe a new transnational genre of Buddhism that scholars have called ‘Buddhist modernism.’ David McMaham suggests that neither representative of the various forms of Buddhism that have been practiced in Asia for millennia, nor just a Western fantasy, but rather a hybrid religious and cultural form that combines selected elements of Buddhism with the major Western discourse and practices that have been significantly shaped by an engagement with the dominant cultural and intellectual forces of modernity, such as the European Enlightenment, scientific rationalist, Romanticism and its successors, Protestantism, psychology, and modern social and political thought. He also explains although influenced by the West, it is not simply ‘Western Buddhism,’ but rather a global network of movements created by both Asians and Westerners that is not the exclusive product of one geographic or cultural setting.
The modern features of Buddhist modernism pointed out by scholars include a new phase to reinterpret or demythologize traditional cosmology to align with the modern scientific view, de-emphasis on ritual, priesthood, and hierarchy systems, involvement in societal issues and ethical aspects as well as equality, inclusiveness, and social egalitarianism. We should not forget that Buddhism was quite influenced by the Protestants. This influence from Western religion might have shaken the Buddhists to pursue the true Buddhism that can be found in Buddhist scriptures rather than in rituals performed by high-ranking ordained monks, severe practices, spiritual worship, fortune-telling or superstitious beliefs. According to Donald Lopez, Buddhist modernism (he called it Modern Buddhism) stresses equality over hierarchy, the universal over the local and often exalts the individual above the community. Lastly, I would like to add that Buddhist modernism includes active and visible roles for women more than its predecessors. The transnational Buddhism, another word for international Buddhism, transcends national boundaries, cultural, ethnical background and creates a cosmopolitan Buddhist network to share the value of Buddhism and true happiness.
