Beyond Buddhist Modernism
“Within American Buddhist Meditation-based convert lineages, there is a an increasing interrogation of Buddhist modernism and the emergence of characteristics that have been associated with the postmodern than the modern. Hence, it concludes that American Buddhism is witnessing the emergence of a new period marked by enlightenment beyond the European Enlightenment.”
Ann Gleig, in American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity offers a fascinating perspective on how we understand our practice of the dharma. Much of the focus of dharma teachings is on the practice of meditation, experiences, such as stages of awakening, and ethics, how we live with our deepening understanding. We seldom sit back and consider a birdseye view of how the teachings and communities are evolving and being evolved by contemporary culture. I will offer here some of the key insights that emerge from a close reading of Gleig’s scholarly work in a series of short blogs.
Beginning with definitions. Buddhist modernism is a term use to describe meditation-based convert Buddhist modern lineages that have emerged in the 20th century. Largely practiced by Asian Americans, traditional Buddhist communities generally maintain Asian cultural norms, and can be characterized as “immigrant”, “ethnic” or “heritage” Buddhism. Convert or Buddhist modernism is predominantly practiced by white middle-class individuals with an emphasis on meditation and personal awakening. Traditional Buddhism in America orients towards cultural preservation with practices of ritual and devotional merit-making activities. Gleig’s narrative focuses on the former population - Buddhist modernism.
The five characteristics of Buddhist modernism are:
A claim to return to the “original’ and ‘pure’ teachings of the Buddha that were distorted by cultural and institutional overlays;
A framing of Buddhism as a rational and scientific religion;
A rejection of the traditional Theravada separation of the mundane and supramundane levels and a blurring of the roles of the layperson and the monk;
A revival of meditation practice and a claim that Nirvana is an attainable goal in this lifetime for both monastics and laity; and
An interest in social reform issues such as gender equality.
Interestingly, while one might assume that these reforms all emerged as Buddhism found it’s way into western culture, Gleig traces the roots of these reforms to Southeast Asia. Ledi Sayadaw (1846-1923) developed vipassana in Burma, as a domestication of Buddhism, encouraging householders to practice. S.N. Goenka (1924- 2013) further evolved this teaching presenting it as a nonsectarian, scientific method that is “a universal remedy for universal ills.” for householders. Mahasi Sayadaw (1904-1982) is in this lineage as well. His meditation method is sometimes termed “dry Vipassana” and it is this method that Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Saltsberg, Jock Kornfield brought to the US in 1975 when founding the Insight Meditation Society.
Gleig traces the path through the Thai Forest Tradition which greatly influences vipassana in the US. She also traces Buddhist modernism through Japan with Kosen Soen (1816-1892) whose student Shaku Soen (1960-1919) presented Zen at the World Parliament of Religion in 1897. S. Soen’s student, D.T. Suzuki (1870 - 1966) offers a rational perspective of Zen greatly influenced by Western Enlightenment values of universalism, science and reason.
Tibetan Buddhism engaged in discourses with Buddhist modernism much later with the occupation by the Chinese. The Dalai Lama and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987) are both key figure in the construction of Buddhist modernism.
Glieg cites many authors when she characterizes Buddhist modernism as “transnational, rational, socially engaged, free from cultural and institutional accretions and devotional and ritual practices, and it privileges meditation and it privileges meditation as an empirically verifiable practice at its center.” She argues that in many ways Buddhist modernism is it’s own lineage with it’s own doctrines, with it’s own practices, with it’s own cannon of sacred scriptures. Essentially, rather then being found in the classical Buddhist texts and lived traditions, Buddhist modernism is a new form of Buddhism that “has been fashioned by modernizing Asian Buddhists and Westerners deeply engaged in creating Buddhist responses to modernity.”
The two major themes are:
a world-affirming stance located in everyday life and a subjective turn toward interiority and self-reflexivity,
the key modern values of individualism, egalitarianism, liberalism, democracy, and the importance of social reform.”
Thus, the ongoing dialogues between Buddhism and science reflect these values.
One could also argue that Buddhist modernism is also greatly influenced by American Transcendentalism with themes of interconnection, mysticism, nature, spontaneity, and creativity. These have roots in European Romanticism and can also be found in the Beat Generation’s counter-cultural trope.
These two streams, scientific and romantic can best be seen in how meditation has been detached from the wider contextual setting of Buddhism, thus becoming the cornerstone of Buddhist modernism practice. She notes that meditation has become decontextualized from its cosmological and ethical religious context. It has become individualized, rather then being embedded in a community of practice and it has been psychologized in that is has become a psycho-therapeutic technique.
Gleig sites several authors characterizations of Buddhist modernism, of which Rick Fields in his seminal work How Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America is the most accessible.
From Fields:
it is largely a lay movement,
it is focused on intensive meditation practice,
it incorporates Western psychology as an adjunct to Buddhist practice,
it is shaped by a strong feminist current,
it values social action,
it is marked by democratic approaches to power and authority.
William Coleman in his 2002 book The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition offers a similar characterization, with one difference - “there is a broad-ranging eclecticism, which includes both a borrowing and a mixing of teachings across Buddhist and non-Buddhist lineages.
I believe you have some idea now of what Buddhist modernism means and how much of the Buddhism that we as folks living in this day and age have inherited. In the next installment, I’ll take up some of the changes that are occurring in sanghas today, which is the primary emphasis of the Gleig’s fascinating book.