Westward Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Asia

Front Cover
Charles S. Prebish, Martin Baumann
University of California Press, Dec 4, 2002 - Religion - 425 pages
The first authoritative volume on the totality of Buddhism in the West, Westward Dharma establishes a comparative and theoretical perspective for considering the amazing variety of Buddhist traditions, schools, centers, and teachers that have developed outside of Asia. Leading scholars from North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia explore the plurality and heterogeneity of traditions and practices that are characteristic of Buddhism in the West.

This recent, dramatic growth in Western Buddhism is accompanied by an expansion of topics and issues of Buddhist concern. The contributors to this volume treat such topics as the broadening spirit of egalitarianism; the increasing emphasis on the psychological, as opposed to the purely religious, nature of practice; scandals within Buddhist movements; the erosion of the distinction between professional and lay Buddhists; Buddhist settlement in Israel; the history of Buddhism in internment camps; repackaging Zen for the West; and women's dharma in the West. The interconnections of historical and theoretical approaches in the volume make it a rich, multi-layered resource.
 

Contents

List of Tables
1
A DESCRIPTION
7
BUDDHISM FACING NEW CHALLENGES
9
Studying the Spread and Histories
66
THE HISTORIES OF BUDDHISM
83
American Buddhism in the Making
106
Bruce Matthews
120
The Development of Buddhism in Australia
139
Repackaging Zen for the West
218
Scandals in Emerging Western Buddhism
230
BEING A BUDDHIST IN WESTERN
243
Changes and Challenges
255
Western Buddhists
275
Womens Dharma in
309
Agnosticism Interdependence
324
The Encounter of Buddhism and Psychology
348

Buddhism in South Africa
152
Buddhism in Brazil and Its Impact on the Larger
163
Outlines of
177
JapaneseAmerican Buddhist
191
Diasporic Buddhism
201
Selected Bibliography
383
List of Contributors
401
Index
407
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