Western Reformed Buddhism?
By 1998, the failure of Asian Buddhism to take root in the West was a source of major concern among both practitioners and scholars. What made this situation more ironic was that it was during the 1980s and 90s that numbers of Buddhist practice groups in Europe, Australia, and the Americas increased over two hundred percent. Two problems, separate but inseparable, made any change in this pessimistic situation unlikely.
First, significant immigration of Asian Buddhists from China, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand did not result in the inclusion of Western Buddhists into these ongoing Buddhist traditions. Despite the existence of millions of Asian Buddhists in Europe, Australia, and the Americas, Western Buddhist groups remain nearly entirely middle class, white, and Caucasian in makeup. For a structured discussion of the subject, the article The Appearance of a Mayayana provides a complete overview of the current situation.
Second, many aspects of Buddhism attractive to Westerners are in fact Western in derivation, the result of Victorian-era reformist activities among Sri Lankans and later modifications of both Zen and Tibetan traditions. This viewpoint is explored in the article Buddhist Modernism and the American Buddhist Tradition. Early dispersal of Buddhism to develop in widely separated areas means Western practitioners have several very different Buddhist traditions from which to choose, each inseparable from a cultural context. By the time the serious practitioner has gotten beyond popular aspects of Buddhism, serious involvement means exclusive adoption of a particular Asian tradition. It is at this point many Western Buddhists simply drop out, or continue their personal practice while withdrawing from active participation in a practice group.
It was in response to these trends that Western Reformed Buddhism began to emerge as the natural response of a modern culture to generate a responsible Western Buddhist movement that could maintain and further Buddhist wisdom and practice without exclusive reliance on one Asian tradition or another. Relying on modern neuroscience rather than ancient proofs doesn’t deny the insight of Gautama or any of the gifted writers and poets of the many paths. Western Reformed Buddhism accepts all Asian traditions. Those joining the challenge of a new tradition continue to practice techniques they learned. That’s what Buddhism is about, practice, and the possibility of our practice making us better, happier, more fulfilled individuals. We’re just practical about the spiritual needs of a twenty-first century globally interconnected world. New solutions can’t come in exclusive traditions, and Western Reformed Buddhism is ready for the future.
