Buddhism in the West: 19th-21st Centuries

The First Western Contacts

Buddhism came to the West in indirect forms. In the 4th century CE, the Buddhist monk Mahakala went to Alexandria.

The Enlightened Era: The Discovery of Buddhism

The First Translators

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) considered Buddhism the deepest religion in the world. Eugene Burnouf (1801-1852) is the father of European Buddhist studies.

The First Buddhist Societies

The Theosophical Society and Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891) included Buddhism. The London Buddhist Society was founded in 1907.

The First Asian Masters in the West

D.T. Suzuki (1870-1966) taught Zen in the West for 40 years. Soyen Shaku (1860-1945) was the first Japanese Zen master to visit America.

The Revolution of the 60s and 70s

The Beat Movement and Zen

Beat poets (Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder) discovered Buddhism through D.T. Suzuki's translations.

The Immigration of Tibetan Masters

After the Chinese invasion of Tibet, thousands of Tibetans fled to India, and many settled in the West.

Tibetan Masters in the West

• Chogyam Trungpa (1939-1987): founded Naropa Institute
• Tarthang Tulku (1938-): founded Dharma Publishing
• 14th Dalai Lama: Nobel Peace Prize in 1989

American Vipassana

S.N. Goenka (1924-2013) founded vipassana centers.

American Zen

Shunryu Suzuki (1904-1971) founded the San Francisco Zen Center.

Contemporary Research

The Science of Mindfulness

Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the MBSR program in 1979.

The Neuroscience of Buddhism

Neuroscience has studied the effects of Buddhist meditation.

Current State

• 3-4 million Buddhists in North America
• 1-2 million in Europe
• 500,000-1 million in Australia
• 100,000-500,000 in Latin America

Modern Trends

• Secular Buddhism (Steven Batchelor)
• Engaged Buddhism (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• Digital Buddhism

Sources

• Charles Prebish: Luminous Passage
• Robert Sharf: Buddhist Modernism
• Donald Lopez: The Scientific Buddha