The past couple of decades have witnessed Buddhist communities both continuing the modernization of Buddhism and questioning some of its limitations. In this fascinating portrait of a rapidly changing religious landscape, Ann Gleig illuminates the aspirations and struggles of younger North American Buddhists during a period she identifies as a distinct stage in the assimilation of Buddhism to the West. She observes both the emergence of new innovative forms of deinstitutionalized Buddhism that blur the boundaries between the religious and secular, and a revalorization of traditional elements of Buddhism, such as ethics and community, that were discarded in the modernization process.
Based on extensive ethnographic and textual research, the book ranges from mindfulness debates in the Vipassana network to the sex scandals in American Zen, while exploring issues around racial diversity and social justice, the impact of new technologies, and generational differences between baby boomer, Gen X, and millennial teachers.
American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity, Ann Gleig, Yale University Press/New Haven & London, Hardcover, 362 pages, $35.00
Ann Gleig is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Central Florida. She is co-editor of Homegrown Gurus: From Hinduism in America to American Hinduism and has published widely on contemporary Buddhism
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
One. Buddhist Modernism from Asia to America 17
Two. From the Mindfulness Revolution to the Mindfulness Wars 50
Three. Sex, Scandal, and the Shadow of the Roshi 84
Four. Meditation and Awakening in the American Vipassana Network 111
Five. The Dukkha of Racism: Racial Diversity, Inclusion, and justice Work 139
Six. Buddhism Unbundled: From Buddhist geeks to Meditate.io 176
Seven. From the Boomers to Generation X 209
Eight. Critical, Collective, and Contextual Turns 249
Conclusion: American Buddhism in a "Post Age" 281
Appendix 305
Notes 309
Index 349
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