PHILOSOPHICAL AND CULTURAL TRENDS OF BUDDHISM IN THE WEST: THERAVĀDA, MAHĀYĀNA, VAJRAYĀNA
Abstract
The article examines the cultural and philosophical trends of the main branches of Buddhism that spread in the 20th century in the West: Theravāda (Vipassana Movement), Mahāyāna (Zen) and Vajrayāna (Tibetan Schools). The influence of external (colonial policy of Western countries) and internal (request for modernization) factors in the environment of traditional schools, caused a need for the formation of a new paradigm in the teachings of the Buddha. Buddhist modernism is at the same time an attempt to protect and preserve the heritage, and also to reach a wider world audience with the most powerful ideas. I analyzed in the article some examples how modern trends develop throughout the 20th and at the beginning of the 21st centuries in the context of the dialogue between the West and Buddhism. The formation of a new agency and subjectivity of Buddhists depends to a large extent on the ability to transform, interpret and propose one's own vision of the future of man, society, and the world in general. There are good signs that Buddhist trends are actually very powerful and influential. The trends contain certain ideas and tendencies to which I pay considerable attention in the research: psychologization of teaching, emphasis on meditative practices, multi-disciplinary dialogue with science, urbanization, emancipation, social, environmental, legal activism, ecumenism, digitalization, etc.
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