Globalization
- LAST REVIEWED: 18 August 2021
- LAST MODIFIED: 13 September 2010
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195393521-0075
- LAST REVIEWED: 18 August 2021
- LAST MODIFIED: 13 September 2010
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195393521-0075
Introduction
Globalization is a topic taken up by a variety of disciplines, from political science and international relations, to economics and sociology. Anthropology and sociology are the fields most relevant to Buddhist studies; unfortunately, the bulk of this work focuses on culture more broadly defined, religion as a subset of culture, and Buddhism as a subset of religion. This work is often heavy on theory and abstraction but light on concrete examples of lived religious experience. On the other hand, Buddhist studies scholars over the past two decades have increasingly framed their work on contemporary Buddhisms in the context of globalization or the transnational movement of peoples. However, in taking globalization as something of a given, little is said on what it actually means; and the relationship between globalization theory and concrete examples is merely implied. The following bibliography seeks to balance both the surfeit of globalization theory with the dearth of specifically Buddhist globalization theories. This balance can be achieved by focusing on works that are most relevant to Buddhist studies and works that situate Buddhism explicitly in a global context. This emerging field is presently concerned with Buddhist modernism and Buddhist reactions to colonialism and Western hegemony; area studies that locate Buddhist movements within the flow of global culture; and the effects of immigration, migration, and refugees on specific Buddhist communities or populations. This entry, then, begins with an overview of both globalization theory and some of the major introductions to the field of Buddhist globalization and resources for the classroom. To the extent that globalization is historically related to Western imperialism, there is much overlap here with postcolonial studies. The reader will also note a bias in this first edition toward Western language sources that will be attended to in later iterations; as Alles 2008 (cited under Globalization Theories) makes clear, the study of religion in the global context is not the sole purview of the Anglo-American West.
General Overviews
The following section provides useful introductions to globalization and religion or Buddhism specifically, the major edited volumes that have recently been published, as well as reliable texts books for the classroom. Esposito, et al. 2008 is an excellent undergraduate-level text; chapter 6 deals with Buddhism specifically. Inda and Rosaldo 2008 provides a graduate-level reader with a specifically anthropological point of view. Juergensmeyer 2003 gives a fair overview of globalization from within religious studies proper, dealing with both specific traditions and thematic issues. Baumann 2001 gives an excellent historical overview of Buddhism in the modern world as it pertains to globalization. One of the first Buddhist studies volumes to appear with the actual word “globalization” in the title, the articles in Learman 2005 treat Buddhism as a missionary religion, focusing primarily on Asian Buddhists spreading the tradition outside of Asia. Prebish and Baumann 2002 includes a number of essays devoted specifically to the issue of globalization or transnationalism, whereas Heine and Prebish 2003 deals more specifically with issues of modernity. And while Numrich 2008 deals specifically with Buddhist groups in North America, many essays in this volume frame their studies within the context of transnationalism or globalization.
Baumann, Martin. “Global Buddhism: Developmental Periods, Regional Histories, and a New Analytical Perspective.” Journal of Global Buddhism 2 (2001).
Baumann provides a thorough and succinct overview of world Buddhist history, divided into specific historical eras moving away from “traditional” to “modern” forms. It is in this modern form, he argues, that we can locate the emergence of globalized Buddhism.
Esposito, John L., Darrell J. Fasching, and Todd Lewis. Religion and Globalization: World Religions in Historical Perspective. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
An excellent textbook for undergraduate religious studies majors, the book is a basic “Intro to World Religions” text with explicit emphasis on globalization. Contains a helpful introduction to such key terms as “modernity,” “postmodernism,” and “colonialism.” Chapter 6 deals exclusively with Buddhism.
Heine, Steven, and Charles S. Prebish, eds. Buddhism in the Modern World: Adaptations of an Ancient Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
One of a number of recent collections that have moved away from a strict area-studies model of Buddhism located in specific countries or regions, this collection of essays covers a wide breadth of modernist Buddhist concerns both in and out of Asia.
Inda, Jonathan Xavier, and Renato Rosaldo, eds. The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader. 2d ed. Blackwell Readers in Anthropology. Malden, MA, and Oxford: Blackwell, 2008.
An excellent graduate-level course reader for anthropology students, the work contains a number of excellent essays that may be useful for students in allied fields of religious studies, ethnic studies, or sociology. Contains an oft-cited piece by Appadurai.
Juergensmeyer, Mark, ed. Global Religions: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
A short but thorough introduction to religion as a global phenomenon aimed primarily at specialists or graduate students. Includes helpful essays on key terms and issues as well as tradition-specific chapters. Gananath Obeyesekere contributes the chapter on Buddhism.
Learman, Linda, ed. Buddhist Missionaries in the Era of Globalization. Topics in Contemporary Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005.
One of the few titles from within Buddhist studies proper to contain the word “globalization” in the title, this collection of essays frames the issue in terms of missionary or evangelistic endeavors on the part of Buddhists both in and out of Asia. Learman provides an excellent introduction.
Numrich, Paul David, ed. North American Buddhists in Social Context. Boston: E. J. Brill, 2008.
Although this edited collection of primarily sociological essays focuses on Buddhists in North America and Hawaii, it does not frame the issue explicitly in terms of globalization. Several essays are highly relevant to such issues as Asian immigrant communities or communities of diaspora, as well as transnationalism.
Prebish, Charles S., and Martin Baumann, eds. Westward Dharma: Buddhism beyond Asia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
Not specifically framed in terms of globalization, this collection of essays covers an extremely broad range of study, considering virtually every area outside of Asia to be “the West,” including Africa and Israel. Includes reprints of standard essays as well as newer work on such topics as engaged Buddhism, modernity, and feminism.
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Article
- Abe, Masao
- Abhidharma/Abhidhamma Literature
- Abhijñā/Ṛddhi (Extraordinary Knowledge and Powers)
- Abortion, Buddhism and
- Ajanta Caves
- Alāyavijñāna
- Ambedkar Buddhism
- Amitābha
- Ancient Indian Society
- Anthropology
- Anātman
- Aśoka
- Archaeology of Early Buddhism
- Arhat
- Art and Architecture In China, Buddhist
- Art and Architecture in India, Buddhist
- Art and Architecture in Japan, Buddhist
- Art and Architecture in Nepal, Buddhist
- Art and Architecture in Tibet, Buddhist
- Art and Architecture on the "Silk Road," Buddhist
- Asaṅga
- Asceticism, Buddhism and
- Avadāna
- Avalokiteśvara
- Avataṃsaka Sutra
- Awakening of Faith
- Baoshan
- Beats, Buddhism and the
- Bhāviveka / Bhāvaviveka
- Bodh Gaya
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- Bodhidharma
- Bodhisattva
- Bodhisattvabhūmi
- Body, Buddhism and the
- Borobudur
- Buddha, Three Bodies of the (Trikāya)
- Buddhism and Black Embodiment
- Buddhism and Ethics
- Buddhism and Hinduism
- Buddhism and Kingship
- Buddhism and Law
- Buddhism and Marxism
- Buddhism and Medicine in Japan
- Buddhism and Modern Literature
- Buddhism and Motherhood
- Buddhism and Nationalism
- Buddhism and Orientalism
- Buddhism and Politics
- Buddhism, Immigrants, and Refugees
- Buddhism in Africa
- Buddhism in Australia
- Buddhism in Latin America
- Buddhism in Taiwan
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- Buddhist Hermeneutics
- Buddhist Interreligious and Intrareligious Dialogue
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- Buddhist Thought, Embryology in
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- Buddho-Daoism
- Cambodian Buddhism
- Candrakīrti
- Canon, History of the Buddhist
- Caste, Buddhism and
- Central Asia, Buddhism in
- China, Esoteric Buddhism in, (Zhenyan and Mijiao)
- China, Pilgrimage in
- Chinese Buddhist Publishing and Print Culture, 1900-1950
- Colonialism and Postcolonialism
- Compassion (karuṇā)
- Cosmology, Astronomy and Astrology
- Culture, Material
- D. T. Suzuki
- Dalai Lama
- Debate
- Decoloniality and Buddhism
- Demons and the Demonic in Buddhism
- Dōgen
- Dhammapada/Dharmapada
- Dharma
- Dharmakīrti
- Digitization of Buddhism (Digital Humanities and Buddhist ...
- Dignāga
- Dignāga and Dharmakīrti, The Philosophical Works and Influ...
- Dizang (Jizō, Ksitigarbha)
- Dāna
- Drigung Kagyu (’Bri gung bKa’ brgyud)
- Dzogchen (rDzogs chen)
- Early Buddhist Philosophy (Abhidharma/Abhidhamma)
- Early Modern European Encounters with Buddhism
- East Asia, Mountain Buddhism in
- East Asian Buddhist Art, Portraiture in
- Ellora Caves
- Emptiness (Śūnyatā)
- Environment, Buddhism and the
- Ethics of Violence, Buddhist
- Family, Buddhism and the
- Feminist Approaches to the Study of Buddhism
- Four Noble Truths
- Funeral Practices
- Āgamas, Chinese
- Gandharan Art
- Gandhāra, Buddhism in
- Gelugpa (dGe lugs pa)
- Gender, Buddhism and
- Globalization
- Goenka
- Gotama, the Historical Buddha
- Hakuin Ekaku
- History of Buddhisms in China
- Homa
- Huineng
- Image Consecrations
- Images
- India, Buddhism in
- India, Mahāmudrā in
- Internationalism, Buddhism and
- Intersections Between Buddhism and Hinduism in Thailand
- Iranian World, Buddhism in the
- Islam, Buddhism and
- Japan, Buddhism in
- Jonang
- Jātaka
- Kagyu
- Kūkai
- Kālacakra
- Korea, Buddhism in
- Kyōgyōshinshō (Shinran)
- Laos, Buddhism in
- Linji and the Linjilu
- Literature, Chan
- Literature, Tantric
- Local Religion, Buddhism as
- Lotus Sūtra
- Luminosity
- Maṇḍala
- Madhyamaka
- Mahayana
- Mahayana, Early
- Mahāsāṃghika
- Mahāvairocana Sūtra/Tantra
- Maitreya
- Mañjuśrī
- Malaysia, Buddhism in
- Mantras and Dhāraṇīs
- Marpa
- Medicine
- Meditation
- Merit Transfer
- Milarepa
- Mindfulness
- Miracles, Buddhist
- Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
- Modern Japanese Buddhist Philosophy
- Modernism, Buddhist
- Monasticism in East Asia
- Mongolia, Buddhism in
- Mongolia, Buddhist Art and Architecture in
- Mārga (Path)
- Music, and Buddhism
- Myanmar, Buddhism in
- Nembutsu
- New Medias, Buddhism in
- New Religions in Japan (Shinshūkyō), Buddhism and
- Nāgārjuna
- Śāntideva (Bodhicaryāvatāra)
- Nuns, Lives, and Rules
- Oral and Literate Traditions
- Pagan (Bagan)
- Perfection of Wisdom
- Perfections (Six and Ten)
- Philosophy, Chinese Buddhist
- Philosophy, Classical Indian Buddhist
- Philosophy, Classical Japanese Buddhist
- Philosophy, Tibetan Buddhist
- Pilgrimage in India
- Pilgrimage in Japan
- Pilgrimage in Tibet
- Pratītyasamutpāda
- Preaching/Teaching in Buddhism Studies
- Prātimokṣa/Pātimokkha
- Psychology and Psychotherapy, Buddhism in
- Pure Land Buddhism
- Pure Land Sūtras
- Relics
- Religious Tourism, Buddhism and
- Āryadeva
- Sakya
- Sangha
- Sarvāstivāda
- Saṃsāra and Rebirth
- Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta
- Sautrāntika
- Sādhana
- Secularization of Buddhism
- Self, Non-Self, and Personal Identity
- Sexuality and Buddhsim
- Shingon
- Shinnyoen
- Shinran
- Shinto, Buddhism and
- Siddhas
- Soka Gakkai
- South and Southeast Asia, Devatās, Nats, And Phii In
- Southeast Asia, Buddhism in
- Sri Lanka, Monasticism in
- Sōtō Zen (Japan)
- Stūpa Pagoda Caitya
- Suffering (Dukkha)
- Sugata Saurabha
- Sutta (Pāli/Theravada Canon)
- Taixu
- Talismans, Buddhist
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- Texts, Dunhuang
- Thai Buddhism
- Thích Nhất Hạnh
- Theravada
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- Tiantai/Tendai
- Tibet, Buddhism in
- Tibet, Mahāmudrā in
- Tibetan Book of the Dead
- Tārā
- Tāranātha
- Tri Songdetsen
- Tsongkhapa
- Uighur Buddhism
- Upāya
- Vairocana/Mahāvairocana
- Vasubandhu
- Verse Literature, Tibetan Buddhist
- Vidyādhara (weikza/weizzā)
- Vietnam, Buddhism in
- Vinaya
- Vision and Visualization
- Visualization/Contemplation Sutras
- Visuddhimagga (Buddhaghosa)
- Warrior Monk Traditions
- West (North America and Europe), Buddhism in the
- Wheel of Life (Bhava-Cakra)
- Women in Buddhism
- Women in the West, Prominent Buddhist
- Xuanzang
- Yasodharā
- Yogācāra
- Yogācārabhūmi
- Zen, Premodern Japanese