[Buddha-l] CFP: Contemporary Buddhism

[Piya Tan]

It might be helpful to distinguish between western (locational) and
westernized (habituational). I think the locational sense is becoming less
clear, or even relevant. There is so much cultural mobility.

Most young urban Singaporean are westernized and think being a Christian is
cool. The yuppy phenomenon is still here. I am myself the product of the
last of the British colonial educational system in Malaysia.

For most local Buddhists here, "western" means the white man. We also have a
weird local phenomenon where there are those who dye their hair some shade
of blonde. On rare occasions (of the local is fair-skinned) he could be
mistaken for "ang-mo" (a red-haired devil = westerner).

So most local Buddhists first categorise between the white westerner and
locals. Then amongst the locals, the titled ("Dr" of any colour is esp
respectable) and the untitled. In short, as you go higher in the Buddhist
social echelons here, the more status counts.

Thailand may hav e the lese majeste law, but much of the Buddhist communbity
here is still feudalistic too. This is to be expected where the monks here
are highly brahminized.

Piya Tan


On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 7:24 AM, Richard P. Hayes <rhayes at unm.edu> wrote:

> On Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 13:48:49 MST, Joanna wrote:
>
> > Hmmmm--"Western" Buddhism as the metonym for Contemporary
> > Buddhism?
> > That's a stretch.  I'm citing "western" here because it's a
> > frequently used trope from the inaugural editorial by Michael
> > McGhee.
>
> Michael McGhee is one of the most interesting philosophers on the scene.
> He is a Buddhist (or at least he is a dharmachari in the Western
> Buddhist Order, nearly half of the members of which are in India and
> thus arguably not Western). Given McGhee's skills and interests, I
> suspect the Journal of Contemporary Buddhism should have some
> interesting content, whether one approves the title or not. As for the
> title, we could give it a Madhyamaka reading; it's just a conventional
> label that serves a particular purpose and need not be taken any more
> seriously than any other vacuous expression.
>
> --
> Richard
>
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