The discourse concerning Buddhist modernism has carried with it a subtle claim that so-called “modern” Buddhists are not really “Buddhists” at all; they are tainted by Western culture, philosophy, and religion, and as such are peripheral to the study of the “authentic Buddhism” that resides in a more “traditional” Asia.

… Buddhists of all stripes, are reduced to stereotypes of “traditional” and “modern” that fail to capture the multifaceted nature of their religious traditions, beliefs, and practices […] condemning those who fail to live up to the standard of a non-Westernized “traditional” Buddhism that [Western scholars themselves] created as a mirror to the modern West.

This article presents a powerful response to Western scholars like Donald Lopez Jr. who dismiss modern Buddhists, explaining how “Buddhist Studies continues at times to employ Orientalizing strategies even as it seeks to distance itself from” claims of Orientalism.