Abstract
During fieldwork in Ladakh in July–August 2018, three authors from Asian studies, anthropology, and religious studies backgrounds researched “multiple Buddhisms” in Ladakh, India. Two case studies are presented: a Buddhist monastery festival by the Drikung Kagyü Tibetan Buddhist sect, and a Theravada monastic complex, called Mahabodhi International Meditation Center (MIMC). Through the transnational contexts of both of these case studies, we argue that Buddhist leaders adapt their teachings to appeal to specific audiences with the underlying goal of preserving the tradition. The Buddhist monastery festival engages with both the scientific and the magical or mystical elements of Buddhism for two very different European audiences. At MIMC, a secular spirituality mixes with Buddhism for international tourists on a meditation retreat. Finally, at MIMC, Thai Buddhist monks learn how to fight the decline of Buddhism through missionizing Theravada Buddhism in this land dominated by Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Paying attention to this multiplicity—to “multiple Buddhisms”—we argue, makes space for the complicated, ambiguous, and at times contradictory manner in which Buddhism is positioned in regards to secularism and secularity.
Highlights
Whether highlighting the supernatural aspects or the scientific aspects of Buddhist practice, the above examples show how Buddhist leaders adapt their teachings to appeal to specific audiences with the underlying goal of preserving the tradition
We extend strategic secularism here to identify the ways in which Buddhist leaders strategically adopt secular discourses such as framing mindfulness meditation as universal and scientific, in large part motivated by a missionizing effort, which we will see is rooted in the desire to impede the decline of Buddhism
These women did not self-identify as Buddhist, but they were on a self-recognized pilgrimage to Ladakh to learn more about the “ancient wisdom” and “mysticism” of Tibetan Buddhism from the Drikung Kagyü Buddhist leaders present at the festival
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Later, when asked the same question, a younger Drikung Kagyü teacher responded matter-of-factly, “We tell them what they want to hear” Statements such as “meditation is universal and scientific”, and “you don’t have to be a Buddhist to meditate” have become staple rhetoric as mindfulness meditation has moved into the secular spheres of medicine, education, and business. Thai Theravada Buddhist monks who chose to spend the summer months at the MIMC in 2018 expressed that they are “just a small cog in a big wheel”, hoping to help establish a Thai temple in Ladakh and extend the life of Buddhism past the 5000 year mark Every action that this group of a dozen Thai monks had taken in Ladakh, they claimed, was with the aim of preventing the impending threat of secularism, stretching the life of Buddhism
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