Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Buddhism, and the Divine

Abstract

Many years ago a fellow Tibetologist and historian of religion had sent me a review article written by him on The Meaning and End of Religion, authored by Wilfred Cantwell Smith, a name which did not mean anything to me—yet.' I still lived in Germany, and the theoretical work of North American scholars rarely made it across the Atlantic. The review took offense at W. C. Smith's stance that the believer has a role to play in the definition of the research subject taken from a religious context. In its largely negative mood the review provoked me to read the book. Reading The Meaning and End of Religion truly opened new vistas on how one could understand the beliefs of other people. I was mesmerized by the humaneness, the openness, the humility I found in this book. Here, I felt, was a way out of what I considered to be the restraints of nineteenth century philolology. My frustration with the staleness of the academic inquiry had found an end. I decided to write a letter to the unknown author whose views I found so intriguing and stimulating. W. C. Smith invited me to the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion in St. Louis. Attending the conference was an eye-opening experience. The apparent absence of colonial arrogance in the North-American academy impressed me deeply. When the opportunity came, I gladly left the continent behind me. Thus, I am