Buddhism in Britain; Development and Adaptation; Buddhism in England; Buddhism in South Asia; the FWBO; British Forest Sangha
摘要
Up until the mid half of the present century Buddhist institutions in Britain were exceedingly limited in scope and number. Subsequently a variety of indigenous Buddhist movements have emerged, each with a particular doctrinal exegesis and organisational form. This work is an ethnography of two of them - the British Theravada Forest Sangha and the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. The former consists of monastics and lay supporters, and the second is entirely a lay movement. The British Forest Sangha has strong links with hermitage monasteries in the forests of north-west Thailand, founded under the spirirtual guidance of meditation master, Ajahn Chah. The FWBO selectively draws on a variety of Buddhist traditions to foster what it calls the Ekayana (One Way). Characteristically syncretic, the FWBO also calls on elements of modern European thought, particularly gestalt psychology and evolutionary theory. As a means towards accounting for their continuous growth throughout the nineteen eighties the genesis of both movements is portrayed, along with the relevant historical background. The public face of both movements is examined and their styles of organisation and recruitment analysed with special attention to symbolic content. The complex dynamics of cross-cultural processes form a major theoretical concern of the thesis. In the transmission of Buddhism under modern conditions it is possible to trace contingent patterns that flow in both directions between Asian and Western cultures as they interact. The centrality of meditation as a practice for Buddhists in the West combined with the recent history of meditation in South East Asia serves as one of several illustrations of these processes. The second related theoretical concern applies to specific Western adaptations of traditional Asian forms, in particular the monastic Sangha. Attention is focussed on those negotiations between monks and lay people which are necessary to facilitate adaptation of the British context, while simultaneously avoiding serious transgressions of orthopraxy.
