Bruce Matthews is the Dean of Arts and C.B. Lumsden Professor of Comparative Religion at Arcadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada. A former Commonwealth scholar in Buddhist Civilization at the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya (1970-71), he has a long-standing interest in Buddhism and the modern world.
摘要
Buddhism has become a major religion in Canada over the last half-century. The 'ethnic Buddhism' associated with immigrant Asian people is the most important aspect, but there is also a growing constituency of Euro-Canadian Buddhists seriously interested in the faith. This insightful study analyzes the phenomenon of Buddhism in Canada from a regional perspective. The work provides an important examination of the place of Buddhism in a developed western country associated with a traditional Judeo-Christian culture, but undergoing profound sociological transformation due to large-scale immigration and religio-cultural pluralism. It is a valuable text for students of religion, Buddhism and North American Studies.
