Buddha began to emerge as a distinct religious figure and Buddhism as a distinct tradition during the 1840s and 1850s, and a lively and widespread conversation about the nature and value of Buddhism was initiated in American books, lecture halls, and magazines around 1844. This public conversation intensified after 1879 and peaked between 1893 and 1907. Buddhism even became a "live option" for the spiritually disillusioned during the late-Victorian period as Protestant Christianity became increasingly problematic for a number of Western intellectuals. In this cultural context tens of thousands of Americans of European descent read about Buddhism or attended lectures about the tradition and several thousand even considered Buddhism seriously.Contrary to the presuppositions of American historians, most of those who expressed some interest in the tradition were either rationalist inheritors of the Skeptical Enlightenment or Esoteric inheritors of an Occult tradition and not New England Romantics filled with an aesthetic and mystical spirit; and, although they and their Christian critics did not recognize this, Euro-American Buddhist sympathizers and adherents were cultural consenters as well as cultural dissenters.In fact, there was a surprising degree of continuity among American interpreters of diverse religious perspectives. More specifically, individualism, optimism, and activism were affirmed in one way or another by almost all participants in the conversation about Buddhism--Christian critics, academic scholars, travel writers, and Buddhist apologists. If this public discussion is any indication, then, these beliefs and values were central to the religiousness of a wide range of individuals and groups, and they were fundamental components of the culture that dominated the print media and other cultural institutions in Victorian America. If the public conversation about Buddhism is any indication, almost all participants in Victorian culture in America agreed that whatever else religion was it must be activistic and optimistic. In fact, many of the spiritually disillusioned in the late-Victorian period found it easier to reject god and self than abandon the widely-shared commitment to activism and optimism; and, to a great extent because they were unable to overcome the force of interpretations that associated the tradition with contrary beliefs and values, most of the thousands of the spiritually disillusioned who considered Buddhism a "live option" finally found themselves left to choose among other religious options to resolve their religious crisis.
