Challenges and opportunities
The condition of contemporary Buddhist communities and the challenges they face differ radically from area to area. There are a number of countries, for example, where previously well-established Buddhist communities have suffered severe setbacks that have curtailed their influence and seriously sapped their vitality. This situation prevails primarily in countries that have been ruled by communist governments that have worked self-consciously to undercut Buddhist institutional power and influence. This has happened in the Mongol areas of Central Asia, in China (including Tibet), in North Korea, in Vietnam, in Cambodia, and in Laos. By the end of the 20th century, the pressure on Buddhist communities in many of these areas had eased, though conditions varied from country to country and from time to time, and in at least one case—that of Cambodia—Buddhism had been officially reinstated as the state religion.
A different situation exists in parts of Asia where Buddhism has remained the leading religious force and has continued to exert a strong influence on political, economic, and social life. This is the case in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, where Buddhism is the dominant religion among the Sinhalese and Burman majorities, and in Thailand, where more than 90 percent of the population is counted as Buddhist. Although in the majority, Buddhists face unique challenges in these areas. In Sri Lanka, Buddhists are divided over the proper response to the ongoing civil war between the Sinhalese government and the Hindu Tamil Tigers, who are fighting for an independent Tamil state. In Myanmar, Buddhists confront the profound political division between the ruling military junta, which has sought to legitimate its dictatorial rule in traditional Buddhist terms, and the democratic opposition—led by Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace—which has based its resistance on a very different version of Buddhist teaching and practice. In Thailand, Buddhism has retained a firm position within a relatively stable social and political order, despite deep divisions and conflicts that have developed among various groups.
A third situation occurs in societies where Buddhist traditions operate with a considerable degree of freedom and effectiveness, though Buddhism’s role is more circumscribed. This situation prevails in several of the Pacific Rim countries, including South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, and to a lesser extent in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, where Buddhism is practiced by significant numbers of immigrant Chinese. The primary example, however, is Japan, where Buddhism has continued to exert an important influence. In the highly modernized society that has developed in Japan, many deeply rooted Buddhist traditions, such as Shingon, Tendai, Pure Land, and Zen, have persisted and have been adapted to changing conditions. At the same time, new Buddhist sects such as Risshō-Kōsei-kai (“Society for Establishing Righteousness and Friendly Relations”) and Sōka-gakkai (“Value-Creation Society”) have gained millions of converts in Japan and throughout the world.
Finally, new Buddhist communities are struggling to put down roots in areas where Buddhism disappeared many centuries ago or never existed at all. In India, for example, the new Mahar Buddhist community established by B.R. Ambedkar is struggling to develop its own style of Buddhist teaching and practice. This seems to be leading toward the increasing incorporation and integration of religious elements drawn from the pre-existing Mahar tradition.
In the Western world, particularly in the United States and Canada, the growth of new Buddhist communities—which include both Buddhist immigrants from different parts of Asia and indigenous converts—has been very rapid indeed. In these areas older Buddhist traditions are mixing and interacting in ways that are generating rapid changes in ways of thinking and in modes of practice. This process, some believe, may lead to a new form of Buddhism that will turn out to be quite different from the traditional forms of Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana.
For more than two millennia, Buddhism has been a powerful religious, political, and social force, first in India, its original homeland, and then in many other lands. It remains a powerful religious, political, and cultural force in many parts of the world today. There is every reason to expect that the appeal of Buddhism will continue far on into the future.