Another important issue in the transmission of Buddhism is the problem of what Jung called the “shadow.” The shadow refers to the negative side of people’s personalities and includes all their weaknesses. When the shadow is denied, it manifests itself in unconscious ways,...

Establishing accurate, standardized and culturally resonant Western Buddhist translations requires patient experimentation with terminology and readability, guided by the historical precedents of earlier Asian civilizations.

Western Buddhist monastic communities should thoughtfully adapt Asian historical models to fit local culture while carefully preserving core Vinaya discipline.

Introduction Both Buddhism and Christianity have orders of monks and nuns. Therefore, there is nothing culturally alien about Western Buddhists carrying on a monastic tradition. A crucial issue, however, is what form should Western monastic life take? Is it more beneficial to...

The Need for Western Monastics The tendency among many Western Buddhists has been to minimize the importance of the monastic community and emphasize the role of lay Buddhist practitioners. This is the opposite of what occurred in India. But just as a one-sided emphasis was...

The transmission of Buddhism to new cultures requires creative and culturally sensitive adaptation while preserving the essential integrity of the Dharma and learning from historical successes and failures.

Lam-rim textual tradition can be traced back to A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment by Atisha, and the texts of this genre can be found in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Buddhism was practiced by several groups of Turkic people in Central Asia, from the mid-3rd to the 14th century CE. The Tuvinians in Siberia have followed Buddhism from the 18th century until today.

A comprehensive overview of the history of Buddhism in Afghanistan from shortly after the time of the Buddha up until the end of the Mongol period in the 14th century.

Buddhism flourished along the Silk Route in East Turkistan (present-day Xinjiang in the People’s Republic of China) from the 1st century BCE until the 14th century CE and is present even today among the Kalmyk Mongols in the north of the province.