Future of Buddhism
Into the Mainstream: Buddhism, Mysticism, and Ecumenism
Buddhism is clearly moving from the fringes of American
religious life into its mainstream.
July 5, 2010
By James William Coleman
Buddhism is something of a "stealth" religion in North
America. At least to judge by its treatment in the mass
media, Buddhism is seen as something rather rare and exotic.
When media figures, politicians, and even academics discuss
religious diversity in America, Islam is usually the first
religion they add to the traditional list of Judeo-Christian
faiths.
Yet when the Pew Religious Landscape Survey
asked a random sample of Americans to name their religious
affiliation in 2007, 0.7 percent said they were Buddhist
while only 0.4 said they were Muslim. There is, moreover,
good reason to believe that this figure significantly
underestimates the actual number of Buddhist practitioners.
The majority of Buddhists in America were not born into the
tradition, but are converts, and their difficulties with
what they view as the rigidity and intolerance of other
faiths often make them reluctant to proclaim any sectarian
religious identification. Perhaps more importantly, Buddhist
teachings themselves warn about the dangers of grasping at
any kind of self-identification, including that of being a
Buddhist.
If we look at other measures, the number of Buddhists is
much larger. A 2009 survey by the Purdue Social Research
Institute found that 2.2 percent of adult Americas visit a
Buddhist teacher or monk at least a few times a year, 2.7
percent practice Buddhist meditation at least one a month,
and 3.1 percent read Buddhist literature at least one a
month. (In reality, these statistics are probably also
underestimates, since they exclude those who identified
themselves as Asian Americans.) By these measures, the
percentage of Americans who are Buddhists is actually
significantly larger than the 1.7 percent who told the Pew
survey they were Jewish in religion. Most surprising of all,
is the remarkable finding of the 2003 Religion and Diversity
Survey funded by the Lilly Endowment that 12.5 percent of
Americans felt that Buddhist teachings had an important
influence on their thinking about religion or spirituality.
Clearly, this is not a rare or exotic religious movement.
What does all this portend for the future? Although my
crystal ball is a little cloudy just now, it seems
indubitable that Buddhism will move from the fringes of
American religious life into its mainstream, if it has not
already done so. But what will its role be in this new age
of multiculturalism and globalization? Although the answer
is far from clear, it seems to me that Western Buddhism is
the quintessential example of a religious movement based on
direct religious experience, rather than doctrines, rituals,
devotional practices, or a promise of community support.
Demographically, its adherents are disproportionately drawn
from highly educated classes who shape our cultural
evolution.
Thus, I think Western Buddhists stand a reasonable chance
of leading a major ecumenical movement to return direct
mystical experience beyond the confines of doctrine and
ideology back to the center of religious life. One thing is
certain; the 21st-century world faces no more important
challenge than the discovery of the universal core that
binds all religious life and all the world's warring peoples
together.
James William Coleman is Professor of Sociology at the
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
He is the author of numerous books and articles including
The New Buddhism:
The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition (Oxford,
2001).
