Budizm’in Batı’dan Doğuşu: Modern ve Postmodern Budizm

Year 2020, Issue: 54, 85 - 107, 31.12.2020

Hesna Serra Aksel

https://doi.org/10.29288/ilted.738052

Abstract

Batı’da Budizm’i bir din olarak benimsemeden Budist teori ve pratikler ile çeşitli şekillerde ilişki kurarak Budizm’i hayat tarzına ve düşünce dünyasına dâhil eden kişilerin sayısı hızlı bir artış göstermektedir. Bu çalışmada, Budizm’in Batı’da edindiği yerin anlaşılmasına katkıda bulunmak için, Budizm’in 19. yüzyılda Batı’ya taşınmasından itibaren geçirdiği değişim evrelerini ele alınarak bugün gelinen noktanın arka planına ışık tutmak amaçlanmıştır. İlk olarak modernitenin revaçta olduğu dönemde Budizm’in ‘rasyonel’ ve ‘bilimsel’ bir gelenek olarak okunma çabaları ve bunu ortaya çıkaran faktörler incelenmiştir. Ardından bu süreçte etkin olan birkaç önemli isim üzerinden hem Batı’nın hem Asya’nın içinde bulunduğu kültürel şartların sürece etkisine değinilmiştir. Son olarak da 1960’lardan itibaren yaşanan yeni kırılmalar ve bunun sonucunda ortaya çıkan ‘pragmatik’ Budizm anlayışları ele alınmıştır. Neticede Batı’nın modern değerleri ile örtüştürülmüş ve post-modern hayat tarzının pragmatik hedeflerine hizmet eden Budist ögelerin farklı hayat tarzları içine entegre edilebildiği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.

Keywords

Dinler Tarihi, Budizm, Modern Budizm, Postmodern Budizm, Batıda Budizm

Dawning of Buddhism in the West: Modern and Postmodern Buddhism

Abstract

Number of those in the West who relate with Buddhist theories and practices in various ways without adapting Buddhism as a religion are rapidly rising. In this research, in order to contribute to a better comprehension of the place Buddhism occupies in the West, we aim to shed lights on the background of the contemporary situation by examining the adaptation periods of Buddhism since it was introduced to the West in the 19th century. First, we discuss reading of Buddhism as a ‘rational’ and ‘scientific’ tradition when the modernism had a high prestige and the conditions which caused these modernist readings. Then, we look into the cultural situations both in the West and Asia by pointing out some important people who were effective in this period. The last point we pay attention is new turns since the 1960s and the ‘pragmatic’ Buddhism as the result of these new turns. As a result, we argue that Buddhism which has been adopted to modern values of the West and pragmatic purposes of post-modern life style easily fit into various life and belief systems.

Keywords

History of Religions, Buddhism, Modern Buddhism, Postmodern Buddhism, Buddhism in the West

References

• Borup, Jørn. Branding Buddha – Mediatized and Commodified Buddhism as Cultural Narrative. Journal of Global Buddhism 17 (2016), 41–55.
• Borup, Jørn. Who are these Buddhists and How Many of Them are There? Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in Counting Immigrant Buddhists: A Danish Case Study. Journal of Contemporary Religion 31/1 (2016), 85–100.
• Brekke, Torkel. Makers of Modern Indian Religion in the Late Nineteenth Century. B.y.: Oxford Universiyt Online Press, 2012.
• Carus, Paul. The Gospel of Buddha. United States: Create Space Independent Publishing Platform, 2011.
• Chakrabarty, Ramakanta. The Asiatic Society:1784-2008, An Overview in Time Past and Time Present: Two Hundred and Twenty-five Years of the Asiatic Society. Kolkata: The Asiatic Society, 2008.
• Coleman, James William. The New Buddhism: The Western Transfromation of an Ancient Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
• Coleman, James William. Who Is a Buddhist? Buddhist-Christian Studies 32/1 (2012), 33–37.
• Demir, Talip. Postmodern Perspektiften Popüler Kültür ve Dindarlığın Yeni Formları. Şırnak Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 7/15 (2016), 118-133.
• Dharmapala, Anagarika. What Buddhism is not. Maha Bodhi Journal 34 (1926).
• Durazzo, Leanordo Marques. Post-religional perspective and secular Buddhism: Stephen Batchelor and the post-metaphysical religion. Horizonte 13/37 (2015), 592–604.
• Gleig, Ann. Ann Gleig, American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity. B.y.: Yale Scholarship Online, 2019.
• Gül, Ali. Doğu Öğretilerinin Batıya Aktarılmasında Teosofi Cemiyeti’nin Etkisi. Dini Araştırmalar 19/50 (2016), 9-32.
• Hardy, Spence. A Manual of Buddhism in its Modern Development. Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1967.
• Kemper, Steven. Rescued from the Nation: Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist World. Chigago: University of Chicago Press, 2015.
• Kemper, Steven. Anagarika Dharmapala’s Meditation. Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisiplinary Journal 20/1–2 (2019), 223–246.
• Lenoir, Frederic. The Adaptation of Bduhsim to the West. Diogenes 47/3 (1999), 100–109.
• McMahan, David. Modernity and the Early Discourse of Scientific Buddhism. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 72/4 (2004), 897-933.
• McMahan, David. The Making of Buddhist Modernism. B.y.: Oxford Scholarship Online, 2009.
• Meyer, Donald Harvey. Paul Carus and the Religion of Science. American Quarterly 14/4 (1962), 597–607.
• Minfulnessacademy. “Çocuk ve Ergenler İçin Mindfulness Uygulayıcılığı Eğitimi”. Instagram (7 Eylül 2020).
• Nietzsche, Friedrich. Antichrist. (H. L. Mencken, Ed.), Etica e Politica. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1938.
• Olcott, Henry. The Buddhist Catechism. London and Benares: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1903.
• Robert, Michael. Himself and Project. A Serial Autobiography. Our Journal with a Zealot, Anagarika Dharmapala. Social Analysis 44/1 (2000), 113–141.
• Scott, Micheal. "Buddhism, Media and Popular Culture". Buddhism in the Modern World. David McMahan (New York: Routledge, 2012), 305–325.
• Seager, Richard Hughes. Discovering the Dharma: Buddhism in America. Historically Speaking, 9/7 (2008), 43– 45.
• Semaozpekmezci. “Bilinçli Farkındalıkla Meditasyon Eğitimi”. Instagram (12 Ekim 2020).
• Snodgrass, Judith. Defining Modern Buddhism: Mr. and Mrs. Rhys Davids and the Pali Text Society. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 27/1 (2007), 186–282.
• TED Çorum Koleji. “Yoga Eğitimi”. Erişim 21 Kasım 2020. https://www.tedcorum.k12.tr/okul-oncesi/brans- dersleri/yoga-egitimi/.
• Vırtbauer, Gerald. The Western Reception of Buddhism as a Psychological and Ethical System: Developments, Dialogues, and Perspectives. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 15/3 (2012), 251–263.