American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity by Ann Gleig (review)

In his 2008 book The Making of Buddhist Modernism, David McMahan defined Buddhist Modernism as the product of the encounter between traditional Buddhism as it was practiced in Asia and the forces of western modernity under colonialism. Although modernity is a contested term, McMahan argued that it better captured the process of transformation and reform that the tradition underwent in the late nineteenth century and most of the twentieth century than did the expression "Western Buddhism," since it was a transformation rooted in the ideals of the European enlightenment, liberal Protestantism, the scientific revolution, and Romanticism. At the end of his book, he asks if Buddhist Modernism might have reached its terminus, since we are now witnessing the emergence of a new, postmodern era. He mostly leaves this question unanswered.

In an engaging and comprehensive scholarly and ethnographic study of current trends in meditation-based convert Buddhist groups in North America, Ann Gleig attempts to answer McMahan's question. Her volume reveals that central modernist features as outlined by McMahan and others (Baumann 2001, Lopez 2012)—such as privileging individual experience and meditation over ritual, the appeals to the rational and scientific foundations of the Buddhist tradition over its "traditional" or "cultural" elements, and its mostly white, liberal, and upper-middle-class audience—have become increasingly questioned across American convert groups. Modernity, Gleig concludes, can no longer contain these current developments that are better defined by its postmodern features, such as "its suspicion of meta-narratives of science and universalism; its reevaluation of religious epistemologies, practices, and communities discarded and denigrated in modernity and its celebration of difference, diversity, and hybridity; and its challenge to assimilative modern liberalism" (289).

Gleig outlines in detail the main features of this transition from modern to postmodern Buddhism in eight chapters. Chapter 1 sets the stage for the rest of the book by defining and discussing the history of Buddhist Modernism and its journey from Asia to America. Chapter 2 focuses on the recent success of mindfulness, particularly its presentation as a scientifically sound form of practice devoid of any religious content. Gleig also discusses recent important critiques of the mindfulness movement, particularly its appropriation by corporate America, as well as the undercurrent of colonialism that still pervades much of the discourse surrounding it. Chapter 3 explores the challenges presented to Buddhism in America by the emergence of various sex scandals in communities across the country, and how this has challenged power dynamics in the relationship between teachers and students, as well as questioned a predominant patriarchal structure. Chapter 4 explores divergent trends in the Insight Meditation Society (IMS)—one emphasizing the integration of psychotherapy into Buddhist practice, and another relying on traditional Buddhist canonical and commentarial literature. Chapters 5 to 7 identify three important current issues affecting convert communities in America: racial diversity and inclusion, the impact of technology and social media, and the effects of a generational transition at the center of convert groups from Baby Boomers to Generation X.

Finally, chapter 8 looks back at these developments and articulates them in terms of what Gleig considers three important turns in American Buddhism—critical, collective, and contextual. The critical turn highlights a more self-reflective and critical sensibility in American convert communities (towards gender and race issues, for example). The collective turn marks a transition from a more individual-centered understanding of practice to a more socially inclusive understanding of it. Finally, the contextual turn is an acknowledgement that context (historical, social, political) matters, and that the modernist idealized and decontextualized form of Buddhism has to be brought back to the ground and anchored in specific historical contexts and communities.

If I were to add a small critique, it would be that sometimes Gleig is reporting events and developments so current that it is difficult to assess if they are historically significant or merely a temporary trend that will fade within a year or two. Nevertheless, Gleig makes a strong case as to why using...