A Critique of Western Buddhism: Ruins of the Buddhist Real

Glenn Wallis

Sep 2018 · Bloomsbury Publishing

About this ebook

This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched.
What are we to make of Western Buddhism? Glenn Wallis argues that in aligning their tradition with the contemporary wellness industry, Western Buddhists evade the consequences of Buddhist thought. This book shows that with concepts such as vanishing, nihility, extinction, contingency, and no-self, Buddhism, like all potent systems of thought, articulates a notion of the “real.” Raw, unflinching acceptance of this real is held by Buddhism to be at the very core of human “awakening.” Yet these preeminent human truths are universally shored up against in contemporary Buddhist practice, contravening the very heart of Buddhism.

The author's critique of Western Buddhism is threefold. It is immanent, in emerging out of Buddhist thought but taking it beyond what it itself publicly concedes; negative, in employing the “democratizing” deconstructive methods of François Laruelle's non-philosophy; and re-descriptive, in applying Laruelle's concept of philofiction. Through applying resources of Continental philosophy to Western Buddhism, A Critique of Western Buddhism suggests a possible practice for our time, an "anthropotechnic", or religion transposed from its seductive, but misguiding, idealist haven.

About the author

Glenn Wallis is an independent scholar and Director of Incite Seminars in Philadelphia, USA. He has taught at several universities, including Brown University, USA, and the University of Georgia, USA. His books include Cruel Theory/Sublime Practice: Toward a Revaluation of Buddhism (2012) and Mediating the Power of Buddhas (2001).