Buddhist publishing has a long history. In fact, the first book ever printed with moveable type was the Diamond Sutra, published in China on 11 May 868 CE. This predates the Gutenberg Bible by 587 years. Perhaps you have seen pictures of the Tripitaka Koreana, printed in the 13th century from 81,258 carved woodblocks. Or perhaps you have seen pictures of enormous libraries of sutras and shastras at Tibetan monasteries. Book culture is strong in Buddhism!

However, that was then and this is now. Much has changed. The goal of this series of articles is to elucidate what has changed in the publishing world at large, the Buddhist book publishing industry in particular, how to use the tools of modern publishing effectively as a Buddhist author, and what to reasonably expect.

I have been in the publishing industry since the 1970s. I’ve also written extensively about publishing technology for many industry magazines, and taught in a university publishing program for six years. For the past 16 years, I’ve run Canada’s leading independent Buddhist book publishing company. For the purpose of this series, I’ve conducted more than 10 interviews with colleagues at other Buddhist book publishing companies, Buddhist teachers, authors, professors, and self-publishers. This is in addition to the many conversations about publishing that I’ve had with other Buddhists over the years.

Here are the six themes we’ll explore together:

1. 1. The changing role of Buddhism in Western society
2. 2. The changing nature of Buddhist practice
3. 3. Types of Buddhist books and publishers
4. 4. The changing publishing industry
5. 5. The realities of Buddhist publishing
6. 6. The mechanics of Buddhist publishing

Let’s get started . . .

Part one: the changing role of Buddhism in Western society

In the Fall 2024 issue of The Journal of Tibetan Literature, Nikko Odiseos, publisher at Shambhala Publications, contributed a profile of that company as a glimpse into the world of Buddhist publishing. In that article, Odiseos notes that Buddhism is on the wane in Western society.

When I talked about this with Rafe Martin Roshi, who has published with a variety of Buddhist publishers, we reflected some of the internal reasons for the decline. Back in the 1970s, there were very few Buddhist books available in the West. The impact of each was as forceful as a firehose, and the focus was very narrow. Now, in our era of post-charismatic Buddhism, the focus is very broad. Buddhist teachings are widely accessible, but not very deep. The stream is much larger, but the force of each book is more of a dribble than something that could knock you over.

When I talked about this with Arnie Kotler, founder of Parallax Press, publisher for Thich Nhat Hanh’s books, he laughed that in 1970 he figured he probably owned every extant English Buddhist book. Nowadays, that collection would be vanishingly small in a landscape comprising thousands upon thousands of Buddhist and “Buddhist-adjacent” titles.

Western Buddhist literature in the 1960s was the refuge for many of those discontented with mainstream culture. Many of the Buddhist books from the 1970s and 1980s focused on our zeitgeist of consumerism and materialism. By the end of the 1980s, autocracies were disappearing. In 1992, Francis Fukuyama trumpeted the ultimate victory of liberalism in his political philosophy book, The End of History and the Last Man (Free Press). We were seemingly headed for a utopia of peace and prosperity faster than you could say “shopping mall.” We thought that Buddhism would continue to be ascendent. Not that everyone would become Buddhist, but perhaps at least Buddhish. Zen, karma, enlightenment, meditation, and other Buddhist words were seeping into common parlance.

This first phase of Buddhist publishing began with mainstream texts, but even then you could see mainstream culture shifting into a “greed is good” and “me-first” mode with a distinctly libertarian bent. Buddhist teachers responded by leaning in to Western psychology with books that interpreted traditional texts in the context of Western traditions. However, this was still a counter-narrative.

Fast forward to today, and the zeitgeist has changed completely, to one of fear, anger, and conflict. Illiberalism and autocracies are on the rise. Truths we held as self-evident have turned out to be platitudes.

Buddhist authors have responded in three distinct ways:

The traditionalists

These authors and their publishers have focused on continuing to translate Asian texts composed in earlier eras, and to offer scholarly commentary on them.

Jeff Wilson, a Pure Land priest, professor, and author of eight Buddhist books with a wide variety of publishers, gave me the most succinct picture of the appeal of this trend: it offers a refuge for those who recognize the uncertainty of the the future and find comfort in traditional forms of Buddhist practice, like an anchor in the storm. For some, this is romantic nostalgia. But others see the value and benefits of their particular tradition—its authenticity—not as fossilized, but as selectively modernized.

The reformers

These authors and their publishers have focused on what has come to be known as engaged Buddhism. Their focus is a Buddhist perspective on civilizational challenges such as the climate crisis, racism, gender politics, poverty and homelessness, energy policy, digital culture and AI, and so on. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was perhaps the first and most notable pioneer in the field of engaged Buddhism and many teachers have followed in his footsteps, from Thich Nhat Hanh to Bhikkhu Bodhi, or from Joan Halifax Roshi to Lama Rod Owens.

I asked Tim McKee, publisher at North Atlantic Books—a social activist non-profit publisher—if he was getting pitches for engaged Buddhist books addressing our current polycrisis. NAB was, after all, the publisher of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation (2016), by angel Kyodo williams, Lama Rod Owens, and Jasmine Syedullah. He said that NAB takes the long view. They want to publish books that will still be readable in 20 years rather than topical responses to the crisis of the moment. Similarly, Rafe Martin Roshi took the view that engaged Buddhism is merely a sub-set of the essential Buddhist project, which is to become a mature human being. Simply being alive makes one engaged.

The accommodationists

These authors and their publishers have focused on presenting accessible truths from a Buddhist perspective that can enhance everyday life, without requiring one to “be a Buddhist.” This comprises a huge range of titles about mindfulness, psychology, wellness, personal growth, and the good life.

The two North American Buddhist magazines, Lion’s Roar and Tricycle, include articles from all three of these camps, acknowledging that about half of their readership comprises non-Buddhists. For the non-Buddhist readership demographic, it is the accommodationist articles, courses, and online events that lay out the welcome mat for the 84,000 Dharma doors.

The changing role of Buddhism in Western society has been reciprocally influenced directly by the evolution of the publishing sector too. In the announcement for a one-day symposium entitled Marketing the Dharma: The Publishing Industry and the Western Construction of Buddhism, sponsored by The Program in Buddhist Studies at The University of Michigan and Shaman Drum Bookstore, Ann Arbor, in 1998, the organizers noted:

Writing and publishing is no longer necessarily the work of monks, or even of those with a commitment to Buddhism. The very notion of what it means to be Buddhist is now determined not by learned monks, but by publishers who decide what gets published and how it is marketed. The modern publishing industry has transformed sutras into best-sellers, monks into media icons, and disciples into consumers. (H-Net)

In a reflection piece about that symposium by Bonnie Brereton from The Journal of the International Institute in 1999, titled The Publishing Industry and the Western Construction of Buddhism: Marketing the Dharma, she notes:

The symposium’s title and organizing assumptions . . . elicited a strong negative response on the part of the publishers. Some were offended by the slightly controversial tone of the flyer and interpreted it as a criticism of the modern publishing industry.

Furthermore, she notes:

The symposium organizers were also accused of confusing the history of the movement of Buddhist canonical texts with books published about Buddhism and its practices. (The Journal of the International Institute)

As you can see, the dynamic tension between practitioners and publishers has not been without its controversies.

In Part Two of this series exploring the world of modern Buddhist publishing, we’ll dive more deeply into how Buddhist practice and Buddhist publishing have co-evolved in the past two decades. Until then, bookmark this site!

See more

A Glimpse into the World of Buddhist Publishing: Shambhala Publications (Journal of Tibetan Literature)
SYMPOSIUM ANNOUNCEMENT: Marketing the Dharma: The Publishing Industry and the Western Construction of Buddhism (H-Net)
The Publishing Industry and the Western Construction of Buddhism: Marketing the Dharma (The Journal of the International Institute)

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