If I ruled the world . . . sure, I would fix all the crime, war, starvation, global pollution, climate aberrations, and all the rest. But the first thing I would change (apart from people walking in and out of doorways with their heads buried in their smartphones) is the way books are written. 

The problem is, if I only knew where they were coming from at the beginning, it would save a lot of time and tears. Instead, one has to skim through hundreds of pages just to find out what their philosophy is, their worldview, those ideas that actually influence—or even wholly determine—what they have to say about anything. Just a mandatory page. Or a paragraph. Even one sentence: “I am a reductionist-materialist who doesn’t accept anything that can’t be measured by science. And I trust science.” Or “I am going to make fantastic other-worldly claims and transform your life, although everything here is recycled and repackaged, and I’ve never had an original thought in my life.” 

There, you see how simple that is? Of course the title and subtitle are supposed to convey something about the content, with the back blurb expanding this preview. But deceptive marketing and the Dunning-Kruger effect (not knowing what you don’t know) are in full play, so gone are the days of accurate descriptions of anything. Meanwhile, most authors don’t really know what their stance is, being thoroughly embedded in it. Although they might know what they don’t like. I would accept that paragraph too, with gratitude. And this brings us to the title of this short piece: “The Buddhist Identity Crisis.”

Orientalism, an interest in the those strange, exotic worlds far across the ocean, is just a few hundred years old. It only began with the academic study of Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic language in the early 19th century. (William Jones, d. 1794). But Western studies of Eastern societies were admittedly highly biased and ethnocentric right up until the 1970s, when Edward Said’s 1978 book, Orientalism, happened to point out the obvious. Writings up until that period are almost comical in their caricature of Asian life and Asian thought, let alone the activity of the bizarre tantrics of India and Tibet! 

As such, Buddhism has only been in the West in any meaningful way for about 40 years. And in spite of growing adherents—or because of them—their messaging is muddled. ChatGPT, Google, or authorities such as Mingyur Rinpoche will confirm that Buddhism has numerous purposes and that people seek it out for a wide variety of reasons, including finding peace, belonging, seeking higher development, seeking answers that their own native culture can’t provide, the allure of the exotic and hidden. The list goes on. So is it just about style, since these same diagnostics about our misery, or promises about our salvation, come from any number of spiritual, New Age, self-help, professional, or infotainment sources? 

Clearly, how Buddhism was known (and is still understood) in Bhutan, India, Japan, Nepal, Thailand, or Tibet is markedly different from how it is conceived of in New Jersey or San Diego. The thing is that, from the start, Buddhism has struggled to enter the “psychological age,” departing widely from its recognizable Eastern profile, so how can it move forward into the digital, artificial intelligence age, without completely losing its essence? After all, religions have a “brand” just the same as a pair of jeans or a restaurant chain. This is the nature of human perception. But the Buddhist brand, those external trappings, buzzwords, symbols, or taglines had better be a true reflection, a congruent expression of its inner essence. Because in this case, we are not selling fashion.

But in spite of such harsh pronouncements, it’s not really Buddhism’s fault, although its worldwide adherents hardly represent a unified voice in terms of explaining their raison d’être. The problem is human nature—and the lack of understanding about what that nature actually is. The ancient mythology or narratives that were the cornerstone of Eastern religion are rather wobbly in the West. Psychology as we know it and live it today, simply did not exist in those ancient times, nor until fairly recently. So now we finally can arrest the real culprit: modern psychology. 

Buddhism has tried, in vain, to fit into the contemporary world, but that world is wholly shaped and contained by a whole group of psychological belief systems, accepted concepts that are as rigid as the most dogmatic, suppressive religious or political system that has ever existed. And in trying to fit into that world, a genuinely dysfunctional one, it distorts itself beyond real recognition. As I have explained to hundreds of patients, imagine trying to be someone you are not (which a large portion of humans are tricked into spending their life attempting to do). That is a recipe for guaranteed failure, since how can one succeed in being what one isn’t? 

Instead of explaining itself on its own terms, it wants to conform to the norms and preconceptions of the “audience,” the marketplace of genuine seekers and lost souls. In so doing, it loses its own way. Either it is too foreign and weird, or it is watered down or modified into a fast-food snack. And yet, the solution to this thorny problem has been right in its own conceptual lap the whole time. This entails, not just an understanding Buddhist concepts, philosophies, practices, and goals. It requires understanding our modern goals, Western goals. 

And here, current psychology fails miserably. Just like not being able to tell us what a “normal” human mind is like, or what emotions are, they are unable to present a cogent, rational, and straightforward statement about basic human motivation. You can run with the ever-popular Maslow, or get more esoteric with Herzberg, McClelland, Alderfer, Hebb, Csikszentmihalyi, or any of the 30-odd relevant ideologies on drive and motivation. You could also go on the internet for a few thousand more opinions. 

But the Buddhists have had it all along, without knowing what they know. And with that knowledge, they are able to fully describe the full range what they have to offer to downtrodden humanity. They can be true to Buddhism’s essential roots, fit into the slots of just what people want and what they need, and explain precisely how. And then they can put that at the beginning of every book on Buddhism.

In September, Buddhistdoor Global will be holding a seminar in Vancouver to mark their 30th anniversary, that aims to offer a futurist’s view of the potential for Buddhism as a disseminator and a catalyst in the Contemporary World. I will be presenting there, and will take a sword to the Gordian knot, tied up in a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma at that time.

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Dr. Asa Hershoff
Asa Hershoff

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