This post may be more suitable for 'modernist Americans' than traditional Buddhists we more often see in Singapore.
Songhill:
Excuse the pun on the word lie (e.g., the lie of the ball). The title is
really about situation of modern Buddhism: where is it relative to
modernity.
Okay, let's start with, "What is modernity (i.e., state of being modern)?"
“This modern feeling now seems to consist in the conviction that we ourselves are somehow new, that a new age is beginning, that everything is possible and nothing can ever be the same again, we want to 'make it new,' get rid of those old objects, values, mentalities, and ways of doing things, and to be somehow transfigured” (Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, p. 310).
The above sums it up nicely (I have Stephen Batchelor's book in mind, Buddhism Without Beliefs).
Personally, I see the lie of modern Buddhism as an ancient Indian
religion that has been remade into a new psychology to fill the needs of
moderns. What has been removed from Buddhism (e.g, karma and rebirth)
we deem to be alien and foreign to the needs of modernity. Moreover,
what has been removed, certainly doesn't ring of progress nor does it
sit well with materialism both of which are vital elements of modernity.
Reading
both the Pali Nikayas and the Mahayana Sutras I am always astonished by
how much Buddhism is left out of modern Buddhism.
Archaya Mahayogi Shridhar Rinpoche:
Excuse the pun on the word lie (e.g., the lie of the ball). The title is
really about situation of modern Buddhism: where is it relative to
modernity.
Okay, let's start with, "What is modernity (i.e., state of being modern)?"
“This modern feeling now seems to consist in the conviction that we ourselves are somehow new, that a new age is beginning, that everything is possible and nothing can ever be the same again, we want to 'make it new,' get rid of those old objects, values, mentalities, and ways of doing things, and to be somehow transfigured” (Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, p. 310).
The above sums it up nicely (I have Stephen Batchelor's book in mind, Buddhism Without Beliefs).
Personally, I see the lie of modern Buddhism as an ancient Indian
religion that has been remade into a new psychology to fill the needs of
moderns. What has been removed from Buddhism (e.g, karma and rebirth)
we deem to be alien and foreign to the needs of modernity. Moreover,
what has been removed, certainly doesn't ring of progress nor does it
sit well with materialism both of which are vital elements of modernity.
Reading
both the Pali Nikayas and the Mahayana Sutras I am always astonished by
how much Buddhism is left out of modern Buddhism.
So... it's more like psychology with a dash of buddhist practices then. I wonder how big a movement this is over in the west?