Buddhist Trends in Southeast Asia

Book excerpt: There is more than one sort of Buddhism, even within Southeast Asia. The word "Buddhism", in an unspecified sense, has very little heuristic value, and can be a source of confusion in comparative studies within the Southeast Asian region. Buddhisms are in most cases "country-specific". Where regularities in Buddhist polity and Buddhist social action are found in a given cultural region these may have to be accounted for, not simply by being ascribed to one Buddhist tradition but by similarities of social organization and culture within the region. Major differentiations occur at national levels, that is, at the level of the various countries of Southeast Asia. From the earliest period of Buddhism's history it appears that a certain tension existed between Buddhist practitioners and political rulers. It is with some of these major national or local variant forms of Buddhism in Southeast Asia that the present work is concerned. -- Front book flap.