Buddhism in the Modern World on Buddhist Resources

Buddhist Modernism

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:05:08 +0200

Ask most people in Europe or North America what Buddhism teaches and you will get a reasonably consistent answer: it is a practical philosophy rather than a religion; it is based on meditation; it makes no demands on belief; it is compatible with science; it is concerned with the present moment; it has no dogma and encourages you to test everything for yourself.

Ambedkar and the Navayana Movement

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:06:16 +0200

On 14 October 1956, at Nagpur in central India, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar — jurist, economist, principal architect of the Indian Constitution, and the most important Dalit political leader of the twentieth century — took refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, and then administered the refuges and precepts to a crowd estimated at between 380,000 and half a million people.