Defining the Essence of Buddhism: Appropriating the Dharma for the West

The contribution presents the examples of three prominent Western Buddhists who strongly advocated the definition of the nature of Buddhism and argued to transfer the assumed essence of Buddhism without accompanying Asian cultural baggage. The paper selected the influential Buddhist teachers Lama Govinda, highly respected author, artist and founder of the Buddhist order Arya Maitreya Mandala; the British Sangharakshita, founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, renamed to Triratna; and Stephen Batchelor, well-known meditation teacher, author and advocate of a secular Buddhism. Overall the presentation argues that the definition of an essence is equal to the subjective composition of an essence. And this procedure entails three crucial principles: that of critique, of development and of ideal. The contribution will outline these implications in the second part of the paper, followed by a brief conclusion.