The Buddhist tradition is a major component of the human cultural heritage. Considering how many important societies it has influenced, how deeply and for how long, it is remarkable how little it has been studied in the modern academy.
Consider first the textual basis of the tradition. Much of the material that has come down to us is in need of editing. If one considers how much work went into disentangling the elements of the western corpus, the Buddhist heritage has clearly been neglected.

The social dimension of Buddhism also deserves close attention Weber’s characterisation of this as an ”other-worldly” religion has sometimes obscured the obvious: Buddhist thinking and practice has been and remains important for national development and international relations across Asia.

For long periods, Buddhism was a genuinely pan-Asian phenomenon. Thereafter it settled into separate local patterns. With the advent of modern nationalism, the lines of demarcation became still more rigid. In the new global culture, Asians are recovering the sense of Buddhist cosmopolitanism. In a region like South-East Asia for instance, such cultural commonalities are coming to the fore.

More details are available on OCBS projects to investigate these aspects of the tradition: