Ebook: The Making of Buddhist Modernism

David McMahan does an excellent job of explaining the intersection of Buddhism with the West - both the rationalism of the Enlightenment and the Romantic reaction to that - in the past 100-125 years or so.

But, he also notes that it's more than just an intersection. It was a reaction to colonialism penetrating ever more of the Buddhist heartland. And, while Emerson and other Transcendentals may have made Eastern religion (much more focus by them on Hinduism, though) synthesized with new thoughts from the west, Buddhist thinkers, in trying to defend Buddhism against colonialism and reinvigorate it, willingly did their own synthesis.

And, not all Buddhist modernism, certainly not in its homeland, nor even in the West, has been demythologized today, McMahan notes. For example, though he professes to be willing to drop any belief incompatible with science, the Dalai Lama still holds firm to both karma and reincarnation.

McMahan focus on specific areas of "dialogue" in Buddhist modernism, such as science, meditation, Buddhism as psychology and more. He then concludes with a chapter on the idea of Buddhism postmodernism.

If you're looking for a great intro to where today's ideas about Buddhism, both West and East, have arisen, just how selective they may be in what parts of traditional Buddhism they use as their base and more, this is the book to read.