Metamodern Buddhism:
A Process Possibility
Introduction
If, when you think of Buddhism, you think of meditation, mindful presence in the here and now, the interdependence of all things, careful attention to the inner life, compatibility with modern science, and respect for the intrinsic value of all living beings, then your understanding of Buddhism has likely been shaped by what the scholar David McMahan calls Buddhist modernism.
Buddhist Modernism is about 150 years old. It is not a sect or lineae but rather a set of ideas about Buddhism. It emerged through encounters between Asian Buddhist traditions and modern Western intellectual currents, as those western currents were articulated by Western thinkers and also as they were internalized by Asian thinkers who then reiterpreted Asian Buddhism in light of them. Modernist Buddhism, thus understood, emphasizes meditation, personal experience, rational inquiry, scientific compatibility, and, often, an ecological sensibility grounded in the interconnectedness of life. These themes are indeed present in some Buddhist traditions, perhaps especially forms of Chinese Buddhism, but they were not normative. Buddhist modernism brings them to the foreground and interprets them through lenses shaped by modernity.
In this respect, Buddhist modernism differs from many traditional forms of Asian Buddhism. Historically, most Buddhists did not engage in intensive meditation practices, nor did they necessarily regard interdependence as something to be celebrated. Rather, interdependence could be understood as part of the web of conditioned existence (saṃsāra) from which liberation is sought. Traditional Buddhism often focused on ritual practices, devotional activities, merit-making, monastic support, and communal forms of religious life as much as, or more than, meditation itself.
Buddhist modernism is thus a hybrid formation, drawing upon traditional Buddhist teachings while reinterpreting them in conversation with Western influences such as modern science, Transcendentalism, Romanticism, and new ideas about nature, individuality, and religious experience. To call it hybrid is not to deny its authenticity as a form of Buddhism. Rather, it is to recognize that it represents a distinctive historical development—one that differs in important ways from many, though not all, traditional forms of Asian Buddhism. Still, it has liabilities.
Metamodern Buddhism builds upon the insights of Buddhist Modernism while seeking to address some of its limitations. Buddhist Modernism has helped make Buddhist teachings accessible to contemporary people through its emphasis on meditation, personal experience, critical inquiry, psychological insight, and dialogue with science. At the same time, it has often deemphasized ritual, devotion, cosmology, communal practices, and other dimensions of traditional Buddhist life. It has also neglected the role that monastic life plays in many Buddhist communities, along with the symbiotic relationships between monks, nuns, priests, and laity.
In response, Metamodern Buddhism seeks to learn from the practices of ordinary Buddhists rather than privileging elite, intellectual, or meditation-centered forms of Buddhism alone. It recognizes that wisdom can be embodied in village temples, household rituals, festivals, devotional practices, pilgrimage traditions, and forms of communal life that have sustained Buddhism for centuries. It approaches popular Buddhism not as a deviation from authentic Buddhism but as one of its enduring expressions.
Metamodern Buddhism is also open to devotional and theistic forms of Buddhism. Traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism are treated not as inferior or merely symbolic expressions of the Dharma, but as authentic paths in which faith, grace, prayer, and relationships with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can be spiritually transformative. Such practices are understood as important dimensions of Buddhist life alongside meditation, study, and ethical cultivation.
At the same time, Metamodern Buddhism recognizes the ambiguity of interdependence. Interconnectedness is not automatically liberating. Some relationships foster compassion, creativity, and mutual flourishing, while others perpetuate suffering, domination, addiction, or violence. The fact that all beings are interconnected does not by itself tell us which forms of connection are life-giving and which are destructive. Wisdom requires discerning the difference.
Metamodern Buddhism also remains open to a multidimensional cosmos. It does not assume that reality is exhausted by what can presently be measured through scientific methods. While valuing science and critical inquiry, it remains receptive to the possibility of dimensions of existence and forms of actuality beyond ordinary sensory awareness. In this respect, it seeks a posture of openness rather than either dogmatic belief or dogmatic skepticism.
Another characteristic of Metamodern Buddhism is humility toward the past. Traditional teachings and practices are not viewed merely as materials to be adapted for modern purposes. They are approached as potential sources of wisdom capable of challenging, correcting, and enriching contemporary assumptions. The Buddhist tradition is seen not simply as an object of reform but also as a teacher.
Finally, Metamodern Buddhism offers a renewed appreciation for monastic and contemplative life. It recognizes that monasteries preserve forms of discipline, study, ritual, contemplation, and communal practice that cannot easily be replicated in modern lay settings. While not everyone is called to monastic life, monastic communities can serve as important reservoirs of wisdom and as partners in a mutually enriching relationship with lay practitioners. Metamodern Buddhism thus values both lay and monastic vocations and the reciprocal relationships through which they support one another.
Metamodern Buddhism is an attitude—one that honors tradition without being bound by it, welcomes critical reflection without reducing Buddhism to rationalism, and seeks forms of Buddhist practice and understanding that are intellectually credible, spiritually nourishing, ecologically responsible, and responsive to the complexities of contemporary life.
If, when you think of Buddhism, you think of meditation, mindful presence in the here and now, the interdependence of all things, careful attention to the inner life, compatibility with modern science, and respect for the intrinsic value of all living beings, then your understanding of Buddhism has likely been shaped by what the scholar David McMahan calls Buddhist modernism.
Buddhist Modernism is about 150 years old. It is not a sect or lineae but rather a set of ideas about Buddhism. It emerged through encounters between Asian Buddhist traditions and modern Western intellectual currents, as those western currents were articulated by Western thinkers and also as they were internalized by Asian thinkers who then reiterpreted Asian Buddhism in light of them. Modernist Buddhism, thus understood, emphasizes meditation, personal experience, rational inquiry, scientific compatibility, and, often, an ecological sensibility grounded in the interconnectedness of life. These themes are indeed present in some Buddhist traditions, perhaps especially forms of Chinese Buddhism, but they were not normative. Buddhist modernism brings them to the foreground and interprets them through lenses shaped by modernity.
In this respect, Buddhist modernism differs from many traditional forms of Asian Buddhism. Historically, most Buddhists did not engage in intensive meditation practices, nor did they necessarily regard interdependence as something to be celebrated. Rather, interdependence could be understood as part of the web of conditioned existence (saṃsāra) from which liberation is sought. Traditional Buddhism often focused on ritual practices, devotional activities, merit-making, monastic support, and communal forms of religious life as much as, or more than, meditation itself.
Buddhist modernism is thus a hybrid formation, drawing upon traditional Buddhist teachings while reinterpreting them in conversation with Western influences such as modern science, Transcendentalism, Romanticism, and new ideas about nature, individuality, and religious experience. To call it hybrid is not to deny its authenticity as a form of Buddhism. Rather, it is to recognize that it represents a distinctive historical development—one that differs in important ways from many, though not all, traditional forms of Asian Buddhism. Still, it has liabilities.
Metamodern Buddhism builds upon the insights of Buddhist Modernism while seeking to address some of its limitations. Buddhist Modernism has helped make Buddhist teachings accessible to contemporary people through its emphasis on meditation, personal experience, critical inquiry, psychological insight, and dialogue with science. At the same time, it has often deemphasized ritual, devotion, cosmology, communal practices, and other dimensions of traditional Buddhist life. It has also neglected the role that monastic life plays in many Buddhist communities, along with the symbiotic relationships between monks, nuns, priests, and laity.
In response, Metamodern Buddhism seeks to learn from the practices of ordinary Buddhists rather than privileging elite, intellectual, or meditation-centered forms of Buddhism alone. It recognizes that wisdom can be embodied in village temples, household rituals, festivals, devotional practices, pilgrimage traditions, and forms of communal life that have sustained Buddhism for centuries. It approaches popular Buddhism not as a deviation from authentic Buddhism but as one of its enduring expressions.
Metamodern Buddhism is also open to devotional and theistic forms of Buddhism. Traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism are treated not as inferior or merely symbolic expressions of the Dharma, but as authentic paths in which faith, grace, prayer, and relationships with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can be spiritually transformative. Such practices are understood as important dimensions of Buddhist life alongside meditation, study, and ethical cultivation.
At the same time, Metamodern Buddhism recognizes the ambiguity of interdependence. Interconnectedness is not automatically liberating. Some relationships foster compassion, creativity, and mutual flourishing, while others perpetuate suffering, domination, addiction, or violence. The fact that all beings are interconnected does not by itself tell us which forms of connection are life-giving and which are destructive. Wisdom requires discerning the difference.
Metamodern Buddhism also remains open to a multidimensional cosmos. It does not assume that reality is exhausted by what can presently be measured through scientific methods. While valuing science and critical inquiry, it remains receptive to the possibility of dimensions of existence and forms of actuality beyond ordinary sensory awareness. In this respect, it seeks a posture of openness rather than either dogmatic belief or dogmatic skepticism.
Another characteristic of Metamodern Buddhism is humility toward the past. Traditional teachings and practices are not viewed merely as materials to be adapted for modern purposes. They are approached as potential sources of wisdom capable of challenging, correcting, and enriching contemporary assumptions. The Buddhist tradition is seen not simply as an object of reform but also as a teacher.
Finally, Metamodern Buddhism offers a renewed appreciation for monastic and contemplative life. It recognizes that monasteries preserve forms of discipline, study, ritual, contemplation, and communal practice that cannot easily be replicated in modern lay settings. While not everyone is called to monastic life, monastic communities can serve as important reservoirs of wisdom and as partners in a mutually enriching relationship with lay practitioners. Metamodern Buddhism thus values both lay and monastic vocations and the reciprocal relationships through which they support one another.
Metamodern Buddhism is an attitude—one that honors tradition without being bound by it, welcomes critical reflection without reducing Buddhism to rationalism, and seeks forms of Buddhist practice and understanding that are intellectually credible, spiritually nourishing, ecologically responsible, and responsive to the complexities of contemporary life.
Part I: Buddhist Modernism
"A great deal of Buddhist literature and scholarly writing about Buddhism of the past 150 years reflects, and indeed constructs, a historically unique modern Buddhism, even while purporting to represent ancient tradition, timeless teaching, or the "essentials" of Buddhism. This literature, Asian as well as Western, weaves together the strands of different traditions to create a novel hybrid that brings Buddhism into alignment with many of the ideologies and sensibilities of the post-Enlightenment West.
In this book, David McMahan charts the development of this "Buddhist modernism." McMahan examines and analyzes a wide range of popular and scholarly writings produced by Buddhists around the globe. He focuses on ideological and imaginative encounters between Buddhism and modernity, for example in the realms of science, mythology, literature, art, psychology, and religious pluralism.
He shows how certain themes cut across cultural and geographical contexts, and how this form of Buddhism has been created by multiple agents in a variety of times and places. His position is critical but empathetic: while he presents Buddhist modernism as a construction of numerous parties with varying interests, he does not reduce it to a mistake, a misrepresentation, or fabrication. Rather, he presents it as a complex historical process constituted by a variety of responses -- sometimes trivial, often profound -- to some of the most important concerns of the modern era."
In this book, David McMahan charts the development of this "Buddhist modernism." McMahan examines and analyzes a wide range of popular and scholarly writings produced by Buddhists around the globe. He focuses on ideological and imaginative encounters between Buddhism and modernity, for example in the realms of science, mythology, literature, art, psychology, and religious pluralism.
He shows how certain themes cut across cultural and geographical contexts, and how this form of Buddhism has been created by multiple agents in a variety of times and places. His position is critical but empathetic: while he presents Buddhist modernism as a construction of numerous parties with varying interests, he does not reduce it to a mistake, a misrepresentation, or fabrication. Rather, he presents it as a complex historical process constituted by a variety of responses -- sometimes trivial, often profound -- to some of the most important concerns of the modern era."
Further Description
"...modern representations of Buddhism have not only changed the way the tradition is understood, but have also generated new forms of demythologized, detraditionalized, and deinstitutionalized Buddhism.
[The lineage of Buddhist modernism] includes liberal borrowing from scientific vocabulary in reformulations of Buddhist concepts of causality, interdependence, and meditation. It also draws upon Romantic and Transcendentalist conceptions of cosmology, creativity, spontaneity, and the interior depths of the human being. Additionally, Buddhist modernism reconfigures Buddhism as a kind of psychology or interior science, drawing both upon analytic psychology and current trends in neurobiology. In its novel approaches to meditation and mindfulness, as well as political activism, it draws heavily from western individualism, distinctively modern modes of world-affirmation, liberal political sensibilities, and modernist literary sources."
Interview with the the author, David McMahan
For many Asian and Western Buddhists today, Buddhism means meditation and an embrace of the world's interdependence. But that's not what it meant to Buddhists in the past; most of them never meditated and often saw interdependence (or dependent origination) as something fearful to be escaped. Many scholars, especially recently, have told this story of the transition from pre-modern to modern Buddhism, but often with no other purpose than to dismiss modern Buddhism as inauthentic, a departure from the "real" Buddhism of ritual chanting and sacred relics.
David McMahan's book The Making of Buddhist Modernism (Oxford University Press, 2008) tells the story of Buddhist modernism in a balanced way, one that acknowledges its novelty yet remains sympathetic to its concerns and interests. McMahan, who is a professor of religious studies at Franklin and Marshall College, theorizes not only Buddhism but also modernity. Using Charles Taylor's account of modern life, he explores the forces that changed Buddhism in recent centuries. McMahan discusses typically cited factors (e.g., the emphasis on meditation, the belief in science), but also seldom mentioned (though important) elements of Buddhist modernism like affirmations of nature, interdependence, and everyday life.
David McMahan's book The Making of Buddhist Modernism (Oxford University Press, 2008) tells the story of Buddhist modernism in a balanced way, one that acknowledges its novelty yet remains sympathetic to its concerns and interests. McMahan, who is a professor of religious studies at Franklin and Marshall College, theorizes not only Buddhism but also modernity. Using Charles Taylor's account of modern life, he explores the forces that changed Buddhism in recent centuries. McMahan discusses typically cited factors (e.g., the emphasis on meditation, the belief in science), but also seldom mentioned (though important) elements of Buddhist modernism like affirmations of nature, interdependence, and everyday life.
Major Themes of Buddhist Modernism
1. Modernization of Buddhist Thought
The reinterpretation of Buddhism in light of modern intellectual, philosophical, and scientific developments.
- Cross-cultural synthesis between Asian Buddhist traditions and modern Western intellectual currents.
- Scientific reinterpretation of Buddhism.
- Presentation of Buddhism as rational and empirical.
- Buddhism as an "inner science."
- Influence of Romanticism, emphasizing intuition, creativity, spontaneity, and the depths of the inner self.
- Influence of Transcendentalism, emphasizing nature, interconnectedness, and spiritual experience beyond institutional religion.
- Postmodern adaptations, including pluralism, hybridity, and interreligious dialogue.
2. Individualization of Religious Life
The shift of religious authority from institutions and traditions to individual practitioners and their experiences.
- Detraditionalization.
- Deinstitutionalization.
- Emphasis on personal experience as a source of religious authority.
- Strong individualism and personal spiritual development.
- Meditation-centered practice.
- Mindfulness as a universal practice.
3. Secularization and Psychologization
The reinterpretation of Buddhism in non-supernatural, psychological, and therapeutic terms.
- Demythologization of Buddhism.
- Scientific reinterpretation of Buddhist teachings.
- Presentation of Buddhism as rational and empirical.
- Psychologization of Buddhist doctrines.
- Buddhism as an "inner science."
- Mindfulness detached from traditional ethical, ritual, and doctrinal contexts.
4. Social and Ecological Engagement
The application of Buddhist principles to contemporary social, political, and environmental concerns.
- World affirmation and engagement with society.
- Liberal political sensibilities concerning democracy, equality, human rights, and social justice.
- Socially engaged Buddhism.
- Ecological interpretation of interdependence.
5. Globalization and Popularization
The transformation of Buddhism into a global and widely accessible religious and cultural phenomenon.
- Universalization of Buddhist teachings as relevant to all humanity.
- Globalization through media, publishing, tourism, and international networks.
- Commercialization and popularization within wellness culture, psychotherapy, self-help movements, and consumer spirituality.
- Cross-cultural exchange and adaptation across cultural boundaries.
At its core, Buddhist modernism can be understood as a movement characterized by five interconnected tendencies:
- Modernization of Thought — Buddhism is reinterpreted through modern philosophy, science, and Western intellectual traditions.
- Individualization of Practice — Authority shifts from institutions and traditions to personal experience and self-cultivation.
- Secularization and Psychologization — Traditional cosmological and supernatural elements are deemphasized in favor of psychological and therapeutic interpretations.
- Social and Ecological Engagement — Buddhist practice is linked to social transformation, justice, peacebuilding, and environmental responsibility.
- Globalization and Popularization — Buddhism becomes a global, cross-cultural, and widely accessible form of spirituality.
Liabilities of Buddhist Modernism
- Reduction of Buddhism to Meditation
Buddhist modernism often treats meditation as the central or defining Buddhist practice. In doing so, it can marginalize ritual, devotion, chanting, merit-making, pilgrimage, and other practices that have been important for most Buddhists throughout history. - Excessive Individualism
Buddhist modernism frequently locates religious authority in individual experience rather than in communal traditions and institutions. This emphasis can weaken appreciation for the communal, relational, and intergenerational dimensions of Buddhist life. - Psychologization of the Dharma
Traditional teachings are often interpreted primarily in terms of mental states, emotional health, and personal well-being. As a result, broader cosmological, ethical, and communal dimensions of Buddhism can be overshadowed. - Reduction of Cosmology to Symbolism
Modernist interpreters often treat Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, spirits, heavens, and other cosmological realities as symbolic expressions of human psychology. This approach may close off serious consideration of the richer and more expansive cosmological visions found in Buddhist traditions. - Dismissal of Popular Buddhism
Village Buddhism, devotional Buddhism, and other forms of popular practice have sometimes been dismissed as superstitious or secondary. Such dismissals can reflect elitist assumptions and fail to appreciate the spiritual wisdom embodied in ordinary religious life. - Uncritical Celebration of Interdependence
Buddhist modernism often treats interconnectedness as inherently positive. It can overlook the fact that some relationships and social systems are harmful and that liberation may require disentanglement from destructive forms of dependence. - Overreliance on Scientific Validation
Buddhist teachings are frequently defended by showing their compatibility with modern science. While fruitful in many ways, this strategy risks making science the final arbiter of religious truth and marginalizing dimensions of experience that science cannot easily measure. - Weakening of Monastic-Lay Reciprocity
Traditional Buddhism often developed through mutually supportive relationships between monastic and lay communities. Modernist forms of Buddhism can weaken these relationships by focusing primarily on individual practitioners and meditation centers. - Marginalization of Theistic and Devotional Buddhism
Buddhist modernism has tended to regard non-theistic, meditative, and rational forms of Buddhism as more authentic than devotional traditions centered on figures such as Amitābha Buddha, Avalokiteśvara, Kṣitigarbha, or other celestial beings. This tendency can obscure the richness of traditions that emphasize grace, faith, prayer, devotion, and reciprocal relationships with compassionate powers understood as more than merely psychological symbols. - Insufficient Social Critique
Although many modern Buddhists are socially engaged, Buddhist modernism sometimes focuses heavily on personal transformation. This focus can underplay the need to address structural injustices, economic inequalities, and ecological crises that contribute to suffering on a collective scale.
Part II: Metamodern Buddhism
As noted above, the antecedent to Metamodern Buddhism is not Western postmodernism. It is Buddhist modernism. Beginning in the nineteenth century, Buddhist modernism emerged as a creative synthesis of traditional Buddhist teachings and modern Western intellectual currents. It emphasized themes that seemed especially compatible with modern sensibilities: meditation, mindfulness, personal experience, rational inquiry, ethical universalism, psychological transformation, and dialogue with science. Its tendency was to psychologize or interiorize Buddhism, interpreting traditional cosmologies primarily as symbolic maps of inner experience rather than as descriptions of a multidimensional cosmos. In the process, it often neglected the role that extraordinary experiences, visionary encounters, and what today might be called parapsychological phenomena play in many Buddhist narratives and traditions.
This reinterpretation brought genuine strengths. It helped Buddhism enter global conversations about spirituality, psychology, education, and social change. It encouraged critical reflection, cross-cultural exchange, and forms of practice accessible to people beyond traditional Buddhist cultures. It made Buddhism appear especially compatible with science and modern intellectual life, often in contrast to Western Abrahamic traditions. It also highlighted Buddhism's transformative potential, although that transformation was frequently understood in primarily individual and psychological terms rather than in social, communal, political, or ecological terms.
At the same time, Buddhist modernism had a kind of arrogance to it, indeed a colonialism. It often presented selected dimensions of Buddhism as its true essence while downplaying others. Practices and beliefs that did not fit modern intellectual expectations were frequently regarded as secondary, symbolic, culturally conditioned, or superstitious. As a result, many aspects of traditional Buddhist life were marginalized: ritual, chanting, pilgrimage, merit-making, sacred art, devotion, communal worship, cosmology, reverence for Buddhas and bodhisattvas, relationships with ancestors and spirits, and a cultivated sense of mystery and wonder.
One consequence was the elevation of meditation as the defining Buddhist practice. Yet historically, meditation has not always occupied the central place assigned to it by modern interpreters. In many Buddhist cultures, lay life revolved primarily around devotion, ritual observance, ethical conduct, festivals, pilgrimage, and support of monastic communities. Many monks and nuns devoted substantial time to liturgy, study, teaching, pastoral care, administration, and communal responsibilities. Intensive meditation was often practiced by particular contemplative specialists rather than by all Buddhists. To equate Buddhism with meditation is therefore to project a distinctly modern understanding onto a much more diverse historical reality.
Another consequence was the privileging of non-theistic interpretations of Buddhism. Modernist presentations frequently portrayed Buddhism as a religion without gods, spirits, sacred powers, or transcendent realities. Traditions centered on celestial Buddhas, bodhisattvas, devas, Pure Lands, protective spirits, and multiple realms of existence were often dismissed as premodern accretions or popular superstition. Theistic and devotional forms of Buddhism were frequently treated as less sophisticated than philosophical or meditative forms.
Yet for much of Buddhist history, practitioners have understood themselves as living within a richly populated cosmos. Human beings share reality with many forms of sentient existence, some visible and some invisible, inhabiting multiple worlds and dimensions of life. Devotional practices, prayers, rituals, offerings, and acts of reverence have often been grounded in the conviction that relationships with these beings are real and spiritually meaningful. Indeed, forms of Pure Land Buddhism, among the most influential and widely practiced traditions in Asia, have often been regarded by modernist interpreters as merely provisional teachings or skillful means for the masses, rather than as profound spiritual paths in their own right.
Metamodern Buddhism seeks to move beyond the limitations of Buddhist modernism while preserving many of its achievements. It retains the modern appreciation of meditation, critical inquiry, scientific dialogue, social engagement, and cross-cultural learning. At the same time, it reclaims dimensions of Buddhism that modernism neglected, marginalized, or dismissed.
This reclamation is a fresh appropriation of inherited traditions in light of contemporary knowledge and experience. Rituals can be appreciated as embodied wisdom. Chanting can be understood as participatory spirituality. Cosmologies can be approached as visions of a multidimensional universe. Devotional practices can be seen as cultivating relationships with realities that transcend the isolated ego. Buddhas, bodhisattvas, devas, and celestial realms can be understood in ways that are intellectually responsible while remaining open to dimensions of reality that exceed modern materialist assumptions.
Metamodern Buddhism thus seeks to recover the fuller ecology of Buddhist life—one that includes meditation but is not limited to meditation, values rational inquiry without reducing reality to what reason alone can explain, welcomes both non-theistic and theistic forms of Buddhist faith and practice, and reopens the possibility that human beings inhabit a living, multidimensional cosmos filled with visible and invisible forms of life. It offers a vision of Buddhism spacious enough to honor the diversity of the Buddhist tradition and creative enough to meet the needs of the present age.
Distinguishing Characteristics of Metamodern Buddhism
- Respect for Popular Buddhism
Metamodern Buddhism seeks to learn from the practices of ordinary Buddhists rather than privileging elite, intellectual, or meditation-centered forms of Buddhism. It recognizes that wisdom can be embodied in village temples, household rituals, festivals, devotional practices, and communal traditions that have sustained Buddhist life for centuries. - Openness to Theistic and Devotional Forms of Buddhism
Traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism are treated as authentic expressions of the Dharma rather than as inferior or merely symbolic forms of Buddhism. Faith, grace, prayer, and relationships with compassionate Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are recognized as potentially transformative dimensions of spiritual life. - Recognition of the Ambiguity of Interdependence
Interconnectedness is not assumed to be inherently liberating. Some forms of relationship foster compassion, creativity, and flourishing, while others perpetuate suffering, domination, addiction, or violence; wisdom lies in discerning the difference. - Openness to a Multidimensional Cosmos
Reality is not assumed to be exhausted by what can be measured through contemporary scientific methods. Metamodern Buddhism remains open to the possibility of dimensions of existence beyond ordinary sensory awareness and to forms of actuality that may not be reducible to human psychology. - Humility Toward the Past
The past is not viewed merely as a source of ideas to be adapted for modern purposes. Traditional teachings and practices are approached as potential sources of wisdom capable of challenging, correcting, and enriching contemporary assumptions. - Renewed Appreciation for Monastic and Contemplative Life
Metamodern Buddhism recognizes that monastic communities preserve forms of discipline, study, ritual, contemplation, and communal practice that cannot easily be replicated in modern lay settings. While not everyone is called to monastic life, monastic traditions can serve as important reservoirs of wisdom and as partners in a mutually enriching relationship with lay communities.
Metamodern Buddhism and Process Philosophy
Process philosophy, especially as influenced by the work of Alfred North Whitehead, offers one platform for the development of Metamodern Buddhism. By "Metamodern Buddhism" I do not mean a single school, institution, or orthodoxy. I mean an aspirational ideal: a way of understanding and practicing Buddhism that can be internalized in many different cultural settings and known by many different names. It can also serve as an invitation to Buddhist modernists to move toward a more expansive way of thinking and practicing—one that preserves the strengths of Buddhist modernism while recovering dimensions of Buddhist life that modernism often neglected.
Process philosophy is especially relevant because many of its central ideas have already been recognized as deeply consonant with traditional Buddhist thought. Scholars and practitioners from both traditions have long noted resonances between Whitehead's philosophy and Buddhist teachings concerning impermanence, interdependence, relationality, and the dynamic nature of existence. At the same time, process philosophy provides conceptual resources for re-engaging dimensions of Buddhist tradition that modernism often marginalized, including cosmology, ritual, devotion, the reality of non-human forms of existence, and the possibility of a multidimensional universe.
The following themes illustrate some of the affinities between process philosophy and a Metamodern Buddhist vision.
1. Reality as Process Rather Than Substance
Both Buddhism and process philosophy challenge the idea that reality is composed of permanent, self-subsisting substances. The world is better understood as a dynamic web of events, relationships, and acts of becoming. What appears fixed is in fact continually arising, changing, and passing away.
2. Radical Interdependence
The Buddhist principle of dependent co-arising finds a close parallel in Whitehead's understanding of relational existence. Every event emerges through its relationships with other events. Nothing exists in complete isolation; all things are internally related.
3. Impermanence as a Fundamental Truth
The Buddhist teaching of impermanence resonates deeply with Whitehead's view that actuality is constituted by momentary acts of becoming that continually perish. The world is a creative advance into novelty in which nothing remains exactly the same from moment to moment.
4. The Withness of the Body
Whitehead speaks of the "withness of the body" to describe the way conscious experience is always rooted in bodily feeling. Human awareness does not float above the body as a detached observer. It emerges from an ongoing felt relationship with breathing, posture, movement, sensation, emotion, memory, and the surrounding environment. Every moment of experience carries with it the bodily world from which it arises.
This idea resonates strongly with Buddhist practices of mindfulness and meditation. Attention to breathing, walking, eating, chanting, bowing, and bodily presence is not merely preliminary to spiritual life; it is itself a doorway into awakening. The withness of the body also helps explain why ritual practices, chants, pilgrimages, and forms of embodied devotion can be spiritually transformative. They engage the whole person rather than the intellect alone.
5. Compassion and Care for the Community of Life
Because all beings are interconnected, both traditions encourage an ethic of compassion and responsibility. The suffering and flourishing of others are not external to us but part of the larger web of life in which we participate. This insight naturally extends to ecological concern, social responsibility, and care for vulnerable forms of life. Human fulfillment includes contributing to the well-being of the larger community of life.
6. Multiple Forms of Experience in a Multidimensional Cosmos
Whitehead's philosophy rejects the idea that experience belongs exclusively to human beings. Experience exists in varying degrees throughout nature, from the simplest occasions of existence to the rich forms of awareness characteristic of animals and human beings. This vision resonates with Buddhist sensibilities concerning the continuity of life and mind across different forms of existence and helps support a more expansive understanding of sentience.
At the same time, Whitehead's philosophy does not reduce reality to the observable material world. It leaves conceptual room for dimensions of existence that exceed ordinary sensory awareness and familiar three-dimensional spacetime. Traditional Buddhist cosmologies similarly envision many worlds, realms, and forms of existence inhabited by diverse kinds of beings. Reality may be far richer and more mysterious than modern materialism allows.
Taken together, these ideas encourage a vision of the universe as alive with multiple forms of experience unfolding within a multidimensional cosmos. Human consciousness becomes one expression of a much larger community of life rather than the sole center of significance.
7. Anatman and the Rejection of Substantial Selfhood
The Buddhist doctrine of anatman, or no-self, finds a natural ally in Whitehead's rejection of enduring substances. For Whitehead, what we call a self is not a fixed entity but a succession of momentary acts of experience inheriting from one another through time. Personal identity is real, but it is a continuity of becoming rather than a permanent essence.
8. Dukkha and the Transformation of Suffering
At the heart of Buddhism lies the recognition of dukkha: suffering, dissatisfaction, vulnerability, instability, and the inability of finite things to provide permanent fulfillment. Process philosophy offers a complementary perspective. Because reality is a process of continual becoming and perishing, loss and fragility are woven into the fabric of existence. Every moment of beauty is also a moment of passing away.
Yet neither Buddhism nor process philosophy regards suffering as the final truth. Buddhism teaches that much suffering is intensified by attachment, craving, acquisitiveness, and the persistent effort to secure a permanent self in an impermanent world. The transformation of suffering comes not primarily through controlling the world but through a transformation of consciousness itself.
9. Peace
In Buddhist experience, this transformation is often accompanied by a deep sense of peace. The boundaries of the ego soften. The preoccupation with acquiring, possessing, defending, and advancing oneself begins to loosen. Horizons widen beyond the concerns of the isolated self, and one discovers a larger participation in the flow of life. In this widening, suffering does not necessarily disappear, but it is experienced differently. It no longer defines one's identity.
Whitehead offers a strikingly similar vision in his discussion of Peace. For Whitehead, Peace is not mere contentment or the absence of conflict. It is the consummating experience in the journey of life. It arises when acquisitiveness loosens its grip, when the self is no longer obsessed with securing advantages for itself, and when one participates more fully in the wider adventure of the universe. Peace involves a widening of horizons beyond personal concerns and a deep appreciation of reality in its beauty, tragedy, fragility, and interconnectedness.
From both Buddhist and process perspectives, liberation is therefore not an escape from impermanence but a transformed way of inhabiting it. The result is a life marked by compassion, gratitude, equanimity, and a sense of belonging to a reality larger than oneself.
10. Faith and Enlightenment
Many modern interpretations of Buddhism emphasize enlightenment while giving relatively little attention to faith. Enlightenment is often understood as awakening to the impermanent, interdependent, and non-substantial character of reality. Faith, by contrast, is sometimes regarded as secondary or even unnecessary. Yet many Buddhist traditions have held faith and enlightenment together as complementary dimensions of spiritual life.
Process philosophy offers a way of appreciating both. On the one hand, it supports a vision of awakening as insight into the relational nature of existence. Nothing exists independently or in isolation. All things arise through their relationships with all other things. From this perspective, enlightenment can be understood as awakening to emptiness—not emptiness as mere nothingness, but emptiness as the non-substantial interconnectedness of all things.
At the same time, process philosophy leaves open another possibility. The interconnected world may itself be rooted in a deeper reality that cannot be reduced to any particular thing. Whitehead speaks of the universe as grounded within a larger process of divine life. While this divine reality is not a supernatural ruler standing outside the world, it can be understood as the encompassing source and receptacle of all existence—the groundless ground within which all things arise, perish, and find their meaning.
This possibility creates space for appreciating forms of Buddhist faith, especially those found in Pure Land traditions. Faith need not be understood as assent to doctrines. It can be understood as an opening of the heart to a compassionate presence greater than oneself. In the language of Pure Land Buddhism, this presence is embodied in Amida Buddha, whose infinite compassion embraces all beings without exception.
From this perspective, faith and enlightenment are not opposites. Both involve a falling away of ego-centered existence. Enlightenment awakens one to the emptiness and interconnectedness of reality. Faith awakens one to the compassionate depth of reality. Both involve a widening of horizons beyond the isolated self. Both invite participation in a reality larger than oneself. Both can culminate in gratitude, humility, compassion, and a deep sense of belonging.
For some practitioners, the path begins with insight and deepens into faith. For others, it begins with faith and deepens into insight. A metamodern Buddhism informed by process philosophy can honor both possibilities and recognize them as complementary expressions of spiritual awakening.
11. The Extensive Continuum and Multiple Worlds
Whitehead's notion of the Extensive Continuum offers a striking conceptual counterpart to Buddhist visions of a multidimensional cosmos. The Extensive Continuum is not simply physical space as we ordinarily experience it. It is a deeper matrix of potential relations within which actual worlds can emerge. Whitehead further suggests that there may be multiple cosmic epochs, each with its own forms of order and patterns of actuality. Our familiar three-dimensional spacetime universe may be only one such epoch among others.
This possibility resonates with traditional Buddhist cosmologies, which describe a vast plurality of worlds, realms, and domains of existence inhabited by different forms of sentient life. While Whitehead does not reproduce Buddhist cosmology, his philosophy opens conceptual space for understanding such worlds as genuine possibilities rather than merely symbolic representations of inner psychological states. From a metamodern perspective, Buddhist accounts of multiple worlds can once again be approached with philosophical seriousness and imaginative openness.
12. Streams of Experience and the Possibility of Post-Mortem Continuity
Many Buddhist traditions affirm that what continues after death is not an eternal soul but a stream of experience. Whitehead's philosophy similarly rejects the notion of an immortal substance while allowing for the possibility that experiential continuity may not be reducible to bodily processes alone. If reality is multidimensional, and if experience is more fundamental than matter, then the continuation of a stream of experiencing beyond bodily death becomes a genuine philosophical possibility. This idea aligns naturally with Buddhist teachings concerning rebirth while avoiding the notion of a permanent self.
13. The Coalescence of Inner and Outer
WorldsBuddhist traditions often challenge the sharp division between subjective and objective reality. Whitehead does likewise. Every actual occasion is simultaneously a subject experiencing the world and an object experienced by others. The distinction between inner and outer remains important, but it is never absolute. Mind and world, self and environment, subject and object continually flow into one another in a relational process of becoming.
14. Language, Propositions, and Skillful Means
One of Whitehead's most original ideas is that language can function as a lure for feeling. In his philosophy, propositions are not merely statements that are either true or false. They are invitations to experience reality in new ways. A proposition can awaken possibilities, deepen perception, evoke emotions, inspire action, and open horizons of understanding. Language is not merely descriptive; it is transformative.
This perspective offers a fruitful way of understanding the Buddhist notion of upaya, often translated as "skillful means." Throughout Buddhist history, teachers have employed a wide variety of stories, doctrines, images, rituals, symbols, meditations, parables, and cosmological visions to guide people toward awakening. The value of these teachings does not necessarily depend on whether they function as literal descriptions of reality. Their value lies in their capacity to transform consciousness and cultivate wisdom and compassion.
From a process perspective, Buddhist teachings can be understood as propositions in Whitehead's sense. They are lures for feeling. A story about a bodhisattva, a vision of a Pure Land, a meditation practice, a koan, a chant, or a cosmological image can invite new ways of experiencing oneself and the world. Such teachings open possibilities for transformation that might otherwise remain unavailable.
This understanding allows Metamodern Buddhism to move beyond the simple opposition between literal belief and symbolic interpretation. A teaching need not be reduced to a psychological metaphor in order to be meaningful, nor must it always be accepted as a straightforward factual description. It can function as a transformative lure that opens the practitioner to deeper dimensions of reality.
Seen in this light, Buddhist traditions become repositories of skillful means accumulated over centuries. Their stories, rituals, doctrines, and symbols are not obstacles to awakening but potential pathways toward it. The question is not merely whether they are factually correct. The deeper question is how they shape perception, feeling, imagination, conduct, and spiritual transformation.
15. Karma, Legacy, and Freedom
Buddhist teachings on karma emphasize that every action has consequences. Thoughts, words, and deeds help shape future experience, both for oneself and for others. Human lives unfold within networks of inherited causes and conditions that both enable and constrain what is possible. In this sense, each moment is shaped by a past that cannot be undone.
Whitehead offers a complementary vision. Every moment of experience inherits a world that has already been formed by previous events. The past is present within the present. Yet inheritance is never mere repetition. Every act of becoming includes an element of self-creation, decision, and novelty. The world influences us, but it does not completely determine us.
This combination of inheritance and creativity provides a fruitful way of understanding karma. Karma is not fate. It is the legacy of the past as it lives in the present. Each moment receives a world, but each moment also contributes something new to the world it receives. The future is shaped by what has come before, yet it remains open.
From a process perspective, freedom is therefore not independence from the past but a creative response to it. We inherit habits, memories, social structures, cultural traditions, and karmic tendencies, but we are never merely products of those inheritances. We participate in shaping what they become.
This understanding of karma invites both humility and hope. We are responsible for the worlds we help create because our actions ripple outward into the lives of others and into the future. At the same time, no person, community, or civilization is trapped by its past. The creative advance of the universe continually offers new possibilities. We live within legacies, but we are also called to transform them.
For this reason, a process-relational understanding of karma is inseparable from creativity. Every moment carries a legacy, and every moment opens a freedom. The spiritual task is not merely to accept what has been handed down but to respond in ways that contribute to greater wisdom, compassion, beauty, and care for the community of life.
16. The Bodhisattva Ideal
Many forms of Mahāyāna Buddhism hold before practitioners the image of the Bodhisattva: a being who seeks awakening not for personal liberation alone but for the well-being of all sentient life. The Bodhisattva vows to remain responsive to the suffering of the world and to participate in the liberation of others. This ideal has inspired Buddhist practitioners for centuries and remains one of the most powerful images in the Buddhist imagination.
From a metamodern perspective, the Bodhisattva can be understood in both literal and symbolic ways.
Taken literally, Bodhisattvas may be understood as real beings inhabiting dimensions of existence beyond ordinary human perception. Just as traditional Buddhist cosmologies envision many worlds and realms populated by diverse forms of life, so they envision communities of awakened beings who continue to offer guidance, protection, inspiration, and compassion. Figures such as Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī, Kṣitigarbha, and Samantabhadra can be approached not merely as myths or metaphors but as genuine participants in a multidimensional cosmos. Process philosophy does not prove the existence of such beings, but its vision of a living and multidimensional universe leaves conceptual room for them.
Taken symbolically, the Bodhisattva represents a possibility present within every human life. The Bodhisattva is the awakened heart. The Bodhisattva is the capacity to move beyond ego-centered concerns and participate in the suffering and flourishing of others. The Bodhisattva symbolizes what happens when wisdom and compassion become inseparable. In this sense, the Bodhisattva is less a supernatural figure than a way of being in the world.
These two interpretations need not be mutually exclusive. A metamodern approach allows practitioners to hold them together in creative tension. Bodhisattvas may be understood as real presences, symbolic ideals, or both. What matters most is that the image functions as a lure for feeling and action. It invites people into wider circles of care, deeper forms of wisdom, and greater participation in the healing of the world.
In this respect, the Bodhisattva ideal may serve as a fitting culmination of a process-relational vision of Buddhism. If reality is relational, if all beings are interconnected, if suffering calls forth compassion, if awakening involves transcending the isolated ego, and if the future remains open to creative transformation, then the natural response is the Bodhisattva path. It is a life devoted to wisdom, compassion, and service to the community of life.
The Bodhisattva thus stands as both a cosmic possibility and a human vocation. Whether understood literally, symbolically, or both, the Bodhisattva reminds us that spiritual awakening is never solely for oneself. It is participation in a larger adventure of care, creativity, and compassion that embraces the whole world.
Beyond Modernism
Taken together, these twelve themes suggest why process philosophy can serve as a valuable resource for the emergence of Metamodern Buddhism. It affirms many insights celebrated by Buddhist modernism—impermanence, interdependence, experiential practice, and openness to intellectual inquiry. At the same time, it reopens questions that modernism often prematurely closed. It invites renewed reflection on cosmology, ritual, devotion, multidimensional forms of existence, life after death, non-human forms of experience, and the possibility that reality is far richer than modern materialist assumptions allow.
In this way, process philosophy does not offer a return to premodern Buddhism. Nor does it simply repeat the assumptions of Buddhist modernism. Instead, it offers conceptual tools for a Buddhism that is at once intellectually responsible, spiritually adventurous, scientifically informed, cosmologically expansive, ecologically grounded, embodied, and open to wonder. It thus provides one possible pathway toward a Metamodern Buddhism capable of honoring both the wisdom of the past and the possibilities of the future.
Process philosophy is especially relevant because many of its central ideas have already been recognized as deeply consonant with traditional Buddhist thought. Scholars and practitioners from both traditions have long noted resonances between Whitehead's philosophy and Buddhist teachings concerning impermanence, interdependence, relationality, and the dynamic nature of existence. At the same time, process philosophy provides conceptual resources for re-engaging dimensions of Buddhist tradition that modernism often marginalized, including cosmology, ritual, devotion, the reality of non-human forms of existence, and the possibility of a multidimensional universe.
The following themes illustrate some of the affinities between process philosophy and a Metamodern Buddhist vision.
1. Reality as Process Rather Than Substance
Both Buddhism and process philosophy challenge the idea that reality is composed of permanent, self-subsisting substances. The world is better understood as a dynamic web of events, relationships, and acts of becoming. What appears fixed is in fact continually arising, changing, and passing away.
2. Radical Interdependence
The Buddhist principle of dependent co-arising finds a close parallel in Whitehead's understanding of relational existence. Every event emerges through its relationships with other events. Nothing exists in complete isolation; all things are internally related.
3. Impermanence as a Fundamental Truth
The Buddhist teaching of impermanence resonates deeply with Whitehead's view that actuality is constituted by momentary acts of becoming that continually perish. The world is a creative advance into novelty in which nothing remains exactly the same from moment to moment.
4. The Withness of the Body
Whitehead speaks of the "withness of the body" to describe the way conscious experience is always rooted in bodily feeling. Human awareness does not float above the body as a detached observer. It emerges from an ongoing felt relationship with breathing, posture, movement, sensation, emotion, memory, and the surrounding environment. Every moment of experience carries with it the bodily world from which it arises.
This idea resonates strongly with Buddhist practices of mindfulness and meditation. Attention to breathing, walking, eating, chanting, bowing, and bodily presence is not merely preliminary to spiritual life; it is itself a doorway into awakening. The withness of the body also helps explain why ritual practices, chants, pilgrimages, and forms of embodied devotion can be spiritually transformative. They engage the whole person rather than the intellect alone.
5. Compassion and Care for the Community of Life
Because all beings are interconnected, both traditions encourage an ethic of compassion and responsibility. The suffering and flourishing of others are not external to us but part of the larger web of life in which we participate. This insight naturally extends to ecological concern, social responsibility, and care for vulnerable forms of life. Human fulfillment includes contributing to the well-being of the larger community of life.
6. Multiple Forms of Experience in a Multidimensional Cosmos
Whitehead's philosophy rejects the idea that experience belongs exclusively to human beings. Experience exists in varying degrees throughout nature, from the simplest occasions of existence to the rich forms of awareness characteristic of animals and human beings. This vision resonates with Buddhist sensibilities concerning the continuity of life and mind across different forms of existence and helps support a more expansive understanding of sentience.
At the same time, Whitehead's philosophy does not reduce reality to the observable material world. It leaves conceptual room for dimensions of existence that exceed ordinary sensory awareness and familiar three-dimensional spacetime. Traditional Buddhist cosmologies similarly envision many worlds, realms, and forms of existence inhabited by diverse kinds of beings. Reality may be far richer and more mysterious than modern materialism allows.
Taken together, these ideas encourage a vision of the universe as alive with multiple forms of experience unfolding within a multidimensional cosmos. Human consciousness becomes one expression of a much larger community of life rather than the sole center of significance.
7. Anatman and the Rejection of Substantial Selfhood
The Buddhist doctrine of anatman, or no-self, finds a natural ally in Whitehead's rejection of enduring substances. For Whitehead, what we call a self is not a fixed entity but a succession of momentary acts of experience inheriting from one another through time. Personal identity is real, but it is a continuity of becoming rather than a permanent essence.
8. Dukkha and the Transformation of Suffering
At the heart of Buddhism lies the recognition of dukkha: suffering, dissatisfaction, vulnerability, instability, and the inability of finite things to provide permanent fulfillment. Process philosophy offers a complementary perspective. Because reality is a process of continual becoming and perishing, loss and fragility are woven into the fabric of existence. Every moment of beauty is also a moment of passing away.
Yet neither Buddhism nor process philosophy regards suffering as the final truth. Buddhism teaches that much suffering is intensified by attachment, craving, acquisitiveness, and the persistent effort to secure a permanent self in an impermanent world. The transformation of suffering comes not primarily through controlling the world but through a transformation of consciousness itself.
9. Peace
In Buddhist experience, this transformation is often accompanied by a deep sense of peace. The boundaries of the ego soften. The preoccupation with acquiring, possessing, defending, and advancing oneself begins to loosen. Horizons widen beyond the concerns of the isolated self, and one discovers a larger participation in the flow of life. In this widening, suffering does not necessarily disappear, but it is experienced differently. It no longer defines one's identity.
Whitehead offers a strikingly similar vision in his discussion of Peace. For Whitehead, Peace is not mere contentment or the absence of conflict. It is the consummating experience in the journey of life. It arises when acquisitiveness loosens its grip, when the self is no longer obsessed with securing advantages for itself, and when one participates more fully in the wider adventure of the universe. Peace involves a widening of horizons beyond personal concerns and a deep appreciation of reality in its beauty, tragedy, fragility, and interconnectedness.
From both Buddhist and process perspectives, liberation is therefore not an escape from impermanence but a transformed way of inhabiting it. The result is a life marked by compassion, gratitude, equanimity, and a sense of belonging to a reality larger than oneself.
10. Faith and Enlightenment
Many modern interpretations of Buddhism emphasize enlightenment while giving relatively little attention to faith. Enlightenment is often understood as awakening to the impermanent, interdependent, and non-substantial character of reality. Faith, by contrast, is sometimes regarded as secondary or even unnecessary. Yet many Buddhist traditions have held faith and enlightenment together as complementary dimensions of spiritual life.
Process philosophy offers a way of appreciating both. On the one hand, it supports a vision of awakening as insight into the relational nature of existence. Nothing exists independently or in isolation. All things arise through their relationships with all other things. From this perspective, enlightenment can be understood as awakening to emptiness—not emptiness as mere nothingness, but emptiness as the non-substantial interconnectedness of all things.
At the same time, process philosophy leaves open another possibility. The interconnected world may itself be rooted in a deeper reality that cannot be reduced to any particular thing. Whitehead speaks of the universe as grounded within a larger process of divine life. While this divine reality is not a supernatural ruler standing outside the world, it can be understood as the encompassing source and receptacle of all existence—the groundless ground within which all things arise, perish, and find their meaning.
This possibility creates space for appreciating forms of Buddhist faith, especially those found in Pure Land traditions. Faith need not be understood as assent to doctrines. It can be understood as an opening of the heart to a compassionate presence greater than oneself. In the language of Pure Land Buddhism, this presence is embodied in Amida Buddha, whose infinite compassion embraces all beings without exception.
From this perspective, faith and enlightenment are not opposites. Both involve a falling away of ego-centered existence. Enlightenment awakens one to the emptiness and interconnectedness of reality. Faith awakens one to the compassionate depth of reality. Both involve a widening of horizons beyond the isolated self. Both invite participation in a reality larger than oneself. Both can culminate in gratitude, humility, compassion, and a deep sense of belonging.
For some practitioners, the path begins with insight and deepens into faith. For others, it begins with faith and deepens into insight. A metamodern Buddhism informed by process philosophy can honor both possibilities and recognize them as complementary expressions of spiritual awakening.
11. The Extensive Continuum and Multiple Worlds
Whitehead's notion of the Extensive Continuum offers a striking conceptual counterpart to Buddhist visions of a multidimensional cosmos. The Extensive Continuum is not simply physical space as we ordinarily experience it. It is a deeper matrix of potential relations within which actual worlds can emerge. Whitehead further suggests that there may be multiple cosmic epochs, each with its own forms of order and patterns of actuality. Our familiar three-dimensional spacetime universe may be only one such epoch among others.
This possibility resonates with traditional Buddhist cosmologies, which describe a vast plurality of worlds, realms, and domains of existence inhabited by different forms of sentient life. While Whitehead does not reproduce Buddhist cosmology, his philosophy opens conceptual space for understanding such worlds as genuine possibilities rather than merely symbolic representations of inner psychological states. From a metamodern perspective, Buddhist accounts of multiple worlds can once again be approached with philosophical seriousness and imaginative openness.
12. Streams of Experience and the Possibility of Post-Mortem Continuity
Many Buddhist traditions affirm that what continues after death is not an eternal soul but a stream of experience. Whitehead's philosophy similarly rejects the notion of an immortal substance while allowing for the possibility that experiential continuity may not be reducible to bodily processes alone. If reality is multidimensional, and if experience is more fundamental than matter, then the continuation of a stream of experiencing beyond bodily death becomes a genuine philosophical possibility. This idea aligns naturally with Buddhist teachings concerning rebirth while avoiding the notion of a permanent self.
13. The Coalescence of Inner and Outer
WorldsBuddhist traditions often challenge the sharp division between subjective and objective reality. Whitehead does likewise. Every actual occasion is simultaneously a subject experiencing the world and an object experienced by others. The distinction between inner and outer remains important, but it is never absolute. Mind and world, self and environment, subject and object continually flow into one another in a relational process of becoming.
14. Language, Propositions, and Skillful Means
One of Whitehead's most original ideas is that language can function as a lure for feeling. In his philosophy, propositions are not merely statements that are either true or false. They are invitations to experience reality in new ways. A proposition can awaken possibilities, deepen perception, evoke emotions, inspire action, and open horizons of understanding. Language is not merely descriptive; it is transformative.
This perspective offers a fruitful way of understanding the Buddhist notion of upaya, often translated as "skillful means." Throughout Buddhist history, teachers have employed a wide variety of stories, doctrines, images, rituals, symbols, meditations, parables, and cosmological visions to guide people toward awakening. The value of these teachings does not necessarily depend on whether they function as literal descriptions of reality. Their value lies in their capacity to transform consciousness and cultivate wisdom and compassion.
From a process perspective, Buddhist teachings can be understood as propositions in Whitehead's sense. They are lures for feeling. A story about a bodhisattva, a vision of a Pure Land, a meditation practice, a koan, a chant, or a cosmological image can invite new ways of experiencing oneself and the world. Such teachings open possibilities for transformation that might otherwise remain unavailable.
This understanding allows Metamodern Buddhism to move beyond the simple opposition between literal belief and symbolic interpretation. A teaching need not be reduced to a psychological metaphor in order to be meaningful, nor must it always be accepted as a straightforward factual description. It can function as a transformative lure that opens the practitioner to deeper dimensions of reality.
Seen in this light, Buddhist traditions become repositories of skillful means accumulated over centuries. Their stories, rituals, doctrines, and symbols are not obstacles to awakening but potential pathways toward it. The question is not merely whether they are factually correct. The deeper question is how they shape perception, feeling, imagination, conduct, and spiritual transformation.
15. Karma, Legacy, and Freedom
Buddhist teachings on karma emphasize that every action has consequences. Thoughts, words, and deeds help shape future experience, both for oneself and for others. Human lives unfold within networks of inherited causes and conditions that both enable and constrain what is possible. In this sense, each moment is shaped by a past that cannot be undone.
Whitehead offers a complementary vision. Every moment of experience inherits a world that has already been formed by previous events. The past is present within the present. Yet inheritance is never mere repetition. Every act of becoming includes an element of self-creation, decision, and novelty. The world influences us, but it does not completely determine us.
This combination of inheritance and creativity provides a fruitful way of understanding karma. Karma is not fate. It is the legacy of the past as it lives in the present. Each moment receives a world, but each moment also contributes something new to the world it receives. The future is shaped by what has come before, yet it remains open.
From a process perspective, freedom is therefore not independence from the past but a creative response to it. We inherit habits, memories, social structures, cultural traditions, and karmic tendencies, but we are never merely products of those inheritances. We participate in shaping what they become.
This understanding of karma invites both humility and hope. We are responsible for the worlds we help create because our actions ripple outward into the lives of others and into the future. At the same time, no person, community, or civilization is trapped by its past. The creative advance of the universe continually offers new possibilities. We live within legacies, but we are also called to transform them.
For this reason, a process-relational understanding of karma is inseparable from creativity. Every moment carries a legacy, and every moment opens a freedom. The spiritual task is not merely to accept what has been handed down but to respond in ways that contribute to greater wisdom, compassion, beauty, and care for the community of life.
16. The Bodhisattva Ideal
Many forms of Mahāyāna Buddhism hold before practitioners the image of the Bodhisattva: a being who seeks awakening not for personal liberation alone but for the well-being of all sentient life. The Bodhisattva vows to remain responsive to the suffering of the world and to participate in the liberation of others. This ideal has inspired Buddhist practitioners for centuries and remains one of the most powerful images in the Buddhist imagination.
From a metamodern perspective, the Bodhisattva can be understood in both literal and symbolic ways.
Taken literally, Bodhisattvas may be understood as real beings inhabiting dimensions of existence beyond ordinary human perception. Just as traditional Buddhist cosmologies envision many worlds and realms populated by diverse forms of life, so they envision communities of awakened beings who continue to offer guidance, protection, inspiration, and compassion. Figures such as Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī, Kṣitigarbha, and Samantabhadra can be approached not merely as myths or metaphors but as genuine participants in a multidimensional cosmos. Process philosophy does not prove the existence of such beings, but its vision of a living and multidimensional universe leaves conceptual room for them.
Taken symbolically, the Bodhisattva represents a possibility present within every human life. The Bodhisattva is the awakened heart. The Bodhisattva is the capacity to move beyond ego-centered concerns and participate in the suffering and flourishing of others. The Bodhisattva symbolizes what happens when wisdom and compassion become inseparable. In this sense, the Bodhisattva is less a supernatural figure than a way of being in the world.
These two interpretations need not be mutually exclusive. A metamodern approach allows practitioners to hold them together in creative tension. Bodhisattvas may be understood as real presences, symbolic ideals, or both. What matters most is that the image functions as a lure for feeling and action. It invites people into wider circles of care, deeper forms of wisdom, and greater participation in the healing of the world.
In this respect, the Bodhisattva ideal may serve as a fitting culmination of a process-relational vision of Buddhism. If reality is relational, if all beings are interconnected, if suffering calls forth compassion, if awakening involves transcending the isolated ego, and if the future remains open to creative transformation, then the natural response is the Bodhisattva path. It is a life devoted to wisdom, compassion, and service to the community of life.
The Bodhisattva thus stands as both a cosmic possibility and a human vocation. Whether understood literally, symbolically, or both, the Bodhisattva reminds us that spiritual awakening is never solely for oneself. It is participation in a larger adventure of care, creativity, and compassion that embraces the whole world.
Beyond Modernism
Taken together, these twelve themes suggest why process philosophy can serve as a valuable resource for the emergence of Metamodern Buddhism. It affirms many insights celebrated by Buddhist modernism—impermanence, interdependence, experiential practice, and openness to intellectual inquiry. At the same time, it reopens questions that modernism often prematurely closed. It invites renewed reflection on cosmology, ritual, devotion, multidimensional forms of existence, life after death, non-human forms of experience, and the possibility that reality is far richer than modern materialist assumptions allow.
In this way, process philosophy does not offer a return to premodern Buddhism. Nor does it simply repeat the assumptions of Buddhist modernism. Instead, it offers conceptual tools for a Buddhism that is at once intellectually responsible, spiritually adventurous, scientifically informed, cosmologically expansive, ecologically grounded, embodied, and open to wonder. It thus provides one possible pathway toward a Metamodern Buddhism capable of honoring both the wisdom of the past and the possibilities of the future.
Further Reading: Kazi Adi Shakti and Process Buddhism
Readers interested in process-relational approaches to Buddhism may wish to explore the work of Kazi Adi Shakti, whose writings bring Whiteheadian process philosophy into dialogue with Madhyamaka Buddhism, ecofeminism, ecology, and social theory. Her work offers one of the most creative contemporary examples of what a process-informed metamodern Buddhism might look like.
Kazi Adi Shakti, "Emptiness, Creativity & Feminist Ecology: An Introduction to Process Buddhism"
Center for Process Studies
https://ctr4process.org/article/emptiness-creativity-feminist-ecologyan-introduction-to-process-buddhism/
Kazi Adi Shakti, "Probative and Imaginative Modes of Engagement in Buddhism and Process Thought"
Open Horizons
https://www.openhorizons.org/8203probative-and-imaginative-modes-of-engagement-in-buddhism-and-process-thought-kazi-shakti.html
Jay McDaniel, "Process Buddhism: Learning from Kazi Adi Shakti"
Open Horizons
https://www.openhorizons.org/process-buddhism-learning-from-8203kazi-adi-shakti.html
Process Buddhism: A Learning Circle
Open Horizons
https://www.openhorizons.org/process-buddhism-a-learning-circle.html
Compassion Here and Now: The Buddhist Way in Process Perspective
Process and Faith
https://processandfaith.org/groups/compassion-here-and-now/
Buddhist Process Explorations
Process and Faith
https://processandfaith.org/groups/buddhist-process-explorations/
Kazi Adi Shakti, "Emptiness, Creativity & Feminist Ecology: An Introduction to Process Buddhism"
Center for Process Studies
https://ctr4process.org/article/emptiness-creativity-feminist-ecologyan-introduction-to-process-buddhism/
Kazi Adi Shakti, "Probative and Imaginative Modes of Engagement in Buddhism and Process Thought"
Open Horizons
https://www.openhorizons.org/8203probative-and-imaginative-modes-of-engagement-in-buddhism-and-process-thought-kazi-shakti.html
Jay McDaniel, "Process Buddhism: Learning from Kazi Adi Shakti"
Open Horizons
https://www.openhorizons.org/process-buddhism-learning-from-8203kazi-adi-shakti.html
Process Buddhism: A Learning Circle
Open Horizons
https://www.openhorizons.org/process-buddhism-a-learning-circle.html
Compassion Here and Now: The Buddhist Way in Process Perspective
Process and Faith
https://processandfaith.org/groups/compassion-here-and-now/
Buddhist Process Explorations
Process and Faith
https://processandfaith.org/groups/buddhist-process-explorations/