Publishers Weekly
This hefty history of Buddhism in the West starts at the very beginning: combing through the works of ancient Greeks and proceeding from that time to find references to Western encounters with, or knowledge of, Buddhism in the East. Sutin, a teacher and author of biographies and memoirs, has set himself an ambitious and sometimes dusty task, querying Gnosticism, the missionary history of the Society of Jesus, Enlightenment thought and other currents of Western intellectual history, in his quest for the Buddha. Some of what he finds is fascinating, including the Jesus Messiah sutra, a 7th-century document that explains Christianity in Buddhist and Confucian terms. Other times what he considers Buddhist-influenced is a stretch that blurs distinctions: the mathematician Leibniz, for example, is roped into his analysis, but what Sutin cites shows the German philosopher to be an admirer of China, not necessarily of Buddhism. General readers may find this book ponderous, with lengthy quotes from source materials and occasional small side disquisitions about such matters as the racism behind the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. However, its comprehensiveness and depth will interest those in the field of Buddhist studies and others with patience to slog through it. (Aug.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
This book is an important contribution to our understanding of the establishing of Buddhism in Europe and the Americas though one should not be misled into thinking that Buddhism has been in the process of gradually establishing itself in the West for the last 2000 years. Until 1800 or so, no systematic efforts were made to preach Buddhism to the West. Thus, the "journey" of Buddhism to the West is, in fact, only about 200 years old. Sutin (writing, Hamline Univ. and Vermont Coll.) acknowledges this in his book, which is devoted to the final 200 years of Buddhism's existence. Chapters cover the influence of Hegel and Heidegger, the effect of transcendentalism, and the role of the Dalai Lama. Thoroughly researched, intelligently presented, and supported by an excellent bibliography, this will best serve scholars of religious history as a reference and source book, but it will also appeal to interested casual readers. Recommended for all libraries. James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, VA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A leisurely survey of Buddhist encounters with the West, for better or worse. Much of the literature on that matter has come from Buddhists such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Catholics such as Thomas Merton. Sutin (Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley, 2000, etc.) professes no religious attachment, and his emphasis is historical rather than doctrinal. He begins with the age of Alexander the Great, when Greeks were exposed to Buddhist teachings during the short-lived conquest of northwestern India; Aristotle even asked Alexander to send a "gymnosophist" back to Greece for a conversation, though a Buddhist met a trio of Greek thinkers with the impatient remark, "It is impossible to explain philosophical doctrines through the medium of three interpreters who understand nothing we say any more than the vulgar; it is like asking water to flow through pure mud." Such incomprehension marked subsequent East-West encounters, though in time, Nestorian Christians would live alongside Buddhists in Asia, giving each a better idea of the other's beliefs. Sutin examines the controversial view that Buddhist thought influenced the Gnostics (and thus, perhaps, early Christianity), for which there is scant evidence for or against, before moving on to the better-documented travels of Christian missionaries in Asia; his narrative is peopled by memorable characters such as the Japanese Buddhist monk who converted to Catholicism only to denounce it, "making him an apostate, perhaps the first in world history, of both Buddhism and Christianity." Later, he provides a fine brief on the flim-flam artist who did much to introduce sort-of-Tibetan doctrine to the West, T. Lobsang Rampa. Sutin reaches familiarground when he turns to the influence of Buddhism on the American transcendentalists and, later, the Beats and their followers, more fluently chronicled in Rick Fields's How the Swans Came to the Lake (1992). Readers familiar with Merton and Suzuki will know most of this story. For others, though, this is a solid overview.
