On a recent post over at Progressive Buddhism, Kyle bemoans the contemporary fragility of Buddhism in the West.

We are now experiencing Buddhism in the West’s struggle through its own Valley Forge. Like Washington’s army and the hopes of the American Revolution that were in dire peril in 1777, so is the future of Buddhism in the West today.

I think his grumbles are well-founded. After all, the dominance of the West will only last for so much longer. With the end of Western superiority, the very existence of a Western Buddhism will be put in question. If Buddhism cannot thrive in a globally hegemonic culture, then how will it fare once that ascendant culture is tearing at the seams? In an ever more democratic and globalized humanity, the West will have to lose its prestige, and so will diminish whatever special Western prestige comes with “Western” Buddhism.