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A Buddhist History of the West: Studies in Lack
A Buddhist interpretation of Western history that shows civilization shaped by the self's desire for groundedness.
Buddhism teaches that to become happy, greed, ill-will, and delusion must be transformed into their positive generosity, compassion, and wisdom. The history of the West, like all histories, has been plagued by the consequences of greed, ill-will, and delusion. A Buddhist History of the West investigates how individuals have tried to ground themselves to make themselves feel more real. To be self-conscious is to experience ungroundedness as a sense of lack, but what is lacking has been understood differently in different historical periods. Author David R. Loy examines how the understanding of lack changes at historical junctures and shows how those junctures were so crucial in the development of the West.
Buddhism teaches that to become happy, greed, ill-will, and delusion must be transformed into their positive generosity, compassion, and wisdom. The history of the West, like all histories, has been plagued by the consequences of greed, ill-will, and delusion. A Buddhist History of the West investigates how individuals have tried to ground themselves to make themselves feel more real. To be self-conscious is to experience ungroundedness as a sense of lack, but what is lacking has been understood differently in different historical periods. Author David R. Loy examines how the understanding of lack changes at historical junctures and shows how those junctures were so crucial in the development of the West.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 24, 2002
About the author
David R. Loy
31 books70 followersDavid Robert Loy is an American author and authorized teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage of Japanese Zen Buddhism.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 6, 2026
It’s probably the most niche book I’ve ever read (no wonder it only has three reviews here). Terribly interesting, though so academic.
I was curious to find Buddhist criticism of Western societies, especially for our consumerism and hustle culture, and essentially a non-existing spiritual life. The author gave me so much more, though.
As a scholar in religion studies, he began analysing the world’s religious changes all the way from ancient Greeks to present-day Western civilisation. Starting with the premise that we, humans, all of us, feel inherently incomplete, carrying the feeling of lack no matter the context. What differs, however, is how we try to fill it.
As the author goes through history, we see ancient Greeks trying to cure said lack through reason and virtue, early Christians through God and salvation, the Middle Ages through following the divine order, Luther’s Reformation through personal faith, and later modernity through science, progress, and individual freedom, eventually bringing us to where we are today:
• “Our type of salvation still requires a future-orientation. “We no longer give our surplus to God; the process of producing an ever-expanding surplus is in itself our God”.
• “Since we no longer believe in any original sin that could be expiated, what can it be that is wrong with us and how can we hope to get over it? Today the most popular explanation—our contemporary original sin—is that we don’t have enough money.”
• “Modern man would not be able to endure real economic equality, says Becker, “because he has no faith in self-transcendent, otherworldly immortality symbols; visible physical worth is the only thing he has to give him eternal life.”
• “Whatever idols man remains rooted to are idols designed precisely to hide the reality of the despair of his condition; all the frantic and obsessive activity of daily life, in whatever country, under whatever ideology, is a defence against full human self-consciousness”
And, finally, the author concludes with a spicy assertion (I love such):
“In conclusion, the market is not just an economic system but a religion—yet not a very good one—for it can thrive only by promising a secular salvation that it never quite supplies. Its academic discipline, the “social science” of economics, is better understood as a theology pretending to be a science.”
I loved the book; it gave me so much to think about. If not for the dryness of language, it would be a five-star.
I was curious to find Buddhist criticism of Western societies, especially for our consumerism and hustle culture, and essentially a non-existing spiritual life. The author gave me so much more, though.
As a scholar in religion studies, he began analysing the world’s religious changes all the way from ancient Greeks to present-day Western civilisation. Starting with the premise that we, humans, all of us, feel inherently incomplete, carrying the feeling of lack no matter the context. What differs, however, is how we try to fill it.
As the author goes through history, we see ancient Greeks trying to cure said lack through reason and virtue, early Christians through God and salvation, the Middle Ages through following the divine order, Luther’s Reformation through personal faith, and later modernity through science, progress, and individual freedom, eventually bringing us to where we are today:
• “Our type of salvation still requires a future-orientation. “We no longer give our surplus to God; the process of producing an ever-expanding surplus is in itself our God”.
• “Since we no longer believe in any original sin that could be expiated, what can it be that is wrong with us and how can we hope to get over it? Today the most popular explanation—our contemporary original sin—is that we don’t have enough money.”
• “Modern man would not be able to endure real economic equality, says Becker, “because he has no faith in self-transcendent, otherworldly immortality symbols; visible physical worth is the only thing he has to give him eternal life.”
• “Whatever idols man remains rooted to are idols designed precisely to hide the reality of the despair of his condition; all the frantic and obsessive activity of daily life, in whatever country, under whatever ideology, is a defence against full human self-consciousness”
And, finally, the author concludes with a spicy assertion (I love such):
“In conclusion, the market is not just an economic system but a religion—yet not a very good one—for it can thrive only by promising a secular salvation that it never quite supplies. Its academic discipline, the “social science” of economics, is better understood as a theology pretending to be a science.”
I loved the book; it gave me so much to think about. If not for the dryness of language, it would be a five-star.
April 25, 2020
Not much Buddhism in this book. If you are looking to further expand your understanding of how Buddhist concepts are influenced by, or how they in turn could or do influence, the modern western world you won't find much here.
It is mostly a critique of western culture with some assumptions about basic human nature tossed in. I found it clearly written and his arguments were easy to follow, but I disagreed with some, or maybe even most, of his basic assertions. The problems that Buddha was addressing 2500 years ago with the formulation of the 4 truths and the 8 fold path are ever present in human society not the result of the age of enlightenment or the rise of market capitalism.
It is mostly a critique of western culture with some assumptions about basic human nature tossed in. I found it clearly written and his arguments were easy to follow, but I disagreed with some, or maybe even most, of his basic assertions. The problems that Buddha was addressing 2500 years ago with the formulation of the 4 truths and the 8 fold path are ever present in human society not the result of the age of enlightenment or the rise of market capitalism.
February 10, 2018
Very academic, but enjoyable. The second D Loy book I've read.
The analysis of modern and historical society in terms of lack is very insightful. Lack being the shadow of our sense of self - being unreal, much of human endeavour is an attempt to make the unreal self feel grounded and real; fame, money, love/sex, and the elevation of market capitalism as a "secular" religion.
The sense of lack being essentially a spiritual problem, requires a spiritual resolution. Resolved by non-dualism. If the separation between world and self is Realised to be unreal, desperate attempts to ground the self at the expense of the planet and others are no longer necessary.
The analysis of modern and historical society in terms of lack is very insightful. Lack being the shadow of our sense of self - being unreal, much of human endeavour is an attempt to make the unreal self feel grounded and real; fame, money, love/sex, and the elevation of market capitalism as a "secular" religion.
The sense of lack being essentially a spiritual problem, requires a spiritual resolution. Resolved by non-dualism. If the separation between world and self is Realised to be unreal, desperate attempts to ground the self at the expense of the planet and others are no longer necessary.
August 10, 2015
Well written slanted to affirm Buddhism
If you've been looking for a history of Christianity written in a way slanted to affirm Buddhism and imply solution for all ilks of the Western World is Biddhism, this book is for you. While smartly written, it seems to think Christianity is stuck in the 1500's and only reviews the written a of white men.
If you've been looking for a history of Christianity written in a way slanted to affirm Buddhism and imply solution for all ilks of the Western World is Biddhism, this book is for you. While smartly written, it seems to think Christianity is stuck in the 1500's and only reviews the written a of white men.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews