Globalization, which dictates the contours of the new world order, can have many negative consequences, leading to the destruction of original cultures and the neglect of religious and moral values of society.
The triumphant march of globalization diminishes the role of religion in the world, and it is pushed to the periphery of social existence.
Under these conditions religious identity becomes an expression of the very unrealized hopes and aspirations in the world of real social relations, including the ideals of social arrangement of the world. The positive, evolutionary formation of religious identity in different parts of the world is everywhere disturbed by the revolutionary and chaotic impulse of modernization.
Unfortunately, at the level of mass religious consciousness, history is replete with facts of intransigence and fanaticism. At the same time, religious doctrines are often used by political elites as “political technologies” to influence the consciousness and behavior of large segments of the population. Religion is once again becoming an effective instrument of social and cultural mobilization in politics.
In recent years, public attitudes toward religious institutions have changed dramatically. Religion, while remaining for the most part a unifying factor and possessing a complex system of horizontal connections and institutional relationships, can serve as an effective instrument for the regulation of global trends.
In general, the attitude of each religion towards globalization can be considered as mature, but each religion is much less definite about world development.
While in some regions of the world people demonstrate an unswerving devotion to their traditional, “pre-globalization” religious forms, in others, on the contrary, religiosity acquires modernist configurations.
Buddhism adapts easily to any changes in the modern world. It has no idea of a creator-god, no concept of the soul, and no religious organization similar to the Christian church. Instead of paradisiacal bliss and salvation, it offered believers nirvana, taken as total nothingness, nothingness. Not surprisingly, such a religion seemed paradoxical to a man of the West brought up in the Christian tradition. He saw in it a deviation from the very notion of religion, of which Christianity was naturally regarded as the model.
Buddhism gives the West what it lacks: a system of spiritual wisdom that can inspire and morally guide without, at the same time, demanding unquestioning faith in theological dogma. Rather, it relies on human reasoning and personal insight.
The vitality of Buddhism is beginning to adapt itself more and more to the demands of modern life, finding an approach to the changed conditions. Moreover, followers of Buddhism in the West see the prospects for the evolution of Buddhism in its syncretization with elements of Western spiritual culture. Some of them propose to abandon the specific teachings of Buddhism and to take from it only what is necessary for the West, linking the ideas and concepts of Buddhism with the best achievements of Western science, making it completely “Western”.
It is necessary to distinguish such concepts as “global Buddhism” and “Buddhism in the global age,” because not all the confessional space of Buddhism is included in the space of globalization. Traditional Buddhism assumes a “museum-archival” form of existence or becomes a source of symbolic identity for newly converted Western Buddhists. At the same time, this conservative-preservative tendency does not take radical expressions. This is why such a notion as “fundamentalism” is not applicable to Buddhism, since in comparison with Buddhism the boundaries between orthodoxy and “dissent” are not rigid, and the criteria of doctrinal purity are blurred. Although there are certain anti-globalization currents in Buddhism, they are softer than in other religions.
How do Buddhists themselves assess globalization? Let us turn to the views of the spiritual leader of the Buddhist world, His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV Tenzin Gyatso. Despite some concerns, His Holiness the Dalai Lama calls not to fight globalization, but to adapt to it. In particular, he notes that since we are now all very dependent on each other, “nations have no choice but to look after each other, not so much for reasons of humanity but because it is in their own interest. Under such circumstances, there is undoubtedly a growing need for human understanding and a sense of shared responsibility.
The Dalai Lama sees the creation of a new universal ethic as one way to solve the problems of global dialogue between religions, cultures and civilizations. In this regard, the initiative of the Dalai Lama XIV is very timely and perhaps the Buddhist model of response to globalization, will be the best way out of the current situation, as will help find a golden mean or “middle way” between the modern globalization process and traditionalism, using the advantages of a united world and not sacrificing the diversity of cultures.