Progress and free will: on the Buddhist concept of 'time' and its possibilities for modernity

Abstract

This article shows how the peculiar Buddhist interpretation of the concept time has provided the basis on which the various modern features of Buddhism could build, because the Buddhist interpretation of time contains an aspect of progress and free will. It is suggested that these two aspects increased the prominence given to the individual adept in the Mahayana. The article then claims that it precisely are the ideas of rationality, progress, and individualism that are also characteristic for the modern world that contain the possibility for Buddhism to develop its multitude of modern faces.

This article shows how the peculiar Buddhist interpretation of the concept time has provided the basis on which the various modern features of Buddhism could build, because the Buddhist interpretation of time contains an aspect of progress and free will. It is suggested that these two aspects increased the prominence given to the individual adept in the Mahayana. The article then claims that it precisely are the ideas of rationality, progress, and individualism that are also characteristic for the modern world that contain the possibility for Buddhism to develop its multitude of modern faces.

A2