In the popular imagination, Buddhism is often seen as an ancient religion which exists in contrast to the modern world. In this view Buddhism is seen as something to be modernised - to be changed and adapted to suit the twenty-first century. But Buddhism is not a fixed tradition and the complex connections between it and modernity can be seen in numerous forms from politics to economics and from psychology to new technology.

In this groundbreaking book, Lionel Obadia demonstrates that these connections and confrontations review that neither Buddhism nor modernity is a homogenous category and that we should instead be speaking of multiple Buddhisms and modernities. This argument, supported by numerous case studies, has wide-reaching implications for the study of Buddhism and is important to anyone interested in the relationship between religion and the social sciences.