ABSTRACT
Superficially much here seems novel, but on closer examination the American transformation of Buddhism, which in some respects runs parallel to the Chinese reception of that religion at the beginning of the present epoch, has roots which extend well back into the nineteenth century. Thomas Tweed,5 in a recent study of this formative period in American Buddhism, offers a useful three-fold typology of the forms into which Buddhism had crystallised by the end of the last century. His scheme encompasses firstly an occult or esoteric type strongly influenced by popular Neoplatonism, Swedenborgian ideas, Mesmerism, Spiritualism and Theosophy; secondly, a Rationalist or Scientific type arising from a Unitarian, free-thinking background, in which the influence of New England Transcendentalism can be clearly discerned, and finally a Romantic or Exotic type primarily associated with a small, though influential group of wealthy East Coast aesthetes and intellectuals, many of whom had first-hand
acquaintance with East Asian culture, mainly through their interests in fine art, ritual, drama, customs and the like.
