ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is concerned with the reinterpretation of written texts from the Buddhist tradition. It examines the segments that deals with the ageing Buddha’s self-representation as a broken down old cart, followed by his dying by eating pork, perhaps even gone stale, but given in good faith by a low caste blacksmith. The book shows the manner in which ‘depression’ is a form of life that can be, and often is, canalized creatively into Buddhist meditation practice through the work of culture. It presents the most controversial aspect of my writing on Buddhist modernism, what the author have labelled ‘Protestant Buddhism’, namely the way in which European Protestantism has affected the consciousness of Sri Lankans. The book discusses the manner in which educational reforms were systemically grounded in Protestantism.
