ABSTRACT
In spite of the existence of these important distinctions, the following characteristics have been associated with Protestant Buddhism: a search for the rational; a this-worldly, energetic lay asceticism directed towards attaining nibbana in this life; an individualism that privileged personal spiritual attainment over the collective merit-making of a group; an undercutting of the traditional distinction between lay and ordained; intolerance of other faiths; rejection of ritual and ‘superstitious’ practices linked with exorcism and ‘spirit religion’ and the appropriation and privileging of doctrines such as the Four Noble Truths, the three defining characteristics of existence (anicca, dukkha, anatta; impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, non-self) and dependent origination (paticcasamupada).
