ABSTRACT
Socially Engaged Buddhism, also called Engaged Buddhism, is a major movement of twentieth-and twenty-first-century Buddhism found throughout the Buddhist world, East and West. It is characterized by Buddhists engaging in a nonviolent way on a popular, and often mass, level with the social, political, economic, and/or environmental issues facing them in their countries. It is not defined by sectarian identity – Socially Engaged Buddhists may belong to any sect, whether Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna or nonsectarian. Nor is it defined by geography – Socially Engaged Buddhism is found wherever there are Buddhists, with the exception of those countries where it is suppressed by an authoritarian government.
