ABSTRACT
To envision defining as an ongoing dialogical process is not only to acknowledge these multiple voices, but also to value the distinct perspective that each voice contributes to the conversation. Scholars have begun to reflect upon the ways in which the questions they pose, the sources upon which they rely, and the theoretical assumptions they bring to their studies shape their interpretations and descriptions of Buddhist traditions. Conceptions of 'Buddhism' continue to unfold in multiple and distinctive ways that are shaped by both Buddhists and scholars. Numerous studies have demonstrated that Orientalist definitions of 'Buddhism' reflected to a large degree the assumptions, preferences, and agendas of Western scholars, and have explored the ongoing legacy of these earlier definitions in recent scholarship on Buddhist traditions. Many Orientalists characterized Buddhism as a rational, even scientific, system of thought that provided philosophical and psychological methods for coming to know reality, and that promised an end to suffering.
