ABSTRACT
The ways in which Buddhist persons and communities define and construct their identities through the lenses of Buddhist thought and practice are shaped by an infinite variety of factors. Just as Buddhist histories and ideolo gies are constructed and contested in response to complex interactions among particular historical, political, and cultural conditions, so processes of identity construction and contestation are influenced by multiple and overlapping concerns. Discourse surrounding Buddhist identities reflects the total range of human experience, from the most concrete and personal considerations to the most abstract doctrinal paradigms for understanding what it means to be a Buddhist person. But issues surrounding identity clearly do not rest solely in the realm of discourse; they have profound implications in the lives of Buddhists. As Anne Hansen’s helpful notion of intersecting “landscapes of identity” in the first essay in this section suggests (231), the intricately inter related factors contributing to the formation of identity together comprise a many-layered and always shifting map.
