ABSTRACT
In the West, the dominant view of Buddhism is one of peace, calmness, and detachment, offering therapeutic practices for personal growth. Needless to say, this homogenising and essentialising view belies the religious, philosophical, and cultural diversity within Buddhism practised across the world. Just as LGBTQI identities are Western and modern-day constructions of sexuality and gender, the idea of a religion called Buddhism is not ahistorical. It has itself come about as a result of modernity, in particular the colonial and Orientalist enterprise (King 1999).
