Eastern religions refers toreligions originating in theEastern world—India,China,Japan andSoutheast Asia—and thus having dissimilarities withWestern religions. This includes theIndian andEast Asian religious traditions, as well asanimisticindigenous religions.
This East-West religious distinction, just as with theEast-West culture distinction, and the implications that arise from it, are broad and not precise. Furthermore, the geographical distinction has less meaning in the current context of globaltransculturation.
While manyWestern observers attempt to distinguish betweenEastern philosophies and religions, this is a distinction that does not exist in some Eastern traditions.[1]
According to Adams, Indian religions
[include] early Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, and sometimes also Theravāda Buddhism and the Hindu- and Buddhist-inspired religions of South and Southeast Asia.[web 1]
According to Adams, Far Eastern religions
[comprise] the religious communities of China, Japan, and Korea, and consisting of Confucianism, Taoism, Mahāyāna (“Greater Vehicle”) Buddhism, and Shintō.[web 1]
Modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern'society. Theteleology of modernization is described insocial evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by societies that have achievedmodernity.[2][3] While it may theoretically be possible for some societies to make the transition in entirely different ways, there have been no counterexamples provided by reliable sources.
Historians link modernization to the processes ofurbanization andindustrialisation, as well as to the spread of education. As Kendall notes, "Urbanization accompanied modernization and the rapid process of industrialization."[4] Insociologicalcritical theory, modernization is linked to an overarching process ofrationalisation. When modernization increases within a society, the individual becomes that much more important, eventually replacing the family or community as the fundamental unit of society.[web 2]
Since the late 18th century, an intensive exchange of cultural and religious ideas has been taking place between Asian and western cultures, changing and shaping both cultural hemispheres.[5][6][7][8][9] In 1785 appeared the first western translation of a Sanskrit-text.[10] Since then, modernisation movements appeared in eastern countries and cultures, such as theBrahmo Samaj andNeo-Vedanta in India,Dharmapala'sMaha Bodhi Society, andBuddhist modernism in Japan. In the west, as early as the 19th century theTranscendentalists were influenced by Eastern religions, followed by theTheosophical Society,New Thought,Western Buddhism, thePerennial Philosophy ofAldous Huxley,New Age andNondualism.
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A broad range of western movements have been influenced by, or influenced, eastern cultures and religions.[citation needed] Among them areTranscendentalism,[citation needed] theTheosophical Society,[citation needed]New Thought,[citation needed]Western Buddhism,[5] thePerennial Philosophy,[citation needed]New Age andNondualism.[citation needed] Notable examples include:
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