Buddhists accounted for about 4.1% of the global population in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center. Between 2010 and 2020, the global Buddhist population declined by roughly 5%, from around 343 million to 324 million, making it one of the few major world religions to experience decline during this period. By 2050, Buddhism is projected to remain around its current size but decrease proportionally due to low fertility rates in Buddhist-majority countries and growing secularisation in East Asia.

Buddhism remains concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, which is home to nearly all Buddhists worldwide, particularly in countries such as China, Thailand, Japan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Laos. Growth in North America and Europe is largely driven by migration and small-scale conversions, rather than broad demographic expansion. In East Asia, particularly in China, Japan, and South Korea, Buddhism is facing a weakening institutional presence linked to ageing populations and broader social secular trends.

This Collection welcomes contributions from across the humanities, social sciences, and related disciplines that explore Buddhism in its multiple dimensions.

1. Sociology of Buddhism

• Religious practice and everyday life: monasticism, meditation, merit-making, lay devotion, and pilgrimage.
• Identity and belonging: majority vs minority experiences, diaspora identities, and global migration.
• Buddhism, modernity, and secularisation: decline in East Asia, renewal movements, Buddhism as a reaction to ritualism, and its appeal as an “anti-institutional” tradition.
• Western perception and New Age Buddhism: mindfulness, wellness industries, and redefinition of Buddhism as “philosophy, not religion.”
• Generational change: shifting values, monastic vocations, and youth adaptation.
• Religious switching: conversions into and out of Buddhism, syncretism, and hybrid identities.
• Gender and family: ordination debates, feminist reinterpretations, and family-based ritual practice.
• Health and well-being: Buddhist psychology, trauma studies, and resilience.
• Interreligious dialogue: Buddhist engagement with Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and secular philosophies.

2. Political science and Buddhism

• Buddhism and the state: religion as state ideology in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and beyond.
• Religion and nationalism: Buddhist mobilisation in politics, ethno-religious movements, and the use of Buddhist identity in defining nationhood.
• Buddhism and terrorism: extremist movements, hate speech, and attacks linked to Buddhist nationalism, alongside counter-movements for peacebuilding.
• Global politics: Buddhist soft power, diaspora influence, and Buddhist diplomacy.
• Political thought: Buddhist theories of governance, ethics, and nonviolence.
• Conflict and peacebuilding: Buddhist monastic and lay responses to war, humanitarian crises, and reconciliation.
• Democracy and pluralism: rights, citizenship, and secularism in Buddhist-majority contexts.
• Environment and sustainability: Buddhist ecological ethics and climate activism.

3. Cultural studies and Buddhism

• Representation and media: global portrayals of Buddhism in film, literature, digital platforms, and pop culture.
• Meditation and mindfulness: cultural translation, commodification, and New Age reinterpretations.
• Art, literature, and aesthetics: Buddhist visual culture, poetry, architecture, and digital creativity.
• Gender and sexuality: women’s ordination, queer Buddhist identities, and intersectional analyses.
• Memory, trauma, and resilience: colonialism, violence, diaspora identity, and post-conflict recovery.
• Diaspora, hybridity, and cultural exchange: Buddhist practices in multicultural societies.
• Postcolonial and critical theory: Buddhism, orientalism, race, and decolonial approaches.
• Religion, identity, and globalisation: Buddhism’s redefinition across global sanghas, digital communities, and wellness cultures.
• Interreligious cultural exchange: Buddhist borrowings from and contributions to Hindu, Daoist, Christian, Islamic, and secular cultures.