What does it mean to be a Western Buddhist? For the predominantly Anglo-Australian
affiliates of two Western Buddhist centres in Australia, the author proposes an
answer to this question, and finds support for it from interviews and her own
participant-observation experience.Practitioners''
prior experiences of experimentation with spiritual groups and practices-and
their experiences of participation, practice and self-transformation-are
examined with respect to their roles in practitioners'' appropriation of the
Buddhist worldview, and their subsequent commitment to the path to
enlightenment.Religious commitment is
experienced as a decision-point, itself the effect of the individual''s
experimental immersion in the Centre''s activities.During this time the claims of the Buddhist
worldview are tested against personal experience and convictions.
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Using rich ethnographic data and Lofland and
Skonovd''s experim
