Why is Newar Buddhism Largely Ignored in Buddhist Studies? Protestantism, the Narrative of Decline, and the Position of Invisibility

ABSTRACT In the field of Buddhist studies as represented in European languages, Newar Buddhism, which is the only living tradition of Sanskritic Buddhism, receives very little mention. This is despite the fact that the start of the European engagement with Buddhism largely began through the study of Nepalese manuscripts by Eugene Burnouf and on-the-ground reports by Brian Houghton Hodgson. Why is it that the only form of Buddhism to preserve popular and esoteric practices once practiced across northern India has not been more central to the European-language academic engagement with Buddhism? This article examines narratives developed in the nineteenth century to demonstrate that Newar Buddhism was largely deemed unworthy of study due to its emphasis on ritual, superficial resemblances to Hinduism, and representation of Indian Buddhism’s final development, the Vajrayāna. These old prejudices have continued effects, as Newar Buddhism remains largely invisible in academic publications on Sanskritic Vajrayāna.