There's a really nice exposition of western Buddhism through an encounter with a retreat centre and it has a concise and helpful guide to the central beliefs of this religion-philosophy. Then comes an outline of why it might be appealing in contemporary western culture:
It's religion as a kind of therapy, and points to one of the reasons that Buddhism is finding such a ready audience in the west. Modernity has damaged many egos, perhaps as a result of the Enlightenment teaching that we are autonomous selves, capable of self-creation, control and consolation
Pleasinngly for me, this is rather similar to things I've been saying and writing (especially). One particularly pleasing part of the article is the way that it picks out a central issue in the interface between Western culture and Buddhism:
... it comes with risk. Meditation-as-therapy flirts with narcissism when it is devoted to observing yourself, for that can lead to self-absorption and self-obsession.In fact the issue is a contradiction -or perhaps paradox-
I suspect this is a key paradox with which western Buddhism is currently grappling: the practice that tells you the self is a delusion could, in the modern context, deepen the very attitude it seeks to dislodge. It's a risk compounded when self-concern is arguably the secret of western Buddhism's current success.. I think that is quite right. And, as I've also pointed up before,
a God-centred spiritual practice might offer a better way to get over yourself, and in turn offer a more satisfying "therapy".
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