The Two Empires: Ireland in Asia, Asia in Ireland

Abstract

Ireland became related to Buddhist Asia in new ways, with British global hegemony, and knowledge about Buddhism came to be produced within the social relations of high imperialism. This affected Orientalisms both mainstream and dissident, with the use of the Asian Other to critique the here-and now, and the development of anti-colonial and anti-missionary solidarity. Europeans, and Irish people, started to become Buddhist converts and sympathisers, facing far less severe formal sanctions for this, although informal social costs remained high.