The Diamond Way in the age of globalization: a study of transnational Buddhist community formation

The author presents a study of the process of community-building in the era of globalization based on the example of the Buddhist Diamond Way. This organization has spread over the world over a period of some forty years, maintaining its unity by means of common teachings and practices and centralized transnational management. In order to reinforce relations among national communities, the movement founded the Europe Center, an international center which has become the major meeting place for its followers. By attracting attention to a common goal and by bringing followers together in one geographical location, the movement makes its transnational management more efficient and helps to strengthen its transnational community. The main strategy in this process is the organization of the Summer Course, which is a massive gathering of followers from different parts of the world. Multiple activities strengthen existing relationships as well as the transnational community as a whole. However, local communities remain important for the participants' feeling of belonging, as can be shown in the case of Czech Diamond Way followers.