section_path: Doctrine/Modern developments
section_name: Modern developments
paragraph_text: Modern developments
  
  The modern era saw new developments in Theravāda scholarship due to the influence of Western thought. As Donald K. Swearer writes:
  
  Although monastic education is still grounded in the study of Buddhist texts, doctrine, and the Pali language, the curricula of monastic colleges and universities also reflect subject matter and disciplines associated with Western education.
  
  Buddhist modernist trends can be traced to figures like Anagarika Dhammapala, King Mongkut, and the first prime minister of Burma U Nu. They promoted a form of Buddhism that was compatible with rationalism and science, and opposed to superstition and certain folk practices. Walpola Rahula 's, What the Buddha Taught is seen by scholars as an introduction to modernist Buddhist thought and the book continues to be widely used in universities.
  
  Another modern phenomenon is Buddhist philosophers who received an education in the West, such as K. N. Jayatilleke (a student of Wittgenstein at Cambridge) and Hammalawa Saddhatissa (who received his Phd at Edinburgh), going on to write modern works on Buddhist philosophy (Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, 1963 and Buddhist Ethics, 1987 respectively). Henepola Gunaratana is another modern Theravāda scholar who studied philosophy in the west (at the American University). The modern encounter with Christian missionaries also led to new debates (such as the Panadura debate) and doctrinal works written in defense of Buddhism or attacking Christian ideas, such as Gunapala Dharmasiri's A Buddhist critique of the Christian concept of God (1988).
  
  There have also been several modern Theravāda scholars which have taken a historical critical perspective on Theravāda literature and doctrine, attempting to understand its historical development. Some of these figures, such as David Kalupahana, Buddhadasa, and Bhikkhu Sujato, have criticized traditional Theravāda commentators like Buddhaghosa for their doctrinal innovations which differ in significant ways from the early Buddhist texts.
  
  The modern era also saw new Buddhist works on topics which pre-modern Buddhists avoided, such as socially engaged Buddhism and Buddhist economics. Thinkers such as Buddhadasa, Sulak Sivaraksa, Prayudh Payutto, Neville Karunatilake and Padmasiri de Silva have written on these topics. Modern scholarship in western languages by western Buddhist monks such as Nyanatiloka, Nyanaponika, Nyanamoli, Bhikkhu Bodhi and Analayo is another recent development in the Theravāda world.