What an incredible set of finds and brilliant cross-disciplinary work on the final publication!
publications.dainst.org/journals/jdi...

If we talk about systems of belief like Buddhism and describe it as a "religion", we are adopting Western, modernist categories that simply didn't exist in much of Asia prior to colonialism. This may be justified but it needs to be openly acknowledged & explained to have integrity.

Westerners adopting Buddhist identity but ignoring richness of belief in Buddhist societies and complexity of Buddhist history are projecting when they make claims about what Buddhism "is". It's ideological colonialism - which may be justified but it must be openly acknowledged for integrity.