How would you translate 佛系 into English?
&quot;Buddha-like youngsters/youth&quot; is a loyal translation which has found widespread use in the news. &quot;Buddhist youth&quot; is also found, but without context people may take it literally as youths of the Buddhist religion, which is unideal. I believe you may want to consider the above if translating 佛系青年 as a set phrase.

You may consider adjectives such as &quot;unambitious&quot;, &quot;reclusive&quot;, or &quot;indoorsy&quot; (informal) if translating 佛系 alone. Personally, I find &quot;que-será-será&quot; (or &quot;whatever-will-be-will-be&quot;; hyphenation is required, see here) captures the nuance of 佛系 best. However, unlike &quot;Buddha-like&quot;, these adjectives are only explanatory and thus heavily context-dependent.

Some proposed adjectives such as &quot;tranquil&quot; or &quot;geeky&quot; are in my opinion inaccurate.


References:

http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/1214/c90000-9304484.html
https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/2166781/are-chinas-affluent-buddha-youth-turning-their-backs
https://www.cityu.edu.hk/edge/grant/tdg/projects/projects_abstract/6000696.pdf
https://kknews.cc/essay/meplla9.html