Truth is regularly stranger than fiction for the abbot of a Buddhist temple in the far-from-tranquil inner city of Los Angeles, California. Whether he is talking a dangerously unbalanced man out of buying a gun, confronting a naked woman in his meditation hall, or helping gamblers reform, Bhante Walpola Piyananda demonstrates that every experience can be an opportunity for learning and appreciating the Buddha's teachings. Bhante Piyananda also reflects on social and political issues such as the racial tension in his neighborhood after the Rodney King trial and the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afganistan.
In this delightful memoir, Bhante Walpola Piyananda, a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, shares his often amusing, often poignant experiences of life in America. Whether he's reasoning with a group of confrontational punks on Venice Beach, bridging the gap between a rebellious teenager and her traditional parents, explaining to an errant Buddhist that the concept of "non-attachment" does not justify irresponsibility, or dealing with a nude sunbather at a meditation retreat, no situation—no matter how sticky—manages to affect Bhante's unflappable calm or his phenomenal ability to find the right parable for the moment. Bhante Walpola Piyananda, who is abbot of a Buddhist meditation center in L.A., has met and counseled a wide range of people—the disenfranchised of society, couples dealing with relationship issues, American Buddhists trying to reconcile their practice with their very Western lifestyles, recent immigrants struggling to assimilate but also maintain their traditional values. His stories reveal the complicated, joyous, painful, baffling, and inspiring aspects of the human condition and the power of true compassion.
This volume is a call to re-examine assumptions about what care is and how it be practised. Rather than another demand for radical reform, it makes the case for thinking clearly and critically. It urges people living with HIV to become full partners in designing and implementing their own care and for caregivers to accept them in this role.
At a time when religious conflict and violence seem to dominate the media, distinguished religion journalist Gustav Niebuhr set off across America to find people who are building, not burning, the bridges between faiths. As he travels across the country-from Queens and Baltimore to Louisville and Los Angeles-he finds Buddhists, Catholics, Jews, Baptists, Muslims, and Episcopalians reaching out to one another to find common ground between their faiths. This insightful and deeply felt exploration of the nature of community and religion is a tribute to their efforts and a boost of much-needed optimism that reminds all Americans of their common goals, no matter their faith.
Theravada is one of the three main branches of Buddhism. In Asia it is practiced widely in Thailand, Laos, Burma, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia. This fascinating ethnography opens a window onto two communities of Theravada Buddhists in contemporary America: one outside Philadelphia that is composed largely of Thai immigrants and one outside Boston that consists mainly of white converts. Wendy Cadge first provides a historical overview of Theravada Buddhism and considers its specific origins here in the United States. She then brings her findings to bear on issues of personal identity, immigration, cultural assimilation, and the nature of religion in everyday life. Her work is the first systematic comparison of the ways in which immigrant and convert Buddhists understand, practice, and adapt the Buddhist tradition in America. The men and women whom Cadge meets and observes speak directly to us in this work, both in their personal testimonials and as they meditate, pray, and practice Buddhism. Creative and insightful, Heartwood will be of enormous value to sociologists of religion and anyone wishing to understand the rise of Buddhism in the Western world.
Increasingly world religious traditions present not just an intellectual or apologetic challenge to Christians but a daily encounter, a source of religious practices, and even live religious options. How are Christians to relate to these traditions and the neighbors and friends who live by them? This lively and engaging book is a great resource for faithful wrestling with the new realities. Led by theologian John B. Cobb Jr. and historian Ward M. McAfee, the Progressive Christians Uniting has distilled the historical and existential import of both Abrahamic and other traditions and stressed the differences among traditions and the richness they can afford Christian self-understanding. Includes study materials.
Leading voices of Buddhism discuss issues and ideas important to Buddhists in the twenty-first century. Twenty-First-Century Buddhists collects the very best of the round-table discussions recorded in the pages of Buddhadharma magazine over the past twenty years. These conversations between a who’s who of contemporary Buddhist teachers, ranging over topics from student-teacher relationships to the place of prayer and the leadership roles of women in modern Buddhism, are always lively and insightful. With participants such as Bhante Gunaratana, Shohaku Okumura, Sharon Salzberg, John Tarrant, and Jack Kornfield, discussions equally represent old-school and newly emergent Buddhist traditions. Contributers include: Bhikkhu Bodhi Jack Kornfield Joseph Goldstein David R. Loy Robert Thurman Yongyey Mingyur Rinpoche Anne Carolyn Klein B. Alan Wallace Taigen Dan Leighton Andrew Olendzki Reginald Ray Ringu Tulku and many more.
A fascinating comparative account of sacred languages and their role in and beyond religion —written for a broad, interdisciplinary audience Sacred languages have been used for foundational texts, liturgy, and ritual for millennia, and many have remained virtually unchanged through the centuries. While the vital relationship between language and religion has been long acknowledged, new research and thinking across an array of disciplines including religious studies, sociolinguistics, sociology, linguistics, and even neurolinguistics has resulted in a renewed interest in the area. This fascinating and informative book draws on Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Judaic, and Buddhist traditions to provide a concise and accessible introduction to the phenomenon of sacred languages. The book takes a strongly comparative, wide-ranging approach to exploring ways in which ancient religious languages, such as Latin, Pali, Church Slavonic, and Hebrew continue to shape the beliefs and practices of religious communities around the world. Informed by both comparative religion and sociolinguistics, it traces the histories of sacred languages, the myths and doctrines that explain their origin and value, the various ways they are used, the sectarian debates that shadow them, and the technological innovations that propel them forward in the twenty-first century. A comprehensive but succinct account of the role and importance of language within religion Takes an interdisciplinary approach which will appeal to students and scholars across an array of disciplines, including religious studies, sociology of religion, sociolinguistics, and linguistics Provides a strongly comparative exploration, drawing on Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Judaic, and Buddhist traditions Uses numerous examples and ties historic debates with contemporary situations Satisfies the rapidly growing demand for books on the subject among both academics and general readers Sacred Languages of the World is a must-read for students of religion and language, scripture, religious literacy, education and language, the sociology of religion, sociolinguistics. It will also have strong appeal among general readers with an interest comparative religion, history, cultural criticism, communication studies, and more.
A book that celebrates spices, and the integral ways in which they shape what we eat. Throughout a career spanning thirty years, well-known food critic and writer (and little-known collector of spice-grinders of eclectic origin), Marryam H. Reshii has had a relentless love affair with spices. Such has been her passion that she has travelled across the country and to various corners of the world ? crushing, grinding, frying and tasting ? in a bid to understand every aspect of these magnificent ingredients. The result is The Flavour of Spice, a zesty narrative that brings together stories about the origins of spices and how they evolved in the cuisines we know and love; colourful anecdotes gleaned from encounters with plantation owners and spice merchants; and beloved family recipes from chefs and home cooks. From the market yards of Guntur, India?s chilli capital, to the foothills of Sri Lanka in search of `true? cinnamon, and from the hillsides of Sikkim where black cardamom thrives to the saffron markets in the holy city of Mashhad, Iran - this heady account pulsates with exciting tales of travel and discovery, and an infectious love for the ingredients that add so much punch to our cuisines.
