Buddhism in Dialogue with Contemporary Societies
Buddhism in Dialogue with Contemporary Societies

Author: Carola Roloff

Publisher: Waxmann Verlag

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 3830990731

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The growing pluralization of religion and culture in Europe means that we encounter an increasing number of Buddhist immigrants as well as ‘Western’ converts. Against this background, in June 2018, the Academy of World Religions and the Numata Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg (Germany), invited scholars of Theravāda, East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism. The questions discussed referred to: - Does Buddhism matter today? What can it contribute? - Must Buddhism adapt to the modern world? How can Buddhism adapt to a non-Asia context? - When Buddhism travels, what must be preserved if Buddhism is to remain Buddhism? The contributions in this volume show not only that Buddhism matters in the West but that it already has its strong impact on our societies. Therefore, universities in Europe should include Buddhist theories and techniques in their curricula.

The Scientific Buddha
The Scientific Buddha

Author: Donald S. Lopez

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2012-09-25

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 0300159137

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This book tells the story of the Scientific Buddha, "born" in Europe in the 1800s but commonly confused with the Buddha born in India 2,500 years ago. The Scientific Buddha was sent into battle against Christian missionaries, who were proclaiming across Asia that Buddhism was a form of superstition. He proved the missionaries wrong, teaching a dharma that was in harmony with modern science. And his influence continues. Today his teaching of "mindfulness" is heralded as the cure for all manner of maladies, from depression to high blood pressure. In this potent critique, a well-known chronicler of the West's encounter with Buddhism demonstrates how the Scientific Buddha's teachings deviate in crucial ways from those of the far older Buddha of ancient India. Donald Lopez shows that the Western focus on the Scientific Buddha threatens to bleach Buddhism of its vibrancy, complexity, and power, even as the superficial focus on "mindfulness" turns Buddhism into merely the latest self-help movement. The Scientific Buddha has served his purpose, Lopez argues. It is now time for him to pass into nirvana. This is not to say, however, that the teachings of the ancient Buddha must be dismissed as mere cultural artifacts. They continue to present a potent challenge, even to our modern world.

Buddhist-Christian Encounter in Contemporary Thailand
Buddhist-Christian Encounter in Contemporary Thailand

Author: Kenneth Fleming

Publisher: Religionswissenschaft / Studies in Comparative Religion

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9783631654101

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This is a study of contemporary Buddhist-Christian encounter in Thailand. Based on case studies, it describes the encounter and debates the related issues of nationalism, identity, and concept of the religious other. Thai notions of avoidance and friendship are identified as specific contributions to the wider field of interreligious relations.

Why I Am Not a Buddhist
Why I Am Not a Buddhist

Author: Evan Thompson

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2020-01-28

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 0300226551

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"A provocative essay challenging the idea of Buddhist exceptionalism, from one of the world's most widely respected philosophers and writers on Buddhism and science. Buddhism has become a uniquely favored religion in our modern age. A burgeoning number of books extol the scientifically proven benefits of meditation and mindfulness for everything ranging from business to romance. There are conferences, courses, and celebrities promoting the notion that Buddhism is spirituality for the rational; compatible with cutting-edge science; indeed, "a science of the mind." In this provocative book, Evan Thompson argues that this representation of Buddhism is false. In lucid and entertaining prose, Thompson dives deep into both Western and Buddhist philosophy to explain how the goals of science and religion are fundamentally different. Efforts to seek their unification are wrongheaded and promote mistaken ideas of both. He suggests cosmopolitanism instead, a worldview with deep roots in both Eastern and Western traditions. Smart, sympathetic, and intellectually ambitious, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in Buddhism's place in our world today."--Provided by publisher.

Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism
Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism

Author: Dennis Hirota

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2000-03-31

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780791445297

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Explores the potential significance of Japanese Pure Land Buddhist Thought in the contemporary world, and provides a new model of interreligious dialogue as Buddhist thinkers engage with Christian theologians concerned with the present-day significance of their own tradition.

Buddhist Thought and Applied Psychological Research
Buddhist Thought and Applied Psychological Research

Author: D.K. Nauriyal

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-08-21

Total Pages: 561

ISBN-13: 1134189885

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Written by leading scholars and including a foreword by the Dalai Lama, this book explores the interface between Buddhist studies and the uses of Buddhist principles and practices in psychotherapy and consciousness studies. The contributors present a compelling collection of articles that illustrate the potential of Buddhist informed social sciences in contemporary society, including new insights into the nature of human consciousness. The book examines the origins and expressions of Buddhist thought and how it is now being utilized by psychologists and social scientists, and also discusses the basic tenets of Buddhism and contemporary Buddhist-based empirical research in the psychological sciences. Further emphasis is placed on current trends in the areas of clinical and cognitive psychology, and on the Mahayana Buddhist understanding of consciousness with reference to certain developments in consciousness studies and physics. A welcome addition to the current literature, the works in this remarkable volume ably demonstrate how Buddhist principles can be used to develop a deeper understanding of the human condition and behaviours that lead to a balanced and fulfilling life.

Buddhist Modernities
Buddhist Modernities

Author: Hanna Havnevik

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-02-17

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 1134884753

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The transformations Buddhism has been undergoing in the modern age have inspired much research over the last decade. The main focus of attention has been the phenomenon known as Buddhist modernism, which is defined as a conscious attempt to adjust Buddhist teachings and practices in conformity with the modern norms of rationality, science, or gender equality. This book advances research on Buddhist modernism by attempting to clarify the highly diverse ways in which Buddhist faith, thought, and practice have developed in the modern age, both in Buddhist heartlands in Asia and in the West. It presents a collection of case studies that, taken together, demonstrate how Buddhist traditions interact with modern phenomena such as colonialism and militarism, the market economy, global interconnectedness, the institutionalization of gender equality, and recent historical events such as de-industrialization and the socio-cultural crisis in post-Soviet Buddhist areas. This volume shows how the (re)invention of traditions constitutes an important pathway in the development of Buddhist modernities and emphasizes the pluralistic diversity of these forms in different settings.

Hindu and Buddhist Ideas in Dialogue
Hindu and Buddhist Ideas in Dialogue

Author: Ms Irina Kuznetsova

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2012-08-01

Total Pages: 446

ISBN-13: 1409456625

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The debates between various Buddhist and Hindu philosophical systems about the existence, definition and nature of self, occupy a central place in the history of Indian philosophy and religion. These debates concern various issues: what 'self' means, whether the self can be said to exist at all, arguments that can substantiate any position on this question, how the ordinary reality of individual persons can be explained, and the consequences of each position. At a time when comparable issues are at the forefront of contemporary Western philosophy, in both analytic and continental traditions (as well as in their interaction), these classical and medieval Indian debates widen and globalise such discussions. This book brings to a wider audience the sophisticated range of positions held by various systems of thought in classical India.

Christianity and Buddhism
Christianity and Buddhism

Author: Whalen Lai

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13:

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In Christianity and Buddhism Whalen Lai and Michael von Bruck bring together for scholars, students, and interested lay observers the developments and understandings reached in Christian-Buddhist dialogue in six key regions of the world. After a two-generations-long exploration by scholars and devotees, the authors judge it opportune to furnish a bird's-eye view of the terrain that dialogue has covered. Lai and von Bruck explore questions such as what is meant by a-theism and God-talk in the two traditions, asking whether the dialogue has revealed irreconcilable opposition or areas where each side can profit from insights from the other. They acknowledge that similarities of language in the two traditions can mask differences in substance, while differences in language can mask agreements in substance: and it is not always clear which is the case. While a first-generation dialoguer, Joseph Kitagawa, once noted that "mutual monologue" was a better description of the Christian-Buddhist project than "dialogue", Lai and von Bruck point to areas of important, dynamic understanding and clarification of where dialogue needs to go to address disagreements as well.

Religions and Dialogue
Religions and Dialogue

Author: Wolfram Weiße

Publisher: Waxmann Verlag

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 3830980361

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Responding to plurality is a demanding task. Nonetheless it is one of the challenges that European countries are facing today. Over the past decades, the social and religious make-up of Central Europe has changed, and this has led to resentment and fears of mass immigration, social disintegration and the emergence of parallel societies. However, we also find empirical proof that prejudice is lowest where there is direct contact. Therefore, there appears to be an increasing need for more dialogue in order to make the stranger less strange, the unknown known, the other no longer entirely other. This is equally true in academic research: There is a definite need, yet research on questions of interreligious dialogue remains in its infancy throughout the various disciplines engaged in it. The project 'Religion and Dialogue in Modern Societies' (ReDi) that started at the Academy of World Religions at the Hamburg University in 2011 seeks to contribute to remedying this deficit. Like the ReDi-Project, this book looks at dialogue from different perspectives. It includes both theoretical and empirical approaches as well as a variety of theological viewpoints on a theology of plurality and dialogue from the perspective of different religions.