Practicing Paradise: Contemplative Awareness And Ecological Renewal,
2012
Loyola Marymount University
Practicing Paradise: Contemplative Awareness And Ecological Renewal, Douglas E. Christie
Theological Studies Faculty Works
What would it mean for Christians to take seriously the idea that we are called to practice paradise, to inhabit the world as if “everything is in fact paradise”? In the Christian contemplative tradition, one finds recurring attention to the notion that paradise is somehow knowable, graspable, and inhabitable in this present reality, and that this experience of paradise can be incorporated into a meaningful spiritual practice. This essay asks whether, in a moment of deepening ecological degradation, the contemplative practice of paradise might help us learn again how to imagine the world as whole, inhabit it with tenderness and …
Review: Christopher Ives, Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’S Critique And Lingering Questions For Buddhist Ethics (Uhp, 2009),
2012
Bucknell University
Review: Christopher Ives, Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’S Critique And Lingering Questions For Buddhist Ethics (Uhp, 2009), James Shields
Other Faculty Research and Publications
Review of Christopher Ives, Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’s Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics (UHP, 2009)
Mother Teresa And The Bodhisattva Ideal: A Buddhist View,
2012
University of San Diego
Mother Teresa And The Bodhisattva Ideal: A Buddhist View, Karma Lekshe Tsomo Phd
Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship
The notion of the bodhisattva, the selfless individual who is dedicated to alleviating the sufferings of others, is traditionally articulated within a Mahāyāna Buddhist framework. The question posed here is whether and to what extent this religious ideal can be conceived or, or instantiated by, individuals whose religiosity is framed by a different set of be- liefs and values, taking the Roman Catholic Sister of Charity, Mother Teresa, as an example. The broader question of commensurability arises when the criteria for qualifying as a bodhisattva, set within a specifically Mahāyāna context, are superimposed upon a figure who is solidly grounded …
The Friendly Yeti,
2012
University of Southern Mississippi
The Friendly Yeti, Daniel S. Capper
Faculty Publications
Most images of yetis in Western popular culture and scholarly literature portray them as secular, predatory monsters. These representations overlook important religious dimensions of yetis that are hidden in the current literature, so I take a new look at yetis in Tibetan religions in order to clarify our understanding of these legendary creatures. Following a phenomenological approach that sets aside the issue of the ontological existence of yetis, I examine texts, art, ritual, and folklore in order to propose four yeti personal ideal types: the Buddhist practitioner, the human religious ally, the friendly yeti, and the mountain deity yeti. These …
Awakening Between Science, Art & Ethics: Variations On Japanese Buddhist Modernism, 1890–1945,
2012
Bucknell University
Awakening Between Science, Art & Ethics: Variations On Japanese Buddhist Modernism, 1890–1945, James Shields
Faculty Contributions to Books
The half-century between the publication of the Imperial Rescript on Education (kyōiku chokugo 教育勅語, 1890) and the bombing of Pearl Harbor (1941) was one of tremendous institutional and intellectual tumult in the world of Japanese Buddhism. Buddhist sects and scholars were not immune to the changing political and cultural winds. While it is true that by the late 1930s, the majority of Buddhist leaders and institutions had capitulated to the status quo, preaching, in the words of Joseph Kitagawa “the virtues of peace, harmony, and loyalty to the throne,” the previous decades show anything but a continuous progression towards …
Contesting Buddhisms On Conflicted Land: Sarvodaya Shramadana And Buddhist Peacemaking,
2011
Brown University
Contesting Buddhisms On Conflicted Land: Sarvodaya Shramadana And Buddhist Peacemaking, Masumi Hayashi-Smith
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Buddhism in its various incarnations has both aided and hindered the peace processes in Sri Lanka. Sarvodaya Shramadana, a Buddhist development organization, stands out in the way it uses religion to promote peace through a more humanist interpretation of Buddhist teachings. While Sarvodaya's alternative approach toward the religion provides an optimistic space for promoting peace, its connections to and dependence on populism can also complicate its politics. This article argues that the most effective means of peace work can be found through the same channel of collective mobilization that hindered it, Buddhism.
Mindfulness And Authentic Creativity Developing A Healthy Lifestyle,
2011
University of Central Florida
Mindfulness And Authentic Creativity Developing A Healthy Lifestyle, Brittany B. Cockrell
HIM 1990-2015
The contemporary society of the United States of America is becoming an increasingly stressful environment to live in. Our rapid advances and developments in virtual, electronic, and high-speed technology have led us to a lifestyle that operates more quickly. However, our attachment to such a face-paced lifestyle has unfortunately led us towards an increasingly stressful lifestyle. This research focuses on identifying our current society's perceptual outlook and illustrating how the practice of mindfulness can help reduce the anxieties, struggles, and mental flaws which cloud our perception. The intent of this thesis is to show how the practice of mindfulness is …
Mizoguchi, Kenji (1898-1956),
2011
Bucknell University
Mizoguchi, Kenji (1898-1956), James Shields
Faculty Contributions to Books
No abstract provided.
Ozu, Yasujirō (1903–1963),
2011
Bucknell University
Ozu, Yasujirō (1903–1963), James Shields
Faculty Contributions to Books
No abstract provided.
Miyazaki, Hayao (1941–),
2011
Bucknell University
Miyazaki, Hayao (1941–), James Shields
Faculty Contributions to Books
No abstract provided.
Kurosawa, Akira (1910-1988),
2011
Bucknell University
Kurosawa, Akira (1910-1988), James Shields
Faculty Contributions to Books
No abstract provided.
The Lotus Sutra,
2011
Bucknell University
Bhutan,
2011
Gettysburg College
Bhutan, Megan Adamson Sijapati
Religious Studies Faculty Publications
Bhutan (formally the Kingdom of Bhutan) is a small, landlocked Buddhist constitutional monarchy in the eastern Himalayas, located between China's Tibetan autonomous region and India. Its terrain is largely mountainous, and its economy is based on agriculture and forestry. Bhutan's official national language is Dzongkha, and its multiethnic population, reported in the 2005 govrnment census to be approximately 681,000, is 75% Buddhist and 25% Hindu.
Review Of 1918 Shikoku Pilgrimage Of Takamure Itsue Translated By Susan Tennant,
2011
Coastal Carolina University
Review Of 1918 Shikoku Pilgrimage Of Takamure Itsue Translated By Susan Tennant, Ronald S. Green
Philosophy and Religious Studies
This book is a collection of 105 short reflections and poems by Takamure Itsue (1894–1964) on her travels to and around Shikoku in 1918, when she was twenty-three years old. Each piece was published individually during her pilgrimage as a serial column in a Kyushu newspaper. They were compiled after her death and published as Musume Junreiki (1979). Although best known as a historian and feminist concerned with the education of women, she also wrote Gohenro (1938) and Henro to jinsei (1939), two additional books about her 1918 Shikoku pilgrimage.
Nepal,
2011
Gettysburg College
Nepal, Megan Adamson Sijapati
Religious Studies Faculty Publications
Nepal is a democratic republic located along the southern region of the Himalayan range, bordering India to the south, west, and east and the Tibetan autonomous region of China to the north. Though a small country in geographic terms (approximately 54,362 square miles [1 mile = 1.6093 kilometers]), its population of approximately 29.5 million people is a complex and heterogeneous mix of both Indo-European and Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups and castes, each with distinct languages and religious and cultural traditions. [excerpt]
Divergent Responses To The Human Predicament: A Case Study In New Comparativism,
2011
University of Denver
Divergent Responses To The Human Predicament: A Case Study In New Comparativism, Mark Toole
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The enterprise of comparison has been regarded by some as one of the most vital characteristics of a healthy academic study of religion. However, the failed legacy of Eliadian Comparativism has caused others to suggest that the art of comparison has not yet lived up to its promise. This study brings together the best tools of what the author calls "Smithian New Comparativism." In order to demonstrate concretely a rigorous and responsible critical comparative analysis, and to chart a course for future academically beneficial cross-cultural comparisons, this project presents a case study that compares two religious traditions' doctrinal responses to …
Tweeting The Dalai Lama, Are Cell Phones Becoming The New Vajras?,
2010
Coastal Carolina University
Tweeting The Dalai Lama, Are Cell Phones Becoming The New Vajras?, Ronald S. Green
Philosophy and Religious Studies
On February 22, 2010 the Office of the 14th Dalai Lama joined the online microblogging site Twitter. Twitter is an internet based community, ranked the world’s third most used online social network by Compete.com. Members post messages called “tweets” that are displayed on to their profile pages and delivered to their subscribers, known as followers. The Dalai Lama reportedly joined Twitter after meeting the site’s founder, Evan Williams, although Mr. Williams posted on his own Twitter page that the Dalai Lama had laughed when he suggested the idea to him.1 However, the account may have been set up one week …
Lao Buddhist Women: Quietly Negotiating Religious Authority,
2010
University of San Diego
Lao Buddhist Women: Quietly Negotiating Religious Authority, Karma Lekshe Tsomo Phd
Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship
Throughout years of war and political upheaval, Buddhist women in Laos have devotedly upheld traditional values and maintained the practice of offering alms and other necessities to monks as an act of merit. In a religious landscape overwhelmingly dominated by bhikkhus (fully ordained monks), a small number have renounced household life and become maekhaos, celibate women who live as nuns and pursue contemplative practices on the periphery of the religious mainstream. Patriarchal ecclesiastical structures and the absence of a lineage of full ordination for women have combined to render the religious roles of Buddhist nuns and laywomen virtually invisible throughout …
Seeing The Buddha In The Book Of Job Through Maimonides's Theory Of Providence And Eliade's Theory Of Hierophany,
2010
University of Denver
Seeing The Buddha In The Book Of Job Through Maimonides's Theory Of Providence And Eliade's Theory Of Hierophany, Hoi Shan Chong
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The current study is an unusual reading of the book of Job with a focus on the intellectual transformation of Job. The reading is stimulated by Maimonides' theory of divine providence and facilitated by Eliade's theory of hierophany. The sequence of reading follows a reorganized order and is divided into three parts: the speeches of Job and his friends, the Lord's speech, and the comparison of Job before and after the Lord's speech. The study ends with a suggestion that the experience of Job's intellectual transformation corresponds to the experience of the Buddha's enlightenment. The reading ignores the enigmatic issues …
Yes! We Have No Buddha-Nature; Three Recent Publications On Zen Dialogues,
2010
Department of Religious Studies, Florida International University
Yes! We Have No Buddha-Nature; Three Recent Publications On Zen Dialogues, Steven Heine
Department of Religious Studies
No abstract provided.
