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In Search Of Middle Paths: Buddhism, Fiction, And The Secular In Twentieth-Century South Asia, Crystal Baines

Doctoral Dissertations

This study analyzes the centrality of South Asian Buddhist heritages in the articulation of multiple iterations of “the secular” in post-independent Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan. As contradictory as such a proposition might seem, this project demonstrates that literature was a forum where the category and language of Buddhism were reoriented to fashion new ideas of “the secular” for modern South Asian polities. With this in mind, I turn to the quintessential genres of secularity in South Asia: the twentieth-century novel and short story. These genres reveal how the category of Buddhism, Buddhist ethics and literature were received and used …

Midwives, Sheila J. Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Midwives (2022), directed by Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing.

Boundation & Bindās: Ambedkarite Youth In A Global Buddhist Movement, Mallory Jacklin Hennigar

Dissertations - ALL

In this dissertation I engage with the stories of young adult Indians from Scheduled Caste and Tribe and Other Backward Caste backgrounds who have come to study at Nagaloka Centre, a Buddhist training center in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Some of them are Ambedkarites or people who take Dr. B.R. Ambedkar – leader of the Dalit community and author of the Indian constitution – as their hero and exemplar. Some of them are Buddhists or people who follow the teachings of Śākyamuni Buddha in one manner or another. Some of them are just young people in tough situations, seeking a way out. …

Sattha, Money And Idols: Intersections Between Capitalist Commodification Of Thai K-Pop And Buddhist Fandoms, Pornpailin Meklalit

Master's Projects and Capstones

This study investigates the cultural, economic, and spiritual meanings, as well as the goals of activities carried out by both the K-pop fandom (specifically fans of EXO and NCT) and Buddhist devotees in Thailand—and their considerable degree of overlap. While Thai Buddhism is revered, K-pop fandom is stigmatized as an extreme, problematic form of behavior. This research builds parallels between these activities as forms of faith, which are mostly shaped by the same economic structures, with money as a medium that allows spiritual connection and comfort for fans. Moreover, travel and pilgrimages are physical and spiritual journeys that exist for …

Chang (Beer): A Social Marker, Ritual Tool, And Multivalent Symbol In Tibetan Buddhism, Kayla J. Jenkins

MSU Graduate Theses

In this thesis, I analyze the use of beer (Tib. chang) in Tibetan tantric Buddhism and emphasize its importance for studying themes of purity and pollution, meaning, and power in this context. In doing so, I argue that beer functions as a social marker and influences gender dynamics in Tibet. Beer also functions as a religious ritual tool for transactions of power. Lastly, beer is present as a multivalent symbol in Tibetan tantric songs and stories, useful as both a negative and positive metaphor for qualities or states of mind. As something that informs social, religious, and literary worlds within …

Review Of John Whalen-Bridge, Tibet On Fire: Buddhism, Protest, And The Rhetoric Of Self-Immolation, Daniel S. Capper

Faculty Publications

Review of John Whalen-Bridge, Tibet on Fire: Buddhism, Protest, and the Rhetoric of Self-Immolation, in Journal of Contemporary Religion

A Review Of Ashley Thompson's "Engendering The Buddhist State.", Erik W. Davis Davise@Macalester.Edu

Erik W. Davis

The Shingon Ajikan, Meditation On The Syllable ‘A’: An Analysis Of Components And Development, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This paper examines what has been described as the most basic and essential element of Kūkai’s (774-835) religio-philosophical system (Yamasaki 1988:190), meditation on the Sanskrit syllable ‘A’. According to Shingon Buddhist tradition, Kūkai introduced the meditation on the syllable ‘A’ (hereafter referred to as the Ajikan) into Japan in the early 9th century, at the time he transmitted the Shingon Dharma to that country from China. Materials clearly showing the origin and development of the Ajikan before Kūkai’s time have either not been discovered or have not been analyzed in relationship to the Ajikan. Indeed, some researchers have argued that …

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 …

Conceptions Of Formative Processes In Western Science And Eastern Philosophy, Glenn E. Kaufmann

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The central theme of this paper concerns the way Eastern and Western (sometimes termed Oriental and Occidental) thought view the formation of the world; the means of arriving at these conclusions and the concepts or pre-conceived ideas upon which they are based. Western thought has been limited to views that have developed out of modern science, post-1500; they are mechanistic science, evolution, Whitehead's philosophy pertaining to God and modern physics. For the purpose of this paper, the emphasis in Eastern thought is placed on Mahayana Buddhism, especially the Madhyamika school of philosophy. In India it developed in contact with many …