Other Religion Commons^™

Cognitive Illusion, Lucid Dreaming, And The Psychology Of Metaphor In Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen Contemplative Practices, Michael R. Sheehy

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

A classic set of eight similes of illusion (sgyu ma’i dpe brgyad) are employed recurrently throughout Indian and Tibetan Buddhist literature to illustrate the operations of cognition, its correlative perceptions, and experiences that emerge. To illustrate a Buddhist psychology of metaphor, the fourteenth century Tibetan scholar and synthesizer of the Dzogchen (rdzogs chen) or Great Perfection system, Longchen Rabjam Drimé Ödzer (1308-1363), composed his poetic text, Being at Ease with Illusion. This work on illusion is the third volume in Longchenpa’s Trilogy of Being at Ease (Ngal gso skor gsum) in which he presents a series of Dzogchen instructions on …

What Is The Rosary? Why A Set Of Beads And Prayers Are Central To Catholic Faith, Kayla Harris

Marian Library Faculty Publications

It’s one of the most famous moments in modern Catholicism: the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. The Virgin Mary allegedly appeared to three Portuguese children in 1917, when much of the world was engulfed in World War I. Over a series of six appearances, Mary emphasized to these young shepherds that to bring peace, they should pray the rosary every day.

Devotion to the rosary already had a centuries-old history, and the Marian apparition at Fatima only deepened it. So what is a rosary, and why is it so important to many Catholics?

Living In This World: A Social History Of Buddhist Monks And Nuns In Nineteenth-Century Western China, Gilbert Zhe Chen

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation relies on about 600 legal cases from the Ba County Archive that survive from the first three-quarters of the nineteenth century to investigate the social life of ordinary Buddhist monks and nuns. Although they played a crucial in maintaining the survival and proper functioning of Buddhism at the local level, they have remained significantly understudied. This dissertation adopts a bottom-up approach to investigate ordinary monastics’ involvement in various socioeconomic activities. By shifting the analytical focus from elite monks to their more mundane counterparts, this study illuminates how deeply ordinary monastics were embedded in their communities. The shift also …

Reaching Thai Buddhists And Those With A Background In Thai Buddhist Beliefs, Warren A. Shipton, Jared Wright, Tonya Wright, Nilubon Srisai

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"One of the greatest challenges for those working across cultures is to understand the unique features of the host culture and the dominant religious beliefs and practices found in the society represented. If this is to be done acceptably, the written and spoken language must be mastered and personal friendships formed with community members. Much damage has been done by Western missionaries arriving with preconceived ideas on evangelism taken from their home country and with an attitude of being holders of superior knowledge in many areas of thought beyond that held by the host culture. Catholic missionary activity has been …

How American Women Are Changing Buddhism, Cassie Goode

Senior Theses and Projects

In my thesis I argued that American women are changing Buddhism by incorporating Western ideas into the tradition, and that Buddhism changes Americans by giving them modern principles and teachings. I gave descriptions of eight women, half ordained nuns and half Buddhist teachers, to show what they are doing to change and “Americanize” the religion. In the final chapter, I gave abortion as a case study to how Buddhist principles are being used to help American women cope with an abortion. This except is from the chapter on abortion.

Endless Dishes: Encounters With The Transmission Of Zen-Buddhist Training From Japan To America, Alexandra Garlan White

Senior Projects Spring 2015

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Tradition And Change: Two Buddhisms In The Bible Belt Sharing Common Ground Through Adaptation, Jonathan Spence

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis examines how some American and Burmese forms of Buddhism in the Bible Belt today share common ground through a process of adaptation. Exploring tradition and change, I reveal how change often requires adaptation. Utilizing ethnographic research conducted in south central Kentucky and middle Tennessee, I argue that some Burmese and American forms of Buddhism in the Bible Belt experience change through three aspects of adaptation. These consist of reduction, syncretism, and preservation. I explore these three aspects through interviews and observations of immigrant Burmese Buddhist monks and American Buddhist meditation leaders. In doing so, I also examine the …

(De)Psychologizing Shangri-La: Recognizing And Reconsidering C.G. Jung's Role In The Construction Of Tibetan Buddhism In The Western Imagination, Alec M. Terrana

Pomona Senior Theses

Popular literature on Tibetan Buddhism often overemphasizes the psychological dimension of the religion's beliefs and practices. This misrepresentative portrayal is largely traceable to the writings of the psychoanalyst C.G. Jung. By employing distinctly psychological terminology and interpretive strategies in his analyses of the Tibetan Book of the Dead and mandala symbolism, Jung helped to establish precedents that were adopted in subsequent analyses of the religion. Imposing a psychological lens on Tibetan Buddhism obscures other essential elements of the tradition, such as cosmology, physiology, and ritualism, thereby silencing the voices of Tibetans in analyses of their own practices. Jung's imposition of …

Liberation As Revolutionary Praxis: Rethinking Buddhism Materialism, James Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

While it is only in recent decades that scholars have begun to reconsider and problematize Buddhist conceptions of “freedom” and “agency,” the thought traditions of Asian Buddhism have for many centuries struggled with questions related to the issue of “liberation”—along with its fundamental ontological, epistemological and ethical implications. With the development of Marxist thought in the mid to late nineteenth century, a new paradigm for thinking about freedom in relation to history, identity and social change found its way to Asia, and confronted traditional religious interpretations of freedom as well as competing Western ones. In the past century, several attempts …

The Buddhist Coleridge: Creating Space For The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner Within Buddhist Romantic Studies, Katie Pacheco

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The popularization of academic spaces that combine Buddhist philosophy with the literature of the Romantic period – a discipline I refer to as Buddhist Romantic Studies – have exposed the lack of scholarly attention Samuel Taylor Coleridge and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner have received within such studies. Validating Coleridge’s right to exist within Buddhist Romantic spheres, my thesis argues that Coleridge was cognizant of Buddhism through historical and textual encounters. To create a space for The Rime within Buddhist Romantic Studies, my thesis provides an interpretation of the poem that centers on the concept of prajna, or wisdom, …

Life In Samsara: Torment, Torture And Tolerance In Buddhist Hell, Maya Shari Maclaughlin

Senior Projects Spring 2013

This project is about Buddhist hell. It discusses time, location and the community in hell through images and text.

Seeking A New Wineskin For New Wine : Inter-Religious Comparative Research Concerning The Issue Of Registration For The Chinese House Church, Paul N. Moon

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Blueprint For Buddhist Revolution: The Radical Buddhism Of Seno’O Girō (1889–1961) And The Youth League For Revitalizing Buddhism, James Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

In the early decades of the twentieth century, as Japanese society became engulfed in war and increasing nationalism, the majority of Buddhist leaders and institutions capitulated to the status quo. One notable exception to this trend, however, was the Shinkō Bukkyō Seinen Dōmei (Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism), founded on 5 April 1931. Led by Nichiren Buddhist layman Seno’o Girō and made up of young social activists who were critical of capitalism, internationalist in outlook, and committed to a pan-sectarian and humanist form of Buddhism that would work for social justice and world peace, the league’s motto was “carry the …

Leading A Polytheistic Faith To The Monotheistic God: A Study In Identifying Barriers To The Gospel In A Chinese Buddhist Community And Ways To Overcome Those Barriers, Agnes Wood

The Asbury Journal

This article is written for the purpose of exploring a way to lead a polytheistic faith, prevalent in the local Chinese Buddhist community (LCBC) in Brunei, to the reality of a monotheistic God as revealed in the Bible (1 Corinthians 8:6). It serves as a guide for the local Chinese church (CC) to lead the LCBC to see that God as a Creator is sufficient to be their God.

This article identifies the need of a missiological package in order to lead the LCBC to Christ. The CC needs to assist the LCBC to become receptive before the core of …

Reclaiming The Zayat Ministry : Witness To The Gospel Among Burmese Buddhists In Myanmar, Lazarus Fish

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.