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Extraordinary Senses And Dreamscapes In Medieval Japanese Ōjōden Narratives: Reading Yoshishige No Yasutane’S Nihon Ōjōgokuraku-Ki, Qingxuan Wang

Effervescence: Yale Divinity School's Student Journal of Religion

This paper examines the affective and multi-sensorial narratives in Yoshishige no Yasutane’s Nihon Ōjōgokuraku-ki, the foundational collection of medieval Japanese Pure Land Buddhist rebirth tales (ōjōden). Composed at the threshold of a dark age in which Buddhist salvation through ordinary practice was believed to be impossible, the collection spoke directly to a faith community haunted by worldly suffering and their own spiritual inadequacy. Engaging with sensory studies and narratology, this paper challenges the binary divide between doctrinal expositions and didactic narratives in the study of Buddhism. Rather than treating the Nihon Ōjōgokuraku-ki as secondary supplements to scholar-monks’ …

The Modal Catuṣkoṭi: Formalizing Emptiness In Classical Modal Logic, Chance Chapman

Comparative Philosophy

Nāgārjuna’s arguments in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā rely extensively on modus tollens, yet this inference is invalid in the paraconsistent frameworks typically used to formalize the catuṣkoṭi. We develop a modal extension of Belnap-Dunn semantics to address this, expressed as: ¬□(v(P) = t) ∧ ¬□(v(P) = f) ∧ ¬□(v(P) = b) ∧ ¬□(v(P) = n). This formula applies self-reflexively, resolves longstanding interpretive debates regarding verses within Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and Vigrahavyāvartanī such as his “no thesis” defense, and bridges interpretive gaps between traditionally designated Eastern and Western logical traditions, providing a Western analytical translation of Indian dialectic into symbolic modal logic that …

The Dialogue Of Spiritual Experience In Buddhist-Christian Encounter, S Mark Heim

Journal of Global Catholicism

Can one learn more about one’s own religion through the practices of another? My positive answer to this question is illustrated in this paper by reflection on aspects of the Buddhist practice of emptiness, in specific connection with Christian under-standing of our lives as creatures. The Buddhist meditative practices I have in mind have several things in common. They are introspective (activated in one person’s inner consciousness) and premised on the Buddhist understanding of emptiness (specifically “no self ” teachings). Buddhist introspective practice takes at least three broad forms. One of these is a meditative analytical awareness of the contents …

The Pāḷi Text Of The Nīvaraṇasutta From The Aṅguttara Nikāya, Maksim Astashinskiy

Faculty Papers and Publications

The Pāḷi text of the Nīvaraṇasutta from the Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN 9.64) is anthologized in The Buddhist Era 2500 Great International Council Nīvaraṇasutta Pāḷi Tipiṭaka: 40 Volume Edition in Roman Script B.E. 2548 (M.L. Maniratana Bunnag Dhamma Society Fund, 2005), https://suttacentral.net/ms. English translations by Thānissaro Bhikkhu from 1998 (or 2002) together with Bhikkhu Sujato from 2016–2018 are housed in SuttaCentral. The historically significant English translation of AN 9.64 is part of the multivolume, The Book of Gradual Sayings (Anguttara-Nikaya), or More Numbered Suttas, Vol. IV (The Book of the Sevens, Eights and Nines), Pali …

Selections From The Milindapañha (Section On The Simile Of Fire), Maksim Astashinskiy

Faculty Papers and Publications

The Pāḷi text of 3. Tejaṅgapañha from the Milindapañha is anthologized in The Buddhist Era 2500 Great International Council Pāḷi Tipiṭaka: 40 Volume Edition in Roman Script B.E. 2548 (M.L. Maniratana Bunnag Dhamma Society Fund, 2005), https://suttacentral.net/ms. An English translation is available under Section 7.4.3: Fire in SuttaCentral; the translation is adapted from “The Questions of King Milinda,” trans. T.W. Rhys Davids in The Sacred Books of the East Vol. XXXVI ed. Max Müller (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1894), 311–312, https://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe36/sbe3611.htm.

Imagination And The Self: A Cross-Cultural And Cross-Disciplinary Study, Qianyi Qin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary investigation of the imagination and the self that engages with cognitive science, philosophy of mind, Buddhism, ethical theories, and a variety of perspectives from Asian and Western philosophy. I address the following questions in three interrelated chapters. First, what does it mean for the self to appear in imagination? In Chapter 1, against certain narrow understandings of the self in philosophy of language, I build a multidimensional model of the self in imaginative experiences to capture the rich phenomenology, drawing on empirical findings on memory and imagination. Second, can the self be removed from imagination? …

Infinite Regress Argument: Nāgārjuna Vs. The Naiyāyikas, Aastha Pujara

Honors College Theses

Infinite regress arguments are commonly employed within philosophical texts as an ad infinitum fallacy to disprove an argument. This argumentative tactic is described as a chain of never-ending explanations that has no beginning. In this paper, I explore the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna and how he utilizes the infinite regress argument to disprove the existence of svabhāva, or essence. Unlike other philosophers, he indicates that the infinite regress argument is not a problem for him due to his philosophy, which explains that everything is devoid of essence or substance and is inherently empty, also known as śūnyatā. Nāgārjuna examines these infinite …

Sacred Steps: Walking, Religion, And The Path To Peace, Francesca Benna

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Walking is one of the simplest and most primordial human acts, yet it carries profound meanings that transcend cultures, religious traditions, and paths of individual and collective transformation. Walking is not merely a means of movement but a practice that fosters reconnection with oneself, the environment, and the community. Bruce Chatwin, in The Songlines (1987), highlights how nomadism is an inherent human condition, suggesting that movement is essential not only for physical survival but also for mental and spiritual well-being. In an era marked by environmental crises, conflicts, and increasing technological alienation, rediscovering the value of walking responds to a …

Candi Perwara Pada Percandian Ijo, Plaosan Lor, Dan Plaosan Kidul: Sebuah Kajian Arsitektur Dan Tinjauan Inskripsi, Dwi Ratna Sylvia Widyahastuti, Agus Aris Munandar

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

Temple or Candi are sacred Hindu and Buddhist buildings constructed in accordance with the prescriptions of the Vāstuśāstra, including subsidiary temple or candi perwara. This study examines the candi perwara of the Ijo, Plaosan Lor, and Plaosan Kidul Temple Complex to analyze their technical aspects, religious functions, and chronological positions within their respective temple complexes. Employing a descriptive-comparative method and a historical-archaeological approach supported by epigraphical review, the research identifies similarities in the roof forms and ornamental reliefs. Differences are observed in ground plans, stone materials, construction systems, vestibule, base forms, body variations, …

Contemplative Absence: Sacred Experience In Abbas Kiarostami’S The Wind Will Carry Us And The Aesthetics Of Slow Cinema, Hessam Abedini

Journal of Religion & Film

This article examines how Abbas Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) creates sacred experience through systematic absence within contemporary slow cinema aesthetics. While previous scholarship has focused on religious content in spiritual cinema, this analysis demonstrates how formal techniques—particularly strategic concealment and extended duration—generate contemplative states without explicit religious references. Drawing on Paul Schrader’s transcendental style theory and recent slow cinema scholarship, the article traces how Kiarostami adapts Persian poetic traditions, particularly concepts of pardeh (veiling) and the interplay between bāṭin (hidden) and ẓāhir (manifest), to create meaning through what remains unseen. The dying woman who never appears, the …

From Tiktok To Transcendence: Reclaiming Focus Through Contemplative Education, Araceli Gordus Huizar

Knowledge and Creativity Expo

In an era shaped by the attention economy and digital technology, students in higher education navigate constant stimulation that fragments attention, increases stress, and challenges emotional regulation. Research in psychology and neuroscience suggests that chronic exposure to social media, AI tools, and multitasking environments contributes to divided attention and diminished cognitive performance. While institutional responses, such as phone bans, attempt to manage distraction, they often fail to cultivate the internal capacities necessary for sustained focus and meaningful learning.

This paper argues that contemplative education--grounded in Buddhist and Hindu contemplative traditions and informed by humanistic psychology and contemporary mindfulness-based interventions--offers a …

Tolkien's Oriental Sources? Renunciation Of Immortality And Fairy Nature, Giovanni Carmine Costabile

Journal of Tolkien Research

Thompson motif F302.6.2.2. Fairy gives up her fairy nature and becomes mortal to be able to return to her mortal husband and its combination with H310. Suitor tests and H1010. Impossible tasks are Oriental motifs, to be found only in the Tibetan tale of The Boy with the Deformed Head in O'Connor's 1907 collection and in the 9th century CE Japanese Taketori Monogatari. In this light, it appears necessary, assuming that Tolkien had a source for his idea of Lúthien sacrificing her Elven immortality and Elven fate, that his source must be found in the aforesaid narratives, both available …

Authentic Malleability: Zen Buddhism And The Justification Of Japanese Cultural Superiority During World War Ii, Pj Wise

Senior Theses

Throughout history, religious traditions have been mobilized to justify nationalist violence and claims to cultural superiority. In modern Japan, Buddhism underwent a dramatic transformation, becoming one of the most sophisticated ideological justifications for Japanese imperialism during World War II. How did Zen Buddhism come to justify Japanese claims of cultural superiority during the Pacific War? Examining Buddhist institutional practices, philosophical texts, and wartime propaganda from 1941-1945, this thesis analyzes three mechanisms through which Buddhism legitimized Japanese superiority: claims to spiritual supremacy through Zen philosophy, militarization of Buddhist practice, and use of Buddhism as cultural imperialism in occupied territories. I argue …

The Coherence Of Navayāna Pragmatism: Ambedkar And The Pragmatist Reconstruction Of Buddhist Philosophy, Danish Hamid

Comparative Philosophy

This paper examines the philosophical coherence of B.R. Ambedkar’s reconstruction of his (Navayāna) Buddhism in relation to John Dewey’s pragmatism. Building on Scott Stroud’s reading of Ambedkar as a Deweyan Pragmatist (2017, 2023), it argues that Dewey’s evolutionary naturalism, his conception of growth, and pragmatic redefinition of concepts provide Ambedkar with the methodological tools for a naturalistic and socially reconstructive reinterpretation of Buddhist doctrines such as anicca (impermanence), dhamma (Buddha’s teaching), nirvāṇa (enlightenment), karuna (compassion), etc. Ambedkar transforms impermanence from a metaphysics of flux into an ethics of progressive growth, and recasts dhamma as a social morality grounded in fraternity …

Emptiness Is Enlightenment: Two Interpretations Of Nāgārjuna's Middle Way As Buddhist Soteriology, Isabella R. Sullivan

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the soteriological implications of Nāgārjuna’s doctrine of emptiness (śūnyatā) as presented in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (MMK), or Root Verses of the Middle Way. While Nāgārjuna’s radical denial of intrinsic existence (svabhāva) is widely recognized as a masterful critique of metaphysics, modern scholarship remains divided on whether this "right view" can sufficiently ground the Buddhist Path to Liberation. This project centers on a comparative analysis of two prominent modern interpretations: Jay Garfield’s semantic anti-dualism and Giuseppe Ferraro’s anti-metaphysical realism.

The inquiry evaluates these perspectives against the doctrinal frameworks of the Four Noble Truths, dependent …

Sangha: Displacement And Memory In Nikkei Dena, Isabella Rae Uriu

Honors Theses

Sangha: Displacement and Memory in Nikkei Dena explores how layered displacements have shaped the Nikkei (Japanese-American) community in Altadena and Pasadena (Dena), CA, and how Nikkei resist forces of displacement and ‘unbelonging’ through cultural practice, community care, and memory-work at the Pasadena Buddhist Temple. This thesis argues that these practices of place-making build belonging and sustain the Nikkei community across displacement; particularly, the forced removal and incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II, freeway displacement during the mid-century, and most recently, the 2025 Eaton Fire, which has displaced tens of thousands of Denans, including a small, but …

An Imperial Pivot: How The Qing Court Shaped The Kapāla And Its Global Value, Haiyi Wang

MA in Art Business Dissertations

This thesis examines the journey of the kapāla, a Tibetan Buddhist ritual skull cup, from a sacred implement to a global commodity. It argues that the modern identity, display, and commercial value of the kapāla in the Western world are not a natural extension of its original religious meaning but are fundamentally a product of its aesthetic and political re-creation by the Qing imperial court. This study posits the Qing court's intervention as the "decisive pivot" that systematically replaced the object's native "religious value system," based on ritual efficacy, with a new "imperial value system" rooted in craftsmanship, precious materials, …

The Use Of Mindfulness In Empirically Supported Treatments In Psychology, Timothy Stewart

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

After gaining popularity in the United States of America (USA) in the 1960s and 1970s, Buddhist mindfulness was introduced to clinical psychology and investigated for its potential psychological healing effects. In the years since, mindfulness has been widely used in empirically supported treatments (ESTs) in clinical psychology in the USA to treat a wide variety of psychological conditions and disorders. This dissertation examines and compares conceptualizations and implicit understandings of mindfulness in early (Theravāda) Buddhism and in ESTs in clinical psychology in the USA. Through textual narrative analysis of two Buddhist sutta and 10 clinical psychology journal articles, this study …

Martial Arts Studies: A Commentary On The Exploration Of Consciousness In Modern Martial Arts, James H. Sutton

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The rapid globalization of martial arts has reconditioned how the beliefs, customs, and philosophies of traditionally based systems are interpreted and applied in modern practice. As contemporary scholarship struggles to accommodate the cultural histories, myths, and traditions that permeate the perception of martial arts in modern contexts, the focus of inquiry has shifted towards explaining cultural variations in practice rather than understanding the nature of self-awareness derived from self-practice. Consequently, the deeper meanings of martial arts as pathways to personal and transpersonal awareness are often invalidated in favor of objective and verifiable explications. In short, the role of consciousness is …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

A Buddhist Critique Of Harmony, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

No abstract provided.

Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy Through Buddhism, Teng-Kuan Ng

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Victor Fan, Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy through Buddhism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2022)

Review Of Victor Fan, “Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy Through Buddhism”, Teng-Kuan Ng

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This is a book review of Victor Fan, Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy through Buddhism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2022)

The Buddhist Recluse In The Late Heian (794–1185) And Early Kamakura (1185–1333) Periods As Seen Through Kamo-No-Chômei’S Hôjôki And The Poems Of Saigyô, Scott Lloyd

The Ozark Historical Review

Kamo-no-Chômei and Saigyô,two of Japan’s most well-known aesthete-recluses and open a window through their works not only into the life of the recluse as an individual but also into the broader culture. The following pages will attempt to shed light on the overall concept of reclusion and its importance by looking specifically at what they had to say about their own experiences: Saigyô through his collected poems, and Chômei through his seminal poetic essay Hôjôki “Ten-Foot- Square Hut”, written in 1212.

Merit Transference And The Paradox Of Merit Inflation, Matthew Hammerton

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Many religious traditions and ethical systems hold that individuals accrue merit through their good intentions, acts, and character, and demerit through their bad intentions, acts, and character. This merit and demerit, accumulated by individuals throughout their lives, gives each person a kind of ethical “score” that can determine what they deserve, and influence whether good or bad things happen to them (e.g., divine punishments and rewards, a favourable or unfavourable rebirth, etc.). In some traditions (most notably Buddhism, but also to a limited extent in Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity), “merit transference” is a feature of these merit-based ethical systems. This …

Dragon Guitars And Sexy Zombies: Tracing The Meta-Motion Of The Naga Motif In Northeast Thailand, Aaron Michael Stanley

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Abstract

This thesis traces the evolving symbolism of the Naga motif (a mythic water serpent) in Northeast Thailand through a framework I call meta-motion, which maps symbolic persistence of this cultural signifier and boundary marker across four cultural horizons—animist (Z), Hindu–Khmer (B), Buddhist (A), and modern/global (C). Like electrons in quantum super position, symbolic motifs circulate as overlapping “waves” of potential meaning and are concretized into cultural “particles” only when recruited for specific ritual, commercial, or political purposes. I add a bookend extension to Chang’s Hindu-Buddhist (B/A) typology with the addition of Horizons Z and C in order to make …

Buddhism For Thinkers, Chang-Seong Hong, Sun Kyeong Yu

MSU Authors Collection

This book is an introduction to Buddhist philosophy. It uses the methods of analytic philosophy to approach the major topics of Buddhism.

The Uses Of Dramaturgical Research In Cinematic Storytelling, Asset Design, And Adaptation In Animation, Delaney L. Walker

All Theses

“The Black Hair” is a creative project that explores the convergence of cinematic adaptation, dramaturgical research, and animation design in retelling a traditional Japanese short folktale from the Heian Era. Rooted in the practice of theatrical dramaturgy, this thesis advocates for a research-driven creative pipeline by developing a culturally respectful and historically grounded approach to developing cinematic storyboards. By thoroughly examining the chronicles of history and the sociocultural context, the project seeks to foster deeper cultural appreciation while reintroducing a lesser-known narrative to modern audiences through a visual medium. The project draws stylistic and narrative inspiration from iconic Japanese filmmakers …

A Summoned Life: Vocation In The Analects, Teng-Kuan Ng

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article explores the concept of vocation in the Analects. While most treatmentsof vocation focus on the Christian tradition, and while Confucian thought is oftenviewed as categorically nontheistic, Robert Merrihew Adams’s Finite and InfiniteGoods (1999) presents an illuminating comparative framework for tracing outKongzi’s religious ethical vision of how persons think, act, and feel when graspedby a sense of divine calling. I argue that in the Analects a vocation is compositelyconceived as: (1) a special divine imperative to an individual or a community (2) tolove particular goods within one’s actual circumstances (3) with nonconsequentialist,noncompetitive, and potentially counter-cultural commitment (4) such that …

Sacral Glitch, Kareena Naresh Solanki

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Growing up in a multifaith environment in Mumbai, I witnessed many religious sites and people with diverse beliefs. My parents always remained open-minded to other faiths, and my house remained replete with idols of deities of different religions. I studied Nichiren Buddhism, particularly the Lotus Sutra, as my mother began practising it along with her faith in Hinduism. Philosophical studies became a part of my life at the age of nine. Catholic prayers turned into rituals in my convent school days, and Islamic prayers resonated from afar. I often reflect on the influence of multiple religions in shaping my approach …